History Film / CenterStage2000

* StraightToThePointe: The female dancers wear their pointe shoes to their very first class. Justified, as these are assumed to be highly skilled dancers who at that point have been dancing in toe shoes for years, and the movie does make it clear how difficult and painful it is to dance ''en pointe'' and what a stress it is on the toes and feet. This is also a case of RealityIsUnrealistic; at their level, female ballet students rarely wear flat ballet slippers to class anymore. Kathryn Morgan, a former soloist with NYCB and graduate of the School of American Ballet, has said that she isn't sure she even ''owned'' a pair of soft slippers during her time at the school, doing all her classes in pointe shoes. The reasoning is that it improves foot strength and technique to take class, even barre, in pointe shoes.

* FamilyFriendlyStripper: Cooper's ballet includes a scene in which Jody strips down to her bra and dance briefs.

* GoodOldWays: A theme of the movie is the frustration of some dancers at the school's strict adherence to classical ballet tradition. Cooper's ballet is a mix of old dance and new music and styles, while Jonathon focuses on classical music and the strict styles of old. Subverted with Eva, who is constantly rebellious and doesn't fit into the uptight ballet atmosphere--but desperately wants to be a professional dance. Although one would expect her to rebel from the genre itself and gravitate toward more modern ballet or jazz, Eva is shown to be nothing but passionate about classical ballet and thrives in Jonathan's very traditional piece even in the corps. [[spoiler:When she takes the lead role in Maureen's place, she shows how she's clearly serious and skilled--enough that Jonathan admits it and she gets a spot in the company.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: The pas de deux instructor admits that Eva's correct when SirSwearsALot Eva cusses in class.

* MayDecemberRomance: Slightly downplayed as it's not clear how much older Jonathan is than Kathleen, but considering she's a principal or featured soloist, she's likely in her late 20s or ''maybe'' early 30s, while Jonathan, a retired performer and longtime director is at least 10 years older (Peter Gallagher was nearly 45 at the time of production, while Julie Kent was 30).

** Nancy, Maureen's mother, never made it into a ballet company (she didn't have the feet for it) and so puts all of her hopes and dreams on her daughter--which doesn't go well, as Maureen's miserable and unhappy.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler:Sergei reaches his hand out to the dancer waiting in the wings--and it's ''Eva'', not Maureen, who was waiting for him.]]

** Maureen is supposedly the best dancer in school, but we never see any indication of that beyond her executing a simple port-de-bras at an average skill level at best and some shots of her practicing with Sergei. We never even see her doing basic barre work. Was it obvious enough that Susan May Pratt was one of the few actors who was untrained in dancing?

** Inverted with Jody. She supposedly suffers from inadequate turnout and bad feet, but we only see a few examples of poor turnout in close-ups of her feet when she's doing pliés. When she's actually ''dancing,'' we don't actually see any technical difference between her and the others, other than a pained expression (although she's playing it safe at times during the final number). As it happens, Amanda Schull was a professional dancer who was working with a company prior to this film.

* ShownTheirWork: In terms of ballet choreography and technique, thanks to the numerous professional and trained ballet dancers in the cast. Four of them were professional ballet dancers at the time (Amanda Schull/Jody, Ethan Stiefel/Cooper, Sascha Radetsky/Charlie, and Julie Kent/Kathleen). The ''pas de deux'' Kathleen and Cooper perform together from Kenneth [=MacMillan=]'s ''Romeo and Juliet'' was more or less just Julie Kent and Ethan Stiefel doing a performance for a film crew that they'd already done together hundreds of times onstage at the American Ballet Theatre--tweaked for filming purposes but straight out of the real ballet. Zoe Saldaña had done ballet training, and while not a dancer, Ilia Kulik was and still is a professional figure skater. Only two main actors had no ballet training at all--Susan May Pratt and Shakiem Evans. Furthermore, professional dancers were cast for background players.

* ShownTheirWork: In terms of ballet choreography, thanks to the numerous professional and trained ballet dancers in the cast. In just one example, the ''pas de deux'' Kathleen and Cooper perform together from Kenneth [=MacMillan=]'s ''Romeo and Juliet'' was more or less just Julie Kent and Ethan Stiefel doing for a film crew what they'd already done together hundreds of times onstage at the American Ballet Theatre. It was tweaked for filming purposes, of course, but it's all straight out of the real ballet.

