“Got canned heat in my he-els tonight, bay-bay!”
EMILIE: Anyone who had some sort of performing arts background growing up usually falls into the Pro-Dance Movie camp. Both of us come from such backgrounds, and as a result, we were beyond excited to deep dive into two classics from the early 2000s: Center Stage and Save the Last Dance.
Have you ever dusted off a pair of forgotten ballet shoes after watching Center Stage at a sleepover? Did you think to yourself, maybe I could become a ballerina at the American Ballet Company, and I’ll meet my own Cooper and/or Charlie, and we’ll start a cool ballet company together where we dance to Jamiroquai. And we’ll live in an unreasonably large apartment in New York and eat dessert first, and bang on our bed that’s in the living room. Cause you haven’t had this thought before, it’s going to be really hard to get you to give a shit about Center Stage.From its iconic soundtrack to unparalleled dance sequences, sure maybe Center Stage isn’t a good movie, but it’s a fucking great dance movie.
Released almost 20 years ago in May 2000, Center Stage is, broadly, about a group of dancers who attend the fictional American Ballet Academy in New York. They attend grueling, daily classes in hopes of becoming the best dancer they can possibly be, and so they can also get cast in a prominent role in the final dance workshop that determines who will be asked to join the American Ballet Company.Most of the movie is seen through protagonist Jody Sawyer — played by IRL SF Ballet ballerina Amanda Schull, but Center Stage is an ensemble film, and we end up following a lot of triangles throughout.
- One between the ballet director Jonathan, Bad Boy of Ballet™ Cooper Nielson, and their mutual love interest, Kathleen.
- Ballet star Maureen, her stage mom, and bobo Paul Rudd.
- Zoe Saldana, her attitude and Juliette Simone.
- Jody’s turn out/general body, Juliette Simone, and Peter Gallagher.
- Jody, nice/hot Charlie, and BBoB™ Cooper Nielson.
There are few more minor C plots that do an admirable job at depicting the less glamorous side of ballet; schmoozing donors for cash, body issues, the physical damage that happens to your body when you’re a dancer.
Center Stage was able to achieve an authentic feel because most of the cast were dancers. Ethan Stiefel, aka BBoB™ Cooper Nielson, was in his prime dancing with the American Ballet Theater with rival hunk in the movie Sascha Radetsky, who played Charlie. Susan May Pratt, who played Maureen “I’m the best goddamn dancer at American Ballet Academy, who are you? Nobody.” Cummings, is the only actor who had zero dance experience besides conveying an icy stare at level expert.
Trouple 1: Jonathan/Cooper/Kathleen
We are introduced to Bad Boy of Ballet™, Cooper Nielson (that’s a dog’s name, right?) and his role in the company through Ballet Director (Peter Gallagher and his eyebrows) Jonathan who doesn’t understand his vision, but is it because Cooper used to bang his ballet star wife before they got married? Or is it because Jonathan is an old fuddy-duddy who does things the way they’ve always been done? It turns out it’s the second, but not before we see that Kathleen and Cooper still have lots of onstage chemistry. This plot thread doesn’t ultimately add up to much cause Cooper puts on the best ballet in the workshop, gets big money from an old lady donor, and he and Kathleen seem like they’re genuinely work friends now.
Trouple 2: Maureen/Stage Mom/Bobo Paul Rudd
Ballet star Maureen has a bit of a momager situation on her hands that manifests itself in secret bulimia. Well, maybe not so secret since it’s ballet. Anyway, during a ballet fundraiser reception, she gets stalked by bobo Paul Rudd, who is a pre-med cater waiter.
When she won’t give him her number, he calls her mom’s office and waits outside her school. I don’t give a shit if you’re pre-med at Columbia, ya psycho, don’t stalk someone into going on a date with you (we learned this during our Nicholas Sparks episode when we talked about The Notebook)!
Through this relationship though, it becomes apparent Maureen may look like she has it all, but she’s miserable. When Bobo Paul Rudd confronts her about her bulimia one night after a date, she storms out and tells her pre med stalker bf, “I am the best goddamn dancer in the ABA. Who the hell are you? Nobody”. ICONIC.
