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25 years ago today saw the release of Center Stage, the dance movie featuring Amanda Schull and Zoe Saldãna, along with Broadway alums such as Donna Murphy, Peter Gallagher, and Debra Monk. The film follows a group of New York City ballet students working within the competitive world of professional dance, where they must devote themselves to their art with the rigor of Olympic athletes. While experiencing the joys, sorrows, and conflicts of youth, they vie for a place in the prestigious American Ballet Academy and strive to take center stage. Led by Schull as Jody Sawyer, the movie also featured a slew of real-life professional dancers such as Ethan Stiefel and Sascha Radetsky, both of whom were principals with the American Ballet Company. It also...

Most people know Zoe Saldana as either blue or green. But her work in the Avatar and Marvel universes are only her most recent outings.

Saldana's first role was in a dance movie called Center Stage. It was our intro to her and her most compelling part.

What Is Center Stage?

Center Stage is a 2000 film by director Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George) and revolves around a group of twelve aspiring ballet dancers invited to the prestigious American Ballet Academy to pursue their dreams of becoming professional ballet dancers.

The movie was unique in that it cast actual ballet dancers in the roles. It also features extended scenes of ballet that were done by the actors themselves. Many of them were first-time actors, including Zoe Saldana.

Center Stage revolves primarily around Jody Sawyer (Amanda Schull), a naive young woman who may not be the best dancer but is...

Zoe Saldaña revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that her former management team “discouraged” her from using her real name once she landed her first major acting role in the 2000 teen drama “Center Stage.” The actor stressed that her team was not trying to be malicious at the time. Saldaña starred in the Nicholas Hytner-directed drama as Eva Rodriguez, a smart aleck dancer from Boston. The “Center Stage” ensemble cast also included Amanda Schull, Susan May Pratt, Peter Gallagher, Donna Murphy and Ethan Stiefel.

“When I did [2000 film] ‘Center Stage,’ I remember being discouraged by my management at that time to use my name,” Saldaña said, “but their intention was never for me to stop being who I was. They celebrated who I was. But my manager at the time was a former singer and a ballroom performer, and she did change her name as well, when she...

Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Ethan Stiefel and Sascha Radetsky are reuniting to discuss the impact that Center Stage continues to have on their lives 20 years later. As fans of the drama will recall, this film was one of the first dance focused movies of the early 'aughts, with Julia Stiles' Save the Last Dance following the next year. It launched the careers of Amanda and Zoe, both of whom admitted during the reunion that this movie helped them realize that they truly wanted to devote their life to acting.  As Zoe explained it, she had given up on becoming a dancer prior to landing the role. "Booking Center Stage was beyond my...

“Center Stage” stars Zoe Saldana, Amanda Schull, Sascha Radetsky and Ethan Stiefel reunited 20 years after the film’s debut to discuss the cultural touchstone and life-changing ballet film. Between port de bras and pas de trois references and stories about driving Harleys across fancy stages, the cast took this moment to reflect on larger issues of representation and diversity in the ballet community.

Joining together to raise funds for the American Ballet Theatre’s Crisis Relief Fund, a charity that provides aid for dancers, production crews, musicians, ballet staff and faculty impacted by cancellations from Covid-19, the cast shared behind-the-scenes stories and fun memories. But then the conversation turned more serious with a thoughtful breakdown about how “Center Stage” helped dispel stereotypes for male dancers and how much work the ballet community still needs to do for better representation.

Over the years, Schull revealed that she is often approached by...

Jody Sawyer and her terrible turnout are about to pirouette into a new venue: the small screen.

A TV adaptation of the 2000 dance movie Center Stage is in development at Sony Pictures Television, our sister site Deadline reports. Sweet/Vicious creator Jennifer Kaytin Robinson is on board to write, executive-produce and direct the pilot.

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Laurence Mark, who produced the film and its two sequels — Center Stage: Turn It Up...

Exclusive: Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Columbia Pictures film Center Stage, which was released on May 12, 2000 and launched the feature careers of Zoe Saldana and Amanda Schull.

Center Stage, a follow-up series to the cult film, has now been put in development by Sony Pictures Television. It comes from Sweet/Vicious creator Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Laurence Mark, producer of the 2000 movie and its two sequels, and Temple Hill Entertainment.

Written by Robinson, who also executive produces and will direct the potential pilot, Center Stage is a series continuation of the original film set today within the highly competitive world of dance. It follows a new, inclusive class of dancers as they work to stay at the academy and clash against the traditional students and style the Aba is known for. Ballet has always been a conformist world, but with Cooper Nielson now at the helm of the Aba and the ABC,...

American Ballet Theatre (Abt) hosts its annual Holiday Benefit dinner and performance on Monday, December 17, 2018 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills.

The evening will feature a one-night-only special performance by the world-renowned artists of the American Ballet Theatre, including Principal Dancers Stella Abrera, Isabella Boylston, Misty Copeland, Sarah Lane, Hee Seo, Christine Shevchenko and Cory Stearns performing scenes from the Company’s unrivaled repertoire, followed by a post-performance dinner and dessert with the dancers. Four-time Emmy nominated, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award winning actress, Jennifer Garner will serve as master of ceremonies.