A 2000 teen drama directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Creator/AmandaSchull, Ethan Stiefel and Creator/ZoeSaldana (in her first movie role), ''Center Stage'' follows a group of young dancers chasing their ballet dreams through a workshop and performance at the American Ballet Academy.

The story follows the lives of six dancers as they realize their various goals in the dance world, but the bulk of the story centers around the passionate but technically challenged dancer Jody Sawyer as she tries to find her place in the ABA. Her faulty technique continuously gets her into trouble, and when she catches the eye of company choreographer Cooper Nielsen, she naively believes she has found love. The year culminates in a workshop performance that sees some dancers doing everything they can for a part — and others desperate to relinquish their roles.

A 2000 teen drama directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Creator/AmandaSchull, Ethan Stiefel and Creator/ZoeSaldana, ''Center Stage'' follows a group of young dancers chasing their ballet dreams at the American Ballet Academy.

The story follows the lives of six dancers as they realize their various goals in the dance world, but most of the story centers around the passionate but technically challenged dancer Jody Sawyer as she tries to find her place in the ABA. Her technique continuously gets her into trouble, and when she catches the eye of company choreographer Cooper Nielsen, she naively believes she has found love. The year culminates in a workshop performance that sees some dancers doing everything they can for a part — and others desperate to relinquish their roles.

* ActorSwap: [[spoiler:Maureen secretly arranges for Eva to perform the lead in Jonathan's ballet in her place.]]

* AlphaBitch: Maureen is said to be one by other characters, and while she's certainly cold, she borders more on DefrostingIceQueen than AlphaBitch, especially once it's revealed how deeply unhappy she is due to her mother's emotional abuse. As an example of [[InformedAttribute how informed this attribute is]], Eva brands Maureen as a "big-time bitch" simply because Maureen tells her that smoking indoors is forbidden.
* ArtImitatesLife: Cooper's ballet is intentionally a ''very'' thinly veiled depiction of his LoveTriangle with Kathleen and Jonathan. Less intentional is its similarity to Jody's love triangle with him and Charlie.

* CampGay: Erik speaks in an effeminate voice, is often hypersexual, lusts after his roommate Charlie, says he cares about ballet because of tiaras and "boys in tights", and even adopts the stage name "Erik O. Jones" after his idol, Oprah. He's so proud of this fact that it's how he introduces himself to Eva (and the audience).

* ChewingTheScenery: A number of the scenes are campishly overacted, but Maureen practically growling at her boyfriend as she tells him off on his doorstep takes the cake.

** In a sense, the final workshop performances are this, since everyone is competing for spots with the company.

* DoggedNiceGuy: At first it seems as though Jim will be a HopelessSuitor for Maureen, showing signs of being a StalkerWithACrush by calling her repeatedly at the school office and waiting for her outside the front door. She does agree to a date with him, however, and after that they become a couple off-screen. He is still a dogged nice guy, evidenced by his efforts to convince Maureen of his genuine concern for her health.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Everyone gets their endings, though they have to work for them. [[spoiler: Cooper impresses a philanthropist and gets the funding for the ballet company he wants to start. Jody earns a principal role in said company and ends up with Charlie, rather than Cooper. Charlie, Eva, Erik, and Anna are accepted into the school's affiliate company. Sergei is accepted into the same company in San Francisco where his girlfriend dances. And Maureen breaks free of her mother's insistence on her pursuing a ballet career and decides to go to college and stay with Jim.]]

* GameBreakingInjury: Erik is supposed to play one of the male leads in Cooper's ballet, but slips on stage and injures his leg--always a dancer's [[CareerEndingInjury worst nightmare]]. [[spoiler:At the end, we learn his injury is not permanent and he will be BackInTheSaddle in time to dance professionally.]]
* GenreMashup: While Cooper's ballet still uses mostly straight ballet technique with some African and jazz influence, it is set apart from the rest of the performances because it uses more modern music, such as Michael Jackson and Jamiroquai.

* GoodOldWays: A theme of the movie is the frustration of some dancers at the school's strict adherence to classical ballet tradition. Subverted, however, with Eva, the student who is constantly rebellious and doesn't fit into the uptight ballet atmosphere. Although one would expect her to rebel from the genre itself and gravitate toward more modern ballet or jazz, Eva is shown to be nothing but passionate about classical ballet and thrives in Jonathan's very traditional piece.

