History YMMV / CenterStage2000

** [[spoiler:Seeing Maureen in the ending credits happy--and ''eating''--in college with her boyfriend and new friends.]]

** There's not exactly a consensus among fans about why Jody was accepted into ABA, and what the audition director meant when he said, "But ''look'' at her." Some took this to mean she was cast simply for her looks. Others took it to mean that the director was drawn to Jody's very evident love of dancing and clear passion. The filmmakers have never clarified.
*** There's certainly a connection between the audition director's "But ''look'' at her" towards Jody and Jonathan describing how you couldn't take your eyes off Margot Fonteyn, despite her poor feet, and how that kind of performance can't be taught.

* DesignatedVillain: Jonathan Reeves. He's stern and not always delicate with how he speaks to dancers like Jody or Emily, but he's pretty tame compared to most real directors. He gives both Jody and Eva more than enough chances, puts up with Cooper's constant petty drama and accepts Eric into his company without even seeing him dance onstage. Besides his disparaging remarks about Emily's body, the worst he does is not allow Cooper to choreograph for the company – which is pretty normal considering it's not that common for company dancers to automatically be allowed to choreograph, especially after they've just spent some amount of time on an overseas sabbatical. Hell, he's pretty charitable for giving Cooper a choreography spot in the workshop.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoment: Eva [[spoiler:getting accepted into the company]]. Jonathan may be a jerk, but he ''does'' have a heart somewhere.
* InformedAbility: Because some of the best dancers in the school were portrayed by non-dancers or less experienced dancers, we get that a bit.
** Eva is said to have amazing extension; we never see examples of Eva extending, stretching or leaping that proves this, and her performance in the showcase doesn't exactly show a great deal of extension. Zoe Saldana had a good deal of dance training, but not at the pre-professional level required to play Eva, so some of her dancing was shot around or doubled.
** Maureen is the biggest example because Susan May Pratt had no dance experience; for being the best dancer in school, all we see is a port de bras demonstration that, for what little we see, looks quite elementary.
** Downplayed because we're told Charlie is the best male dancer with less focus on Eric, but Eric is apparently such a good dancer that he is accepted into ABC without even performing onstage, and gets a lead role in Cooper's ballet. Never do we see him dance so much as an allegro, since Shakiem Evans was also not a highly trained dancer.
** We also see the reverse of this – an InformedAttribute with Jody. We're told almost immediately that she doesn't have enough turnout and has "bad feet." While Amanda Schull said turnout and feet were among her own struggles as a professional dancer, the only example we see of truly insufficient turnout from Jody is in a close-up – otherwise her turnout doesn't appear to be significantly worse than that of her peers, and her feet, while not the most exaggerated arch, are far from flat or "bad" ballet feet.

* MemeticMutation: "I am the best Goddamn dancer at the American Ballet Academy. Who the Hell are you? Nobody."

* NarmCharm: Cooper's ballet is cheesy as hell with every cheesy plot line imaginable, but it just ''works.''

