YMMV / Center Stage (2000)

• Awesome Music: Along with the many classical ballet sounds, the use of R&B and pop music in Cooper's ballet—and on the soundtrack—is awesome and fitting for its scenes, including Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel," Mandy Moore's "I Wanna Be With You," Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat", and Red Hot Chili Peppers' cover of "Higher Ground".
• Base-Breaking Character: Eva. Many consider her a relatable character whose love of dance softens her, and her outbursts are understandable considering where she's from. Others consider her ungrateful, combative and rude, especially considering no one forced her to come to ABA.
• Broken Base:
  • 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.
  • Just how wrong is it for Cooper to snag Joan's donation that might have otherwise gone to ABC? The company that employed him for years and took him back, like all other ballet companies, relies on benefactors like Joan, and he led Jonathan to believe the entire time that he was buttering up Joan to secure a grant for ABC, not his own company. Then again, it's Joan's money to do what she pleases with – and Jonathan basically pimped Cooper out to Joan in the first place.
• Designated Villain:
  • 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.
  • Maureen is somewhat this as well, at least in the first half of the movie before she becomes a full-on woobie. She is instantly disliked by Eva for having an awkward introduction and asking her not to smoke in their shared room (a perfectly reasonable ask). The only full-on villainous thing she does is makes a remark about Emily's body, which is likely projection of her own body issues.
• Easily Forgiven: Cooper sleeps with a student – a fact that other company members clearly pick up on, therefore it's hard to believe it doesn't make it back to Jonathan – and then casts the girl he slept with as the lead in his piece, which would probably also prompt more gossip and controversy among students and teachers. He's an absolute heel to Jody and disrespects her during rehearsals, and yet she agrees to be a principal in his company. Possibly unintentional, but a dark example of Truth in Television as many dancers are forced to put up with abusive or cruel behaviour from choreographers and/or directors.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Eric, for his friendliness and openheartedness. It's tough to see him get injured.
  • Emily is sweet, friendly to everyone and basically forced out of ABA for gaining a few pounds.
• Heartwarming Moment:
  • Eva getting accepted into the company. Jonathan may be a jerk, but he does have a heart somewhere.
  • Seeing Maureen in the ending credits happy—and eating—in college with her boyfriend and new friends.
• Jerkass Woobie: Maureen takes the cake.
• Memetic Mutation: "I am the best Goddamn dancer at the American Ballet Academy. Who the hell are you? Nobody."
• Narm: Most of the one-liners and dialogue, particularly from Cooper and Maureen.
• Narm Charm:
  • Cooper's ballet is cheesy as hell with every clichéd plot line imaginable, but it just works.
  • The jazz class downtown also counts as this. It's the most 80s-style warm-up, class and choreography imaginable, but it does make you want to dance.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The subplot about Cooper seeking funding from philanthropist Joan Miller was inspired by Ethan Stiefel's real-life friendship with philanthropist Anka Palitz.
• Retroactive Recognition: Many of the actors in this (besides Peter Gallagher) went on to obscurity, for at least a few years, but it was the first major movie role for Zoe Saldana, and Amanda Schull (Jody) eventually went back to acting and had an extended run on 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.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: 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.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Although she acknowledges somewhat that she knows this, it's really no one's fault but Eva's that she was not cast as a lead in Jonathan's ballet. Her teachers have never denied that she was technically talented and lavished praise on her technique in class, and she nevertheless fought back with them most days, flouting the rules, talking back, cursing and raising her voice. She puts it lightly when she says "just goes to show, don't piss off the boss." She didn't accidentally cross Jonathan by making an Innocently Insensitive comment or having a difference of opinion; she picked fights with her teachers constantly.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: 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 he decides 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.
• The Woobie:
  • 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.
  • Emily also counts. She's seen as being nothing but nice to everyone (and although she's a minor character, it's noteworthy that she's invited along with the core group to Eric's birthday, while her gal-pal Anna is not) and she's the subject of nasty whisperings for her supposed weight gain, condescending remarks by her teachers and, eventually, expulsion for her body (which makes her lose her passion for dance all together).
  • Maureen's mother Nancy 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 calls her out for all the crap she put her through, it's a long time coming.

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