** Maureen is supposedly the best dancer in school and we never see any indication of that beyond her executing a simple port-de-bras at an average skill level at best. We never even see her doing basic barre work. Was it obvious enough that Susan May Pratt was one of the few actors who was untrained in dancing?
** Erik falls under this as well. The most we see him "dance" is performing a lift, yet he's supposedly so good that he's accepted into a company ''without anyone even seeing him perform.'' Shakiem Evans was also not a trained dancer.

* {{Jerkass}} : Cooper is a talented choreographer but is undeniably a jerkass, uses Jody for sex and seems completely taken aback when she gets a little clingy after (perhaps why you shouldn't sleep with a teenager).
* JerkassHasAPoint: The pas de deux instructor admits that Eva's correct when Eva cusses in class.

-->'''Eva''': I'd believe it more if you weren't staring at your [[SirSwearsALot fucking]] reflection when you said it.

* JerkassWithAHeartOfGold: There is no indication that Eva's audition for the program was anything less than voluntary, and clearly she does have a passion for ballet. Yet from the moment she is accepted into the training program--which itself seems to make her inexplicably angry--she [[IrrationalHatred has a terrible attitude toward the company and the instructors]] [[RebelliousSpirit and goes out of her way to antagonize them]]. This is meant to be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] InUniverse because of a few arguments she has with Jonathan and Juliette, but these arguments likely would not have happened if Eva did not pick them herself. She also immediately antagonizes Maureen, whose worst offense against her when they first meet is giving her a somewhat unenthusiastic greeting. All that said, Eva is a loyal friend to people she considers worthy of her friendship, she's capable of loosening up and having a good time, and she can be brought to tears by a beautiful performance.
* KarmaHoudini: Cooper sleeps with a student (possibly underage), berates and mistreats her in front of guests, uses a piss-poor excuse to cast himself as a lead in his own production last minute (which also sees him pantomiming sex with that student onstage) and what happens to him? He gets enough of a grant to fully fund his own company ''and'' gets a principal dancer who's desperate to work for him. He doesn't even get verbally chastened.

* LongDistanceRelationship: Sergei, with another dancer named Galina who works in San Francisco. [[AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder This doesn't stop him from getting very cozy with an older woman at the salsa club]].

* ParentalNeglect: Maureen's mother Nancy is shown to be overbearing to the point of disregarding her mental health and is so [[MyBelovedSmother smothering]] she falls into the category of [[AbusiveParents emotionally abusive]]. She urges Maureen to break up with Jim--whom she truly loves--because it may affect her dancing, and when Maureen flat-out admits that she throws up half of what she eats, her mother brushes it off as "you watch what you eat." It is even implied that the only reason Maureen ever began dancing was because of [[VicariouslyAmbitious her mother's unfulfilled ambition]].

* RandomSmokingScene: Eva and Erik are both smokers, but this has no bearing on the plot or their evolution as characters.

** Maureen delivers a fairly cutthroat speech to her mother in which she spells out that ballet was her mother's dream, not hers. This is punched up given that the speech takes place [[spoiler:right before Maureen walks out of the lobby and leaves her mom crying, realizing that her daughter has given up on dance forever.]]

* SassyBlackWoman: Eva, as well as her friends at the beginning.

* ShownTheirWork: In terms of ballet choreography, thanks to the numerous professional dancers in the cast. In just one example, the ''pas de deux'' Kathleen and Cooper perform together from Kenneth [=MacMillan=]'s ''Romeo and Juliet'' was more or less just Julie Kent and Ethan Stiefel doing for a film crew what they'd already done together hundreds of times onstage at the American Ballet Theatre. It was tweaked for filming purposes, of course, but it's all straight out of the real ballet.
* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Likely Maureen's mother's attitude to her own job: Having lacked the talent to get ahead as a dancer in her younger years, she must settle for working in the company's press office.