* RetroactiveRecognition: Most of the actors in this (besides Peter Gallagher) went on to obscurity, for at least a few years, but it was an early role for Zoe Saldana, and Amanda Schull (Jody) eventually went back to acting and had an extended run on ''{{Series/Suits}}''. The ABT professional dancers in the cast, however, continued their careers more or less uninterrupted, with Julie Kent and Ethan Stiefel partnering each other as principals at ABT for years afterward.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: You think it's bad to be a corps dancer in Jonathan's ballet? One has to wonder what someone has to do to become a corps dancer in Cooper's ballet – we don't know any of the dancers who are stuck doing pliés at a barre and walking in a straight line across a stage, but it's pretty hard to not feel sorry for these dancers who definitely ''won't'' be getting jobs based on ''that'' performance. Plus all the girls are used to Jody being the technically deficient dancer who's constantly getting corrected, so there was probably no small amount of confusion and jealousy over her getting the lead.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Maureen would have had an understudy – even in-universe, we see understudies for Jody, Eric and Charlie, and Cooper mentions Eric having an understudy (albeit one who isn't ready). So while it's already not believable that a backstage coordinator or stage manager did not make sure Maureen was checked in and ready for a call, the matter of her understudy is never mentioned. It is, however, possible that ''Eva'' was Maureen's understudy. It would explain why Eva knew Maureen's part so well and was able to cleanly dance with Sergei, as well as why Jonathan was angry with Eva, but not angry enough to reject Eva from joining the company.
* TheWoobie: Jody. She was accepted into a program the teachers barely thought she could handle and then seemed to be blamed for it, instead of casting blame on Jonathan Reeves for accepting her in the first place. She's treated poorly by some of her peers not because she isn't a nice girl, but because she's not as strong of a dancer. She's barely legal age (if that) but her ballet teacher seeks her out at a downtown class and seduces her, then is amazed when the ''literal teenager'' he slept with thinks they're in a relationship and gets clingy. She's almost kicked out of the school numerous times, despite a good work ethic, and is verbally abused by a power-tripping choreographer in front of visiting guests. Although, for some reason, she decides to continue training with him.

** Maureen's mother pushed her into studying ballet since she was nine years old without ever considering if that was what she really wanted, berates her for not living up to her mother's standards and makes her so stressed she starts purging to keep her weight down. When Maureen finally snaps and [[CallingTheOldManOut Calls The Old Lady Out]] for all the crap she put her through, it's a long time coming.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: You think it's bad to be a corps dancer in Jonathan's ballet? One has to wonder what someone has to do to become a corps dancer in Cooper's ballet – we don't know any of the dancers who are stuck doing pliés at a barre and walking in a straight line across a stage, but it's pretty hard to not feel sorry for these dancers who definitely ''won't'' be getting jobs based on ''that'' performance.

* CastTheExpert: This film is ''loaded'' with professional dancers. Creator/AmandaSchull (Jody), Ethan Stiefel (Cooper), Sascha Radetsky (Charlie), and Julie Kent (Kathleen) were all professional ballet dancers -- the latter three principal dancers with prominent companies in the American Ballet Theatre and the Dutch National Ballet -- whose careers continued long after filming was over. Zoe Saldana (Eva) trained pre-professionally, while Ilia Kulik (Sergei) was an Olympic champion figure skater. Actual students from the School of American Ballet play the corps, as well as background students at the school.

* UnfortunateImplications: Jody knows she probably won't be offered a position in ABC (it's left ambiguous, but the odds are still pretty high she would not be accepted, regardless of her performance on a single day) and proudly tells them she's going to join Cooper's company – Cooper, the man who broke her heart, who demonstrated a shady moral compass by sleeping with a (much younger) student, humiliating her in front of studio guests and essentially using her as a muse. He even goes in to kiss her again, after everything he's done, when she accepts his offer. She rebuffs him kindly, and we're supposed to be happy for Jody, but it's somewhat problematic that in order to advance her career, Jody has to choose between two different companies run by men who damaged her self-esteem in different ways, and that choosing Cooper is some sort of victory. Especially considering Cooper was a total KarmaHoudini for his actions in the movie. The worst part is there's TruthInTelevision; the ballet world has historically been filled with abusive and problematic artistic leaders who essentially don't make ''any'' decisions with dancers' mental health in mind.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Maureen would have had an understudy – even in-universe, we see understudies for Jody, Eric and Charlie, and Cooper mentions Eric having an understudy (albeit one who isn't ready). So while it's already not believable that a backstage coordinator or stage manager did not make sure Maureen was checked in and ready for a call, the matter of her understudy is never mentioned.
** There's also the theory that Eva was Maureen's understudy. It would explain why Eva knew Maureen's part so well and was able to cleanly dance with Sergei, as well as why Jonathan was angry with Eva, but not angry enough to reject Eva from joining the company.