Center Stage (2000)

Center Stage is a 2000 American drama film, directed by Nicholas Hytner, about a group of young dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City. The film explores the issues and difficulties in the world of professional dance, and how each individual copes with the stresses.

Plot 

After a series of country-wide auditions, 12 young dancers gain entry to the American Ballet Academy (which is loosely based on the School of American Ballet). They work hard, attending classes every day for weeks to make them the best dancers they can possibly be, and in preparations for a final dance workshop which will determine the three boys and three girls who will be asked to join the American Ballet Company (which appears to be based on either the American Ballet Theatre or the New York City Ballet). The workshop will also provide an opportunity for the students to showcase their talent to other ballet companies across the country. Gaining a leading part in the workshop is therefore essential.

Tensions mount between Jonathan (Peter Gallagher), the company's aging choreographer and director, and Cooper Nielson (Ethan Stiefel), his best dance, who also wants to choreograph. They also have issues because Kathleen, Cooper's ex-girlfriend and fellow ballet dancer, left him for Jonathan. Star student Maureen (Susan May Pratt), a closet bulimic who seems poised for success, discovers that life is passing her by when she meets a pre-med student who shows her life without ballet. Sweet Jody Sawyer (Amanda Schull), despite body type issues and bad feet, is determined to dance professionally but it appears less and less likely as the movie progresses that she will be good enough. The talented but smart-mouthed Eva (Zoe Saldana) loves to dance but seems destined to be stuck in the back of the corps because of her attitude. Tensions also arise between Charlie (a naturally gifted fellow student) and Cooper. Charlie has a crush on Jody, who had a one-night stand with Cooper and remains infatuated with him.

Despite Jonathan's objections, Cooper choreographs a ballet for the workshop (there are three ballets being presented, Jonathan and another choreographer create the other two respectively) which mirrors the relationship between himself, Jonathan, and Kathleen (and also, though done unconsciously, Jody, Charlie and Cooper). Jody, Charlie, and Erik (Shakiem Evans) are set to dance the three lead roles when Erik sprains his ankle in a rehearsal. Cooper then steps in to fill the role, and the tensions between Jody, Charlie and Cooper play out on the stage.

After the final workshop, Cooper starts his own dance company - much to Jonathan's chagrin, as Cooper's financial backer is a woman that Jonathan was hoping would donate to his own company. Cooper asks Jody to be a pi as her dancing style, though technically behind, is perfect for the kind of dance he wants in his company. He also asks to date her, but Jody turns him down in favor of Charlie. Maureen decides to give up ballet because she finally realizes that ballet is just something she does well, and not what she wants from life. She decides to attend regular university and also seek help for her eating disorder. Eva is picked by Jonathan to join the prestigious American Ballet Company after proving her worth in the workshop - secretly taking the place of Maureen, who had the lead, in Jonathan's ballet. Jody's boyfriend Charlie, and their friends Anna (a girl who was always favored by Jonathan) and Erik are also asked to join the American Ballet Company, and Sergei (a Russian dancer who also befriended them) joins his girlfriend in the San Francisco Ballet Company.
 

Soundtrack 

• "We're Dancing"
  Written by Phillip Aaron, John Mortera & Vaughn Stewart
  
  
• "I Wanna Be With You"
  Performed by Mandy Moore
  
  
• "Higher Ground"
  Written by Stevie Wonder
  Performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers
  
  
• "Candy"
  Written by Jive, Dava Katz and Denise Rich
  Performed by Mandy Moore
  
  
• "Don't Get Lost in the Crowd (from Center Stage)"
  Written by Joy Askew & LaSean Daniels (as LaShawn Daniels)
  Performed by Ashley Ballard
  
  
• "Cosmic Girl"
  Written by Jay Kay (as Jason Kay), Toby Smith, Stuart Zender, Derrick McKenzie,
  Buchanan Wallis and Simon Katz
  Performed by Jamiroquai
  
  
• "Canned Heat"
  Written by Jay Kay
  Performed by Jamiroquai
  
  
• "Le Corsaire"
  (excerpts)
  Music by Adolphe Adam
  
  
• "The Way You Make Me Feel"
  Written and Performed by Michael Jackson
  
  
• "First Kiss"
  Written by Guy Roche and Shelly Peiken
  Performed by International Five
  
  
• "Roméo et Juliette, Opus 64"
  (ballet) (excerpts)
  Music by Sergei Prokofiev
  
  
• "Swan Lake, Opus 20"
  (excerpts)
  Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  
  
• "La Bayadére"
  (excerpts)
  Music by Léon Minkus
  
  
• "Come Baby Come"
  Written by Elvis Crespo
  Performed by Elvis Crespo and Giselle D'Cole
  
  
• "Don Quixote"
  (ballet) (excerpts)
  Music by Léon Minkus
  
  
• "If I Was the One"
  Music and lyrics by Diane Warren
  Performed by Ruff Endz
  
  
• "Adagio for a Ballet Class"
  Music by Dmitry Polischuk
  
  
• "Dance of the Reed Flutes"
  (excerpt)
  from "The Nutcracker"
  Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Step Up (2006)

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Step Up is a 2006 dance/romance film directed by Anne Fletcher starring Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan.
Set in Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the tale of the disadvantaged Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) and the privileged modern dancer Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), who find themselves paired up in a showcase that determines both of their futures. Realizing that they only have one chance, they finally work together.

