Yes, principal dancers have been known to have affairs with budding blushing ballet students; yes, I've known a few dancers to have eating disorders; and yes, most male dancers are hot, sweet and sensitive.
If anything, "Center Stage" minimizes the harsh realities of the world of ballet. To me, The School of American Ballet means sacrifices, blisters and discouragement on various levels -- from teachers, to injuries, to fatigue.
But director Nicholas Hytner (of "The Object of My Affection") does a nice job of condensing into an hour and a half some romance, some sexy scenes, some touching scenes and some fabulous dancing by American Ballet Theater stars Ethan Steifel and Julie Kent.
San Francisco Ballet apprentice Amanda Schull plays aspiring dancer Jody Sawyer, struggling to distinguish herself at the American Ballet Academy (based on Lincoln Center's School of American Ballet).
She is pretty and full of hopes, dreams and energy, but she has poor turnout and bad feet and would have been lost in the shuffle of long limbs and long necks had it not been for Cooper Nielson, played by Steifel.
Cooper is the hotshot heartthrob premier dancer of the American Ballet Company. He recognizes Jody's sweet spirit right away in class and both beds her and makes her a star in the piece he choreographs for the school's spring performance-exhibition.
That which follows, and the acting therein, is quite predictable -- the ending is happy for all in a most melodramatic way.
Stereotypes are used without much substance: "Center Stage" is replete with the token gay male dancer (Shakiem Evans), the harsh, almost inhuman director (Peter Gallagher), the rebel (Zoe Saldana), the stage mom (Debra Monk), the bulimic (Susan May Pratt) and the almost pathetically perseverant mediocre dancer.
"Center Stage" should be seen not for its acting or its plot but for its dancing -- the scene from "Romeo and Juliet" alone is worth the price of the ticket. Julie Kent is an exquisite Juliet, Ethan Stiefel her charmingly boyish Romeo. Their pas de deux is sinewy and bittersweet.
Stiefel is exciting in Balanchine's "Stars and Stripes" and constantly airborne in the exhibition performance. Amanda Schull is a sweet and buoyant, though a bit technically deficient, dancer. And the students shown pli-ing and tendu-ing in class are a joy to watch.
Stiefel's sterling dancing and seductive charisma are good for an hour and a half's worth of entertainment, but to get a real glimpse of the ballet world, look to the students that grace the screen every so often in a classroom pli or tendu.
These are the dancers of the next generation, in all their powerful glory and vibrant dedication. They are aspiring students at the School of American Ballet desperately vying for a place in the world of dance, or dancers with the New York City Ballet just as desperately vying for parts and prestige; their frantic desire is written on their faces and evident in the pliancy of their plis, the attack of their tendus, and the buoyancy of their jumps.
This heart-rending dedication and desperation is real and utterly without melodrama -- it would be captured with just the careless sweep of the camera, but Hytner makes nice use of it with thoughtful angles and long camera shots.
