Center Stage
2000
Hi, my name is Darina, and I’m a dance-aholic. Well, dance movie-aholic, to be precise. There’s nothing better than a film whose characters do a little dance, make a little love or just generally get down tonight. But my absolute favorite — the one dance drama so satisfying that I can happily watch it on a continuous loop — is Center Stage.
I haven’t taken dance lessons in years; at this point I can’t tell a dégagé from an échappé (and there’s a good chance I made those words up). But you don’t need to be a dancer to appreciate the brilliance of setting a teenage soap opera in the most intense place a teen can go: the American Ballet Academy. Center Stage, the story of a group of teens competing for permanent spots in the ballet company, has everything a great teen drama needs: bulimia, catfights and men in tights. The film peaks with the cast performance in a rock ’n’ roll ballet that, like the film, seems to drive home a single point: dancing is sex without penetration.