* SternTeacher: All of the ballet instructors, particularly Juliette. Cooper is in contrast as a bit more open and friendly.
* StraightToThePointe: The dancers wear their pointe shoes to their very first class. Justified, as these are intended to be highly skilled dancers who at that point have been dancing in toe shoes for years, and the movie does make it clear how difficult and painful it is to dance ''en pointe'' and what a stress it is on the toes. This is also a case of RealityIsUnrealistic; at their level, female ballet students rarely wear ballet flats to class. Kathryn Morgan, a former soloist with NYCB and graduate of the School of American Ballet, has said that she isn't sure she even ''owned'' a pair of ballet flats during her time at the school, doing all her classes in pointe shoes. The reasoning is that it improves foot strength and technique to take class, even barre, in pointe shoes.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: One of the main themes in the movie. Jody's imperfect but passionate dancing contrasts heavily with Maureen's mechanical but souless precision. Both sides of the trope are [[{{DeconstructedTrope}} deconstructed]], since Maureen's lack of passion comes from her unhappiness with ballet, and Jody's lack of technical ability means that she actually doesn't meet the minimum standards. Averted with Eva, who has both incredible technique ''and'' passionate performance skills, but a sour attitude.

* VomitDiscretionShot: We hear Maureen make herself purge a few times, but always from the privacy of the bathroom.
* WhamShot: [[spoiler:Sergei reaches his hand out to the dancer waiting in the wings--and it's ''Eva'', not Maureen.]]
* WinWinEnding: Every one of the leads gets a good ending, even if they had to [[EarnYourHappyEnding work their toes off to get it]]. [[spoiler:Eva and Erik get into ABC with Charlie, even though Erik didn't dance at all due to his ankle injury and Eva was in a lead role she wasn't cast in. Cooper gets the money for his own dance company and Jody becomes his principle dancer, even if their relationship is clearly over and she's now with Charlie. Sergei will be going to San Francisco to dance with his girlfriend. And Maureen has quit dance (and her eating disorder) to attend college with her new boyfriend Jim and made real friends.]]

* Nancy, Maureen's mother, never made it into a ballet company (she didn't have the feet for it) and so puts all of her hopes and dreams on her daughter--which doesn't go well, as Maureen's miserable and unhappy.

* EarnYourHappyEnding:
** Cooper [[spoiler:gets the funding for the ballet company he wants to start.]]
** Jody [[spoiler:earns a principal role in said company and ends up with Charlie.]]
** Four students--[[spoiler:Charlie, Eva, Erik, and Anna--are accepted into the school's affiliate company.]]
** Sergei [[spoiler:is accepted into the same company in San Francisco where his girlfriend dances.]]
** Maureen [[spoiler:breaks free of her mother's insistence on pursuing a ballet career and decides to go to college and stay with Jim.]]

* ParentalNeglect: Maureen's mother is shown to be overbearing to the point of disregarding her mental health and is so [[MyBelovedSmother smothering]] she falls into the category of [[AbusiveParents emotionally abusive]]. She urges Maureen to break up with Jim, whom she truly loves, because it may affect her dancing, and when Maureen flat-out admits that she throws up half of what she eats, her mother brushes it off as "you watch what you eat." It is even implied that the only reason Maureen ever began dancing was because of [[VicariouslyAmbitious her mother's unfulfilled ambition]].

* WinWinEnding: Every one of the leads gets a good ending. [[spoiler:Eva and Erik get into ABC with Charlie, even though Erik didn't dance at all due to his ankle injury and Eva was in a lead role she wasn't cast in. Cooper gets the money for his own dance company and Jody becomes his principle dancer, even if their relationship is clearly over and she's now with Charlie. Sergei will be going to San Francisco to dance with his girlfriend. And Maureen has quit dance (and her eating disorder) to attend college and made real friends.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint:

* CampGay: Erik speaks in an effeminate voice, is often hypersexual, lusts after his roommate Charlie and even adopts the stage name "Erik O. Jones" after his idol, Oprah. He's so proud of this fact that it's how he introduces himself to Eva (and the audience).

* DanceOff: A playful one between Jody/Charlie and Erik/Eva at the salsa club.

* DressCode: Female dancers must wear a black leotard and pink tights to class, with their hair pulled back from their faces.[[note]]This is pure TruthInTelevision. While leotard colors will sometimes vary -- schools like the Royal Ballet School and School of American Ballet will frequently have different colors distinguishing different levels -- the "[x color] leotard, pink tights, hair in a bun" rule will be familiar to anyone who has ever taken ballet at a school that teaches ballet pre-professionally. The point is to minimize distractions by putting everyone on an even playing field and, in the case of the hair, keep it well out of their faces while dancing.[[/note]] Eva demonstrates that she is a BadButt by violating this code on her first day.

