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 enlarge | Director: Nicholas Hytner
Actors: Amanda Schull, Ethan Stiefel, Sascha Radetsky, Zoe Saldana, Susan May Pratt
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $3.59
You Save: $11.35 (76%)
New (52) Used (34) Collectible (2) from $3.59
Rating:  247 reviews
Sales Rank: 2292
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD05290D
ISBN: 0767853652
UPC: 043396052901
EAN: 9780767853651
ASIN: B00004XPPD
Theatrical Release Date: May 12, 2000
Release Date: October 24, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Disc has a few faint scratches. Case has minor shelfwear. DVD has been TESTED & PLAYS FINE. 100% guaranteed against defects. Contact us within 7 days if there is any defect, and we will gladly refund your purchase. Our standard shipping method is
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best Dance Movie August 29, 2007
Anne B. Duggan (New York, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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! August 23, 2007
Mooshrimp (Colorado)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The best ballet movie, ever. I've watched it at least 20 times. I love it.
A great dance movie August 4, 2007
Sarah Olivia (United States)
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 July 27, 2007
Chelsea Watts (Mobile, AL USA)
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 June 30, 2007
C-BELL (New Haven, CT USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
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