Eventually Maureen breaks down and has to know how much of Bobo Paul Rudd liking her had to do with her and how much had to do with her ability to dance well in one more of the more emotional moments in the movie. She separates herself by the end of the movie from her mother by giving away her star part in Jonathan’s ballet to Eva (Zoe Saldana) and saying goodbye to her mom with one final epic burn, “you didn’t have the feet, I don’t have the heart”. The “twist” of the Rachmaninoff ballet being Eva’s hand that takes Sergei’s, and not Maureen’s, is still a satisfying surprise.
Trouple 3: Zoe Saldana/her ‘tude/Juliette Simone
Sarcastic, smoking Eva, who according to Wiki is from Boston in this movie?? HOW SWAY??, starts off on the wrong pointe shoe from the jump. After her audition, she acts like she doesn’t get it when she does, then says she’s not going to go. From her first day she gets told her leotard is not right, to get the hair out of her face, and lose the attitude. This mostly comes from teacher and former ballet dancer Juliette Simone. She gets cast in the corps of Jonathan’s ballet as punishment, but eventually wins over Juliette Simone when she notices Eva’s work ethic under all her “raw talent”. When she comes out as the lead of Jonathan’s workshop, he too is pleasantly surprised by this plot twist and offers her a job.
Trouple 4: Jody’s turn out and general body/Juliette Simone/Jonathan
This is quick. Basically Jody having “bad feet” and subpar turn out while not being Margot Fontaine is an egregious offense. I feel like this was the weakest argument of the movie — she’s a real life principal ballet dancer and this was her first movie so she wasn’t convincingly bad enough for me, but I understand why they have to gaslight her, it’s part of ballet!
Trouple 5: Jody/Charlie/Cooper
The best part. The love triangle between two good looking, talented dancers. Jody runs into Cooper on her first day, and he’s already a well known ballet dancer to her. It’s love at first sight. But then, after meeting her roommate Eva, she meets still-waters-run-deep Charlie. The Nice Kinda Sad Boy of Ballet. After Jody gets told for the umpteenth time that she’s not a great dancer, she decides to take an “anything but ballet” dance class on the other side of town, and ends up in a class with Cooper.
A word on this class: this modern jazz class is BONKERS. It’s like Fame but way more horny. Like, literally, everyone is kissing and groping, and the teacher puts on MANDY MOORE’S CANDY TO WARM UP LIKE IT’S NORMAL.
Post class Jody and Cooper “get to dessert” aka have sex, not to be overlooked, to Mandy Moore’s “I Wanna Be With You”, gross. They sleep together once and Jody thinks they’re dating — yes? If anything, this power imbalance is wild. But even wilder, she turns down Charlie after having sex with Cooper ONCE, JODYYYY!!!! Jody then thinks it’s a good idea to surprise Cooper at his show, he doesn’t like it, and leaves with someone else. So fucking painful. Jody’s got a case of the 5 Gs: Good God Girl Get a Grip. Or as Kathleen later says, “she’s a heartbeat away from getting your name tattooed on her ass”.
THEN SHE ACTS HELLA UNPROFESSIONALLY AT REHEARSAL IN FRONT OF THE DONOR, SO CRINGEY; luckily strong but kinda silent Charlie has words of wisdom, “whatever you feel, just dance it”, the alternative to ‘just do it’. But just when Jody thinks she’s over Cooper, Erik sprains his ankle and Cooper has to dance with Jody in the final workshop. But turns out, she is over him and Jody is the break out star of the ballet. She is so powerful she get TWO offers, and gets to tell Cooper he’s “an amazing dancer, but as a boyfriend, you kinda suck” after she accepts the principal dancer role at his brand new company.
The moral of showcase ballet and the movie is: Jody don’t need a man OR the American Ballet Company! She’s gonna make her own cause…we’re dancing! And it feels all right!
Let’s ignore the logistics of how it’s pulled off. Like, there is no way Jody’s final costume change from dress into the all red number with CORNROWS makes any sense in time and space as WE know it, so let’s leave that be. Also, where the fuck did that 20 person corps come from? There were never more than six people in rehearsals.
Let’s also ignore that Jody simulates having sex on stage with Cooper IN FRONT HER PARENTS IN THE AUDIENCE.
And that that portion of the ballet proves Coops has a “routine” for banging dancers CAUSE HE IS THE BAD BOY OF BALLET
And let’s definitely not dwell on the fact that HE DRIVES THE MOTORCYCLE ONSTAGE CAUSE HE’S A BAD BOY!
Cooper’s ballet really is the best out of the bunch*, one ballet we don’t even see, just the women dressed like they’re ready for Midsommar.,
- semi-autobiographical with ballet seduction/sex scene notwithstanding.
According to an interview Hytner did with Playbill, he signed onto to do the movie because of the final half hour. Final dance scene sticks with you because you’re able to see it so well, there are a lot of wide shots, but close ups you can tell are the actors/dancers. It was choreographed by Susan Stroman, who is a Tony winner choreographer (and music director!).
Center Stage is currently streaming on Netflix, so of course we rewatched it, and here are a couple notes that don’t quite into that formula, but are obviously still integral to the plot.
- SO MUCH JAMIROQUAI!!!
- OMG we forgot home much we loved this soundtrack until the salsa club scene
- Body issues galore!
- Emily getting kicked out ABA for being fat/not ‘taking pride in her body’, and her sweet mom making Maureen, and Jody, and Eva promise not to let anyone make them feel bad about their body is when it clicks for Maureen we think.
- “How you can expect anyone to care about you raising your arm if you don’t do it beautifully”
All in all, this movie is still iconic, still a great rewatch, and might be in the running for weirdest cast photos.
One other dance movie stuck out to us during this time, and that was Save the Last Dance.
Sara Johnson, played by Julia Stiles, is an aspiring dancer in high school who’s auditioning to attend Julliard for dance (and no other schools, apparently? DREAM BIG, all or nothing baby!). She bombs her audition and as she gets out of there, she learns her mother, who was on her way to her audition, has been killed in a car accident. She stops dancing out of guilt that her mother was rushing to get to her audition, and now has to live with her estranged father, a jazz musician, who lives in the South Side of Chicago. The status of their relationship will continuously be symbolized by the progress made on the remodel of her bedroom, which is a dump when she first arrives.
Sara goes from a suburban, mostly-white high school to an inner-city school where she is one of a few white kids. On her first day, she gets into debate in class while discussing Truman Capote with another student named Derek, played by Sean Patrick Thomas, and later befriends his sister, Chenille, played by Kerry Washington. Chenille invites her to go out with her and her friends to a local club called STEPPS. This is where we learn that “cool” is no longer the cool adjective to use. We now say slammin’.
The night they meet up to go out, Sara finds out Chenille has a baby, Christopher, with her on-again/off-again boyfriend Kenny. When they go to STEPPS, where Derek and Chenille’s friend Snookie DJs, she sees Derek again and they dance together, though Sara’s inability to dance hip-hop is painful. Derek walks her home after the club, where we learn he wants to go to Georgetown for medical school, and he offers to teach her how to dance after school.
They develop a friendship, where Derek begins to learn about Sara’s ballet past. She opens up to him about her mom and the accident after he surprises her with tickets to the Joffrey Ballet.
Their friendship turns into a romantic relationship, but is made complicated by Derek’s jealous ex-girlfriend Nikki, played by Bianca Lawson, who doesn’t like Sara, and Derek’s friend Malakai, played by Fredro Starr, who is still heavily involved in a gang, which Derek is trying to distance himself from so he can focus on getting ready for Georgetown, which he’s recently gotten into. Malakai doesn’t like Sara and wants Derek to help him retaliate against a rival gang after they shoot up a basketball court where Derek, Malakai, and their friends are playing. Derek feels like he owes Malakai his loyalty because he covered for Derek when they were younger and some cops went after them (which has some Fast and the Furious vibes, #loyalty).
Meanwhile, Sara finds out Juilliard is coming to Chicago for auditions and with Derek’s help, decides to prepare, because in this MTV Cinematic Universe, not only does one only apply to Juilliard, one also gets a second chance to audition?