The 2018 Annual Holiday Benefit performance will include excerpts from the holiday classic The Nutcracker, created by celebrated choreographer and Abt Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, as well as scenes from Ratmansky’s Harlequinade, which will have its West Coast premiere at the Segerstrom Center in January. This performance also features excerpts from Jessica Lang’s Garden Blue,...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: In light of recent “Galaxy Quest” and “Lord of the Rings” news, which movie/movie franchise should be rebooted as a TV series? (question courtesy of Allison Keene)

Pilot Viruet (@pilotbacon), Vice

I have so many ideas for this! During that season we got “Minority Report” and “Limitless,” I got angry about how many of these reboots/remakes/sequels are male-skewering and male-dominated and started making a list of all the movies I’d rather see instead – obviously ones that are more focused on telling stories about women and non-binary folks. “Whip It” could be a fantastic Freeform teen drama series (I’m still angry that...

Confession: I love Center Stage. A lot. Like “I downloaded Jamiroquai’s ‘Canned Heat’ for when I need to get pumped up” a lot. I even watched the sequel Turn It Up when it premiered (exclusively) on Oxygen.

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I know the films aren’t high art. All I ask for is dance sequences. Lots of them. (Sorry, Starz’s Flesh and Bone — you needed 80 percent less drama and 100 percent more dancing.) So the opening minutes of Lifetime’s threequel movie On Pointe on Saturday were a promising start,...

Attention, lovers of early '00s cinematic classic Center Stage: This is not a drill! Lifetime has made another sequel to the seminal dance movie and E! News has your first look at the new production, Center Stage: On Pointe. Before you start to worry, take a breath: Yes, Peter Gallagher is back as American Ballet Academy boss Jonathan Reeves, Sascha Radetsky is back as dancer (and now choreographer) Charlie, and Ethan Stiefel is back as cocky dancer-turned-choreographer Cooper Nielson (you know—great choreographer, sucky boyfriend). Kenny Wormald and Nicole Munoz are also returning as their Center Stage: Turn It Up characters Tommy Anderson and Bella Parker, who were introduced in the 2008 made-for-tv...

Sneak Peek footage from the Starz Limited Series "Flesh and Bone", from Emmy award-winning writer/executive producer Moira Walley-Beckett ("Breaking Bad"), available January 5, 2016 on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment:

"...young ballet dancer 'Claire', who has a distinctly troubled past, joins a prestigious ballet company in New York. The dark, gritty, complex series unflinchingly explores the dysfunction and glamour of the ballet world and New York’s inherent drama.

"Claire is emotionally wounded, sexually damaged, and possesses self-destructive tendencies amid her vaulting ambitions. She is a transcendent ballerina, but her inner torment and aspirations drive her in compelling, unforeseeable ways...

"...especially when confronted with the manipulations of the company’s unpredictable Artistic Director, and an unwelcome visitor from her past..."

Cast includes 22 accomplished ballet dancers including former 'American Ballet Theatre' soloist Sascha Radetsky and Irina Dvorovenko, also a former American Ballet Theatre principal.

Ethan Stiefel formerly artistic director...

The adage “Dance like nobody’s watching” doesn’t really apply to the ballerinas of Starz’s new Flesh and Bone. As members of one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the country, these slender, determined athletes must move like every single step, gesture and facial expression is being scrutinized in microscopic detail.

Because it is.

On that tip, we’d like to hear what you thought of the limited series, which premiered Sunday. But first, a brief recap:

The drama begins in Pittsburgh, as 21-year-old Claire (played by Sarah Hay, Black Swan) hustles herself and her suitcase out...

To hardcore ballet fans, Ethan Stiefel and Sascha Radetsky are two of the greatest male dancers of the past decade, both of whom retired after storied careers at American Ballet Theatre. To everyone else, they will forever be Cooper (Stiefel) and Charlie (Radetsky), the swoon-worthy guys vying for the heart of Jody Sawyer in Nicholas Hytner’s Center Stage. In real life, the fan fiction writes itself: Stiefel and Radetsky, along with their ballerina wives (Abt principal dancers Gillian Murphy and Stella Abrera, respectively), are total besties. They’re reunited on Flesh and Bone, Starz’s new ballet-centric drama miniseries debuting Sunday night, created by Breaking Bad producer Moira Walley-Beckett. Stiefel is behind the camera as choreographer, while Radetsky’s warming up his acting chops again as Ross, a talented dancer with his eye on the troupe’s latest addition, Claire (Sarah Hay). Stiefel and Radetsky chatted with Vulture about...

Blood, sex, manipulation. It’s all in a day’s work for the ballet company at the center of Starz’s Flesh and Bone (premiering Sunday).

VideosFlesh and Bone Ep, Cast Preview Starz’s ‘Raw, Authentic’ Dance Drama

The limited series follows ingenue Claire (played by real-life dancer Sarah Hay) as she runs away from her troubled past and falls into a “dark and gritty” situation that is a far cry from co-star Sascha Radetsky‘s circa-2000 dance-themed movie Center Stage, the actor