Having read most of the other comments on this film, I find I fall pretty-much in the middle of the range of opinions. The reviewers who think this is either The Best or The Worst movie they've ever seen are equally mistaken. The plot and characters certainly are trite, but the cast performs with such enthusiasm and talent that I don't care. I love dance, on film or on stage, and the dancing in Center Stage is great. This is the Turning Point for the end of the millennium, blended with elements of Fame and Flashdance...or almost any "gotta dance!" sort of story. There are also story elements which seem to have been lifted directly from the novel Ballerina, by Edward Stewart.
I especially enjoy the sequence wherein Amanda Schull goes to an off-limits Jazz class, runs into her dance hero/crush, and has a complete ball just shaking' it loose without Ballet discipline. It's a really enjoyable sequence, in no small part because the other class members are FANTASTIC dancers (Real non-company classes rarely include more than 2 dancers of the caliber of this entire class. Many of the unnamed people in that class are current or former members of the American Ballet Theatre).
If you enjoy dance movies, you'l like Center Stage; if you don't, you won't.
I especially enjoy the sequence wherein Amanda Schull goes to an off-limits Jazz class, runs into her dance hero/crush, and has a complete ball just shaking' it loose without Ballet discipline. It's a really enjoyable sequence, in no small part because the other class members are FANTASTIC dancers (Real non-company classes rarely include more than 2 dancers of the caliber of this entire class. Many of the unnamed people in that class are current or former members of the American Ballet Theatre).
If you enjoy dance movies, you'l like Center Stage; if you don't, you won't.