Customer Reviews
Best Dance Movie 
2007-08-29
Being a Dance Movie aficionado, I have seen them all and this one is the best. The dancing is great, the characters are believable and the plot isn't ridiculous. Most dance movies these days have some ridiculous plot about some person who "broke all the rules" with his/her love of dance and brought the people together. These plots are a bit cliché, but Center Stage has a real plot, about a group of new students at a highly selective ballet school.
These students then encounter average problems, like drinking and pushing back against authority. Their problem are believable, even when it comes to Maureen's bulimia. I always felt like this story could have actually happened in real life, and I like that. I always enjoy a dance movie, but many try to push an agenda and are a bit overdramatic.
In addition, the dancing is entertaining and very good. The actors are actually ballet dancers. The worst is a dance movie with bad dancing (see Save the Last Dance).
This is my favorite dance movie. It is watch-able many times over with its plausible storyline that discusses issues without shoving them down your throat and dancing into your head.
A must for any ballet enthusiast! 2007-08-23
The best ballet movie, ever. I've watched it at least 20 times. I love it.
A great dance movie 2007-08-04
This movie came out shortly after I had started taking ballet classes. This movie did for this generation what The Red Shoes did for a bygone generation: it inspired people to appreciate dance and even start taking classes themselves. Both movies show the gritty underside of ballet, from eating disorders, stage mothers living through their daughters (Maureen and Mrs. Cummings), to rejection. Yet I have more than a few friends who started taking dance classes solely because of this movie, just as I've read that The Red Shoes inspired girls of that generation to take up dance.
Ethan Hawke is a pleasure to watch--I'm normally not attracted to blonde men, but I'll make an exception for him. (Gillian Murphy is a lucky woman!) His dancing is gorgeous--he flawlessly executes some of the most difficult movements yet choreographed. And even though "Cooper Nielson" is somewhat of an embittered egomane, wallowing over his unrequitted love for Kathleen Donahue throughout the movie, the real dancer is a different type of person altogether. I've heard reports from people who actually know him (two men who offer summer workshops at a local studio are both former New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet dancers and have worked with the etoile himself) that he's a very nice guy and not at all like Cooper Nielson.
Sascha Radetsky, who plays Charlie, is a great dancer as well and dances with the American Ballet Theatre. The scene where Charlie and Cooper are trying to one-up each other is incredible to watch (Charlie is suggesting alternative choreography for Cooper Nielson's world-premiere ballet). Charlie finally feels bested by Cooper's as-difficult-as-it-gets combination and says he'll work on it.
Amanda Schull plays our heroine Jody Sawyer, a starstruck advanced ballet student who is made to feel that she doesn't fits in at the American Ballet Company's school. Jody wants to prove to Jonathan, the artistic director, that he couldn't be more wrong when he downplays her dancing ability and discourages her from becoming a professional dancer. She more than proves him wrong in the student workshop when she dances the lead in Cooper Nielson's original ballet. This ballet is innovative, though perhaps it would be nearly impossible to showcase this ballet in any other venue than the movies, as it calls for motorcycles, impossibly quick costume and set changes, and a score of other stage management conundrums.
The choreography throughout the movie is spellbinding--the famous Christopher Wheeldon is one of the contributing choreographers. I also am grateful for the extended dance sequences in the special features--The Dance of the Cygnets from Swan Lake, The Balcony Scene from Romeo & Juliet, and Stars & Stripes.
Although the plot isn't the most original and the acting range of the cast is uneven (the cast included both professional dancers and actors who didn't actually dance their roles--Maureen and Eva had body doubles perform their choreography--but brava to Amanda Schull, who proved she was not only a great dancer but a good actor), this is still one of my favorite movies and it never sits long enough to acquire dust on my bookshelves.
"Center Stage" Review 
2007-07-27
This was a great movie! It makes you want to get up and dance along with the actors. Zoe Saldana is great as an angst-ridden teenager that, despite her tough exterior, really wants to make it in the supertough ballet world. Great movie all the way around!
Ballet Lovers 2007-06-30
I saw this movie on some movie channel by mistake and took to it. So I bought it. I wasn't disapointed. If you are a ballet lover and apreciate the ins and outs of the art. You'll like it. But don't be surprised to see alittle struggling with the acting. The actors that establish and recognised are good. Don't expect the dancers to be as good.
Center Stage 2008-06-15
As a ballet dancer I enjoy dance movies, if they accurately describe a dancers life. I love this movie and that is not an exaggeration. It is entertaining and is an interesting look into a dancers world. However, it is not only for dancers. It is also a movie about young love, inner struggles, friendship, and finding ones self. It is a good buy and is worth your time and money!
don't buy from this previder 
2008-05-22
This provider is absolutely horrible!!! I still haven't received this movie, and don't think that I ever will!!! I have e-mailed them twice with no reply- very unprofessional.
Awesome look into the world of Ballet! 2008-01-19
This Movie is so good that you can watch it over and over.
The Characters are well acted and the Dancing is awesome!
fun with pretty dance numbers, but don't expect a masterpiece 
2007-12-20
A lighthearted comedy about the pressures of the ballet scene. nothing new was explored in the film and the resolution is too hunky dory for all involved. Still, it was a well choreographed movie and the acting wasn't too awful for the genre. Also, be on the lookout for a part by Ilya Kulik, the men's Skating Olympic and World Champion and Ekaterina Gordeeva's husband.
Amazing dance movie 2007-12-10
What a great movie, very deep message, artistic dance without being boring at all! very well acted and good music, Zoe Saldana is fantastic in this movie.
