Great Film: Center Stage
Shut Up and Dance
Every now and then there's a new movie about dancers, or dancing, or one
with a lot of dancing in it. From Astaire to Kelly to Hines, it's the
poetry
of motion. If you have any appreciation for the art form whatsoever, the
one
to see right now is Center Stage. It's about a school year in the life of
three teenage girls who are roommates at a ballet academy in New York. They
pass the auditions to get into the school, but then have to work as hard as
possible to move on from there. At the end of the year is a workshop
performance where they can be seen by most of the people in the industry
who
could hire them, including the resident company. They work toward and hope
for a career in the most demanding pursuit imaginable, facing gifted
competition, and placed on a limited schedule. "A dancer has ten years,
maybe fifteen if they're not injured" in order to peak in their career and
be the best they can ever be. A singer can sing most of their life. An
actor
can act all his life. A dancer's clock is ticking. It's only a matter of
time before they can only teach and choreograph, so there's a unique sense
of urgency to start young, study hard, and survive. All that might make a
good movie. Might not.
Along with the good, you have to take the less than good. The characters
are
nothing new. There's the naive female ingŽnue (Amanda Schull), the bad girl
(Zoe Saldana), the favorite girl (Susan May Pratt), the cocky lead boy
(Ethan Stiefel, "hailed as the most advanced male dancer in the world"),
the
nice guy dancer (Sascha Radetsky), the nice guy non-dancer (Eion Bailey),
the gay friend (Shakiem Evans), the pushy mother (Debra Monk), the
demanding
teacher (Donna Murphy), and the dictatorial company director (Peter
Gallagher). How'd he get in there? There's even a Russian figure skater
(Ilia Kulik) in the cast as a dancer. By the way, everybody is amazingly
good-looking. Kind of like, Friends as done by George Ballanchine. Only in
the movies, right? The story is nothing new either. Will everything work
out? Will their dreams come true? Will they survive the heartbreaks of
love,
and the bodyaches of dance? Well, it's the movies, isn't it? Since the cast
features some of the youngest and best dancers in the world, the acting
comes second. Often a distant second. Or third. Don't expect any awards to
be handed out in that area. Some parts are surprisingly weak, but then they
move on and get back to letting their feet do the talking.
Did I mention that the only reason to see this is for the dancing? The way
it's filmed here is excellent, without actually having to go to a ballet.
The beauty of movement, the grace of the girls, and the strength and skill
of the boys is captured as well as any other movie in the subject you're
likely to see. The big dance numbers at the end are worth seeing by
themselves, including more modern styles. Beforehand, there are a couple of
dance scenes without ballet. The kids go to a club one night and salsa, and
later we see a bunch of Broadway hoofers in a jazz class lead by Priscilla
Lopez (original cast of A Chorus Line) that reminded me of scenes in All
That Jazz. Those were the most fun. Other scenes will remind you of The
Turning Point, White Nights, and even Dirty Dancing. The comparison to Fame
is inevitable. That was then, this is a new century. The natural talent,
dedication, motivation, support, and ass-busting hard work needed to
succeed
at this kind of life is touched on here, but also touched on is the sheer
love of the game. For dance itself. That's the main thing. E-mail and
comments are welcome.
Cast
- Jim Gordon played by Eion Bailey
- Jody Sawyer played by Amanda Schull
- Eva Rodriguez played by Zoe Saldana
- Maureen Cummings played by Susan May Pratt
- Jonathan Reeves played by Peter Gallagher
- Juliette Simone played by Donna Murphy
- Nancy Cummings played by Debra Monk