* EvilGloating:

* GoodOldWays: A theme of the movie is the frustration of some dancers at the school's strict adherence to classical ballet tradition.
** Subverted, however, with Eva, the student who is constantly rebellious and doesn't fit into the uptight ballet atmosphere. Although one would expect her to rebel from the genre itself and gravitate toward more modern ballet or jazz, Eva is shown to be nothing but passionate about classical ballet and thrives in Jonathan's very traditional piece.

* PrecisionFStrike:
-->'''Maureen''': So what happens is the elephant goes, "Ow! Ow!" and the mouse goes, "Take it all, ''BITCH''!"

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Maureen delivers a fairly cutthroat speech to her mother in which she spells out that ballet was her mother's dream, not hers. This is punched up given that the speech takes place [[spoiler:right before Maureen walks out of the lobby and leaves her mom crying, realizing that her daughter has given up on dance forever.]]

* [[ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful Screw the Rules, She's Beautiful!]]: It is very doubtful that a ballet school as prestigious and demanding as the ABA would accept a student with all of Jody's ([[InformedAttribute alleged]]) flaws: poor turnout, bad feet, "not the ideal body type." A brief conversation between two proctors at her audition suggests the reason she is ultimately accepted is because she is beautiful, though in a TechnicianVersusPerformer kind of way, not a DistractedByTheSexy kind of way.

* SternTeacher: All of them, particularly Juliette.
* StraightToThePointe: The dancers wear their pointe shoes to their very first class. This trope is subverted in that the movie does make it clear how difficult and painful it is to dance ''en pointe''.[[note]]This is also a case of RealityIsUnrealistic; at their level, female ballet students rarely wear ballet flats to class. Kathryn Morgan, a former soloist with NYCB and graduate of the School of American Ballet, has said that she isn't sure she even ''owned'' a pair of ballet flats during her time at the school, doing all classes in pointe shoes. The reasoning is that it improves foot strength and technique to take class, even barre, in pointe shoes.[[/note]]
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: One of the main themes in the movie. Jody's imperfect but passionate dancing contrasts heavily with Maureen's mechanical precision. Both sides of the trope are [[{{DeconstructedTrope}} deconstructed]], since Maureen's lack of passion comes from her unhappiness with ballet, and Jody's lack of technical ability means that she actually doesn't meet the minimum standards. Averted with Eva, who has both incredible technique and passionate performance skills.

* TrainingMontage: Too many to count in the movie's ballet-heavy setting.

* TwoTeacherSchool: The students' training seemingly solely takes place from the same four teachers (two for the girls, one for the boys, one for pas de deux). Jonathan Reeves is also oddly invested in the training school for a ballet company director, attending class auditions and even having private meetings with the students. This would normally be very uncommon in a traditional academy.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Eva reminds Jody of this as she cries over Jonathan and Juliette telling her her training isn't up to par. She reminds Jody that there's more to being a great dancer than great technique, and that Jody needs to find her passion and love of dance again. Maureen disagrees, however, arguing that [[OnlyTheKnowledgeableMayPass great technique is the bare minimum for professional dancers]].

* JerkassWithAHeartOfGold: There is no indication that Eva's audition for the program was anything less than voluntary, and clearly she does have a passion for ballet. Yet from the moment she is accepted into the training program, she [[IrrationalHatred has a terrible attitude toward the company and the instructors]] [[RebelliousSpirit and goes out of her way to antagonize them]]. This is meant to be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] InUniverse because of a few arguments she has with Jonathan and Juliette, but these arguments likely would not have happened if Eva did not pick them herself. That said, she is a loyal friend to people she considers worthy of her friendship, she is capable of loosening up and having a good time, and she can be brought to tears by a beautiful performance.

* VomitDiscretionShot: We hear Maureen make herself purge twice, but always from the privacy of the bathroom stall.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Eva reminds Jody of this as she cries over Jonathan and Juliette telling her her training isn't up to par. She reminds Jody that there's more to being a great dancer than great technique, and that Jody needs to find her passion and love of dance again.

* StaticCharacter: We don't really know anything about Anna, except that she is friends with Maureen and Emily and is [[spoiler:talented enough to dance the lead in one of the workshop ballets and get a spot with the company.]]