Plot

Following a party, Mac (Damaine Radcliff), Skinny Carter (De'Shawn Washington) and their friend Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum), break into the Maryland School of Arts and damage many of the props in the school's theatre. When a security guard appears, Tyler helps the other two escape and accepts the blame. He is sentenced to 200 hours of community service, which he has to serve at the school. While working, he watches a dance class and meets Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), a student preparing for her "senior showcase." The performance could determine if she gets a job with a dance company. Later, Nora secretly watches as Tyler mockingly shows his friends a mix of break-dance and the ballet-moves that he picked up. Nora's dance partner sprains his ankle, leaving Nora without a partner. After auditioning some other students, she doesn't meet anyone who is good enough. Tyler offers to help, but she at first refuses. Eventually she changes her mind, having seen him dancing earlier, and convinces Director Gordon (Rachel Griffiths) to allow Tyler to rehearse with her. During their initial practice session, Tyler is antagonistic toward Nora as well as her boyfriend, both of whom respond with haughty attitudes. As they continue to rehearse, Nora and Tyler grow closer, each teaching the other about their respective styles of dance. Tyler also befriends a musician at the school named Miles, who has a crush on Nora's friend Lucy.
One day, Nora takes Tyler to a special spot on the waterfront, which is where she envisioned her routine. She tells Tyler she always imagined it would be with a large group, and Tyler helps her dream come true by recruiting younger dancers from the school to perform in her number.
 

Soundtrack 

  

• Sean Paul's "(When You Gonna) Give It Up to Me" featuring Keyshia Cole 

• Ciara's "Get Up" featuring Chamillionaire. 

• Kelis' "80's Joint"

• Anthony Hamilton's "Dear Life",  

• Youngbloodz's "I'mma Shine

• Petey Pablo's "Show Me the Money"and 

• Dolla's"Feelin 'Myself".

Save the Last Dance (2001)

Save the Last Dance is a 2001 romantic drama film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and released by Paramount Pictures on January 12, 2001. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago who work together to help the main character, played by Stiles, train for a dance audition.

LOVE + Juilliard + Joffrey Ballet 

Plot

As a promising dancer in high school, Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles) hoped to be admitted to study at Juilliard and invited her mother to attend the audition. Sara failed in this first attempt, then was horrified to discover that her mother had been involved in a fatal car crash in her haste to arrive at the tryout. Wracked with guilt, Sara gives up on ballet entirely.
After her mother's death, Sara moves in with her estranged father (Terry Kinney). He plays the trumpet in a local Chicago jazz band and lives in a predominantly black neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. At her new high school, Wendell Phillips Academy High School, Sara is one of only a handful of white girls, but is befriended quickly by Chenille (Kerry Washington). Chenille's brother, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), is a promising student with dreams of going to Georgetown Medical School. Also, Chenille is a single-mother who is having relationship problems with her erstwhile boyfriend, Kenny (Garland Whitt), who is the father of her child.
Chenille invites Sara to a dance club called STEPPS, where she has her first experience dancing to hip hop rhythms. Derek dedicates himself to helping her develop her talent, and they practice in abandoned warehouses, school classrooms and anywhere they can find. As they become closer, Derek takes a reluctant Sara to the Joffrey Ballet and afterwards, Sara confides in him all about her mother and her dreams of Juilliard. Later, they return to the club and amaze others with their dancing, although Derek also sees his ex-girlfriend, Nikki, and engages in a round of "dirty dancing" with her, temporarily putting off Sara. Little by little, Derek and Sara become romantically involved. Having already achieved his dream of being accepted at Georgetown, Derek convinces her that she needs to do what she wants, and to follow her dreams, but she needs to get back into dance shape.
Back at school, Nikki picks a fight with Sara. Chenille tells Sara that she didn't approve of the fight but can understand the bitterness since Sara, a white girl, is seen as stealing one of the few good black men in the school. Because of this, Sara breaks up with Derek.
Derek also has a friend named Malakai (Fredro Starr) from whom he has become somewhat estranged. After a drive-by at the basketball court, Malakai wants payback, and needs help. Derek is torn over repaying his friend's past loyalty at the risk of his own college plans.
Scenes of Sara's audition for Juilliard, in which Derek arrives at a crucial moment to offer encouragement, alternate with scenes of Malakai's shoot-out, in which friends are killed by a rival gang and Malakai is arrested. The film closes as Derek, Sara, Chenille and their friends join at STEPPS to celebrate Sara's successful audition.

Soundtrack 

• "All or Nothing" by John Rhone, Ontario Haynes, Enchanteé Minor, Chante Frierson, Sherree Ford Payne (as Sherree Ford), Latrelle (as Latrelle Simmons) & Arlene Aleese Simmons (as Aleese Simmons)
• "Concerto in G for Piano and Orchestra"Second Movement, Adagio Assai by Maurice Ravel
• Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Opus 64"Second Movement, Andante Cantabile by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky