Enchanted feet

By STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 12, 2000

Ballet lifts this Fame-like film above its familiar plot.

One early, indelible image sums up the best qualities of Nicholas Hytner's Center Stage, a ballet movie many viewers will like in spite of themselves.

Nothing special at first glance, just pairs of feet bound in silk slippers, the same way actors don costumes to play roles. A moment later, make-believe becomes magical.

In silent unison, each foot elegantly lifts into a toe stand, heels beckoned by some heavenly magnet. They seem ready to levitate. There are mere mortals in this world, and there are dancers.

Center Stage is a lively celebration of the latter, stumbling only when making its young gods and goddesses too human.

Then, like those enchanted feet, Hytner's film rises higher than expected. Of course, there is a final-reel showdown, as any underdog movie must include.

This one is terrific, a showcase of classical ballet and contemporary moves neatly gathering all of the plot's cliches. Romantic triangles multiply as art imitates life, youthful rebellion is satisfied, in a style lifted from Gene Kelly's An American in Paris finale.

Center Stage is essentially three films, not always juggled cleanly. It is a ballet primer, with snippets of Romeo and Juliet, Stars and Stripes and Swan Lake performed by fictitious students and instructors at the American Ballet Academy in Manhattan. Hytner also achieves a quasi-documentary feel with rehearsal scenes and ghastly blisters. Both ideas deserve more attention.

Primarily, Center Stage is one of those "Hey, kids, let's put on a show" crusades as old as Mickey Rooney and stale as Fame. The only fresh angles are the ballet backdrop, an unusual amount of cigarette smoking and a detour to a salsa club dance floor.

We're informed that six dancers will be selected from the Academy workshop to dance with the company. Wouldn't you know it? Six students are spotlighted by the script.

The underdog is Jody (Amanda Schull), lovely, but needs work on her turn-outs. Her roommate Eva (Zoe Saldana) is beautiful and needs work on her bad attitude. Their snobbish roommate Maureen (Susan May Pratt) tops her class until she discovers pizza and ice cream with a new boyfriend. Either bulimia or a pushy stage mom will be her downfall.

Young men in tights include Erik (Shakiem Evans), whose chief contribution are jokes about his homosexuality, Charlie (Sascha Radetsky), who is attracted to Jody, and Sergei the sidekick (Ilya Kulik).

On the administrative side, Peter Gallagher plays the company's director, an old-fashioned artist at odds with his lead dancer, Cooper Nielson (Ethan Stiefel). Cooper also had an affair with the boss' wife, intensifying their stare-downs. Partners are changed at key intervals by Carol Heikkinen's screenplay.

Ballet makes the baloney bearable. Hytner's best decision was casting trained dancers who can also act a little.

Schull is a San Francisco Ballet apprentice with a future in front of cameras. Stiefel is one of the world's greatest ballet stars, with American Ballet Theatre, displaying skill and no shortage of acting ease. His castmate, Radetsky, uses one brief passage, a series of spins and a cocked eyebrow, to create a brilliant movie moment.

Such casting -- and Hytner's Broadway experience -- keeps Center Stage authentic, even when the melodrama isn't.

Film and dance purists will scoff at Flashdance moves and bubble-gum dramatics for the targeted youth market to enjoy. But, think of teenagers seeing this movie who never see live dance. A classical art form is modernized, made more inclusive with a fresh beat viewers seldom dance to this way. Watching these cool sprites in flight can make anyone wish they could.