To add to things, Sara gets into a fight with Nikki during gym class where she calls Sara out for taking one of the only good men in their community. Chenille, angry after a fight with Kenny, reenforces what Nikki says and as a result, their friendship is on the outs and Sara breaks up with Derek. Derek agrees to join Malakai in the drive-by. Cue sad breakup montage featuring “Crazy” by K-Ci & JoJo.
Chenille confesses to Derek what she said to Sara about her dating Derek, apologizes, and tells him to be with Sara and not be a part of the drive-by with Malakai that night since it might jeopardize his future. Derek tells Malakai he can’t join him and tries to encourage him to not go through with it. Malakai brushes him off and moves forward, with Derek leaving and going instead to Sara’s audition.
Sara, on stage, has just messed up her modern hip-hop routine, and just as she is about to walk away, Derek arrives, encouraging her to start over. She does, and dances a routine incorporating her new-found hip hop moves.
She’s basically told at the end that she will be accepted to Julliard, which again, on what planet does that happen? Sara and Derek reconcile, while Malakai’s drive-by ends up being botched and he ends up getting arrested. Sara and Derek go to STEPPS to celebrate, where Sara and Chenille reconcile and all ends, of course, in the couple and their friends dancing to Montell Jordan’s “Get it On Tonite.”
Julia Stiles claims that her table dancing scene in 10 Things I Hate About You helped her get the role in the movie and she took a month and a half of intensive dance training to prepare for the role (she was in classes for 6 hours a day).
Though she performed all of the hip-hop and most of the ballet in the dance sequences, she had a body double for the pointe work.
The dances were choreographed by music video royalty Fatima Robinson, who we’ve talked about on the podcast before (she’s responsible for choreographing Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time,” Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody,” “We Need a Resolution” and “Rock the Boat,” and Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair”, and has also directed the music videos for “Fergalicious”, Black Eyed Peas’ “Hey Mama”, and a bunch of Megan Trainor music videos.
By the way, the chair dance featured in Sara and Derek’s dance montages and in Sara’s final Julliard audition dance routine is, according to this Buzzfeed listicle I read the same routine as The Backstreet Boys do in their video for “As Long As You Love Me”. Anyone who knows their shit knows that BSB was actually referencing the routine in OG queen Janet Jackson’s video for Miss You Much. There’s a great mashup video out there that showcases all the video dance routines that have referenced that chair dance (originally choreographed by Terry Bixler), which also includes Britney Spears’ “Stronger.”
Wild story: Snooki from Jersey Shore got her nickname because she was the first of her high school friends to make out with a guy, so they started calling her Snooki, after the character in Save The Last Dance.
Music: this soundtrack is still a banger. My sister and I shared a CD collection that arguably had 90% of the teen rom-com soundtracks between the years of 1999–2002, and this one of course made the cut.
- “Shining Through” (Theme from Save the Last Dance) — Fredro Starr & Jill Scott
- “You” — Lucy Pearl feat. Snoop Dogg & Q-Tip
- “Bonafide” — X-2-C
- “Crazy” — K-Ci & JoJo
- “You Make Me Sick” — Pink
- “U Know What’s Up” — Donell Jones
- “Move It Slow” — Kevon Edmonds
- “Murder She Wrote” — Chaka Demus & Pliers
- “You Can Do It” — Ice Cube feat. Mack 10 & Ms. Toi
- “My Window” — Soulbone
- “Only You” — 112 feat. The Notorious B.I.G.
- “Get It On Tonite” — Montell Jordan
- “All or Nothing” — Athena Cage
- “Shining Through” (Theme from Save the Last Dance) [Soulshock & Karlin Bonus Track] — Fredro Starr & Jill Scott
- “What You Want” — Mase
Rewatching this movie, it has a lot of parallels to Dirty Dancing. The initial “oh, she’s bad at this cool, new, style of dancing moment,” the dance montages with her partner/soon-to-be love interest where she progressively gets better, father/daughter relationship serving as a one of the plot points, a dirty dancing turning into a sex scene, and a final epic dance where our protagonist shines.
Thanks for joining us down this walk, or plié, down memory lane. We hope you enjoy our slammin’ episode.
