'Center Stage': Star Turns for Ballet Teens By Rita Kempley Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, May 12, 2000

Ethan Stiefel, Amanda Schull and Sascha Radetsky in "Center Stage." (Columbia)

The script by Carol Heikkinen ("This Thing Called Love") focuses on a group of driven young talents enrolled in a workshop at the fictitious American Ballet Academy. At the end of their training, only six of the hopefuls will be invited to join the ballet's company. However, scouts from other prestigious troupes will be in the audience for the students' gala workshop performance at Lincoln Center.

Jody (Amanda Schull of the San Francisco Ballet), the central character, acts and looks more like a cheerleader than a skeleton and is told that her body and attitude aren't those of a ballerina. But Jody is determined to prevail despite the low opinion of the artistic director (Peter Gallagher).

Her principal competition includes Eva (Zoe Saldana), a street smarty from the wrong side of Beantown who flouts the academy's rigid rules, and Maureen (Susan May Pratt), a bulimic badgered by her stage mother and adored by teachers for her perfect form.

When not en pointe, the young women deal with bitchy instructors, blistered feet, image problems and the pursuit of their male counterparts. This is apparently one of the few ballet companies populated exclusively by heterosexuals, with the exception of Erik (Shakiem Evans), who seems to be the troupe's token gay man.

Cooper (Ethan Stiefel, a superstar with American Ballet Theatre) plays the company's most desirable bachelor as well as its best dancer. Jody, who is soon seduced by Cooper, is also wooed by Charlie (Sascha Radetsky), one of the most promising and likable of the students.

The film's principal theme--dancing ought to be fun--is best demonstrated by the conflict between the restless, rebellious Cooper and the artistic director, a firm adherent of classical choreography. There are excerpts from several classical works (Kenneth MacMillan's "Romeo and Juliet," George Balanchine's "Stars and Stripes").

But Cooper's interest is the avant-garde, which he indulges when he choreographs a love triangle featuring Jody, Charlie and himself. In the piece, he scatters a flock of white swans when, clad in black leather, he roars onto the stage aboard his Harley-Davidson. It's tu-tu silly, but the balletomanes give the trio a standing ovation.

And now, which of these lovely and talented youths will be among The Chosen?

This adolescent-aimed, awkwardly acted backstage romance wouldn't seem to call for heavy lifters, yet Nicholas Hytner ("The Madness of King George") is in the director's chair, George Fenton ("Gandhi") composed the score, and Susan Stroman, a two-time Tony winner, provided choreography with Christopher Wheeldon, a soloist with the New York City Ballet.

Why didn't they just hire Debbie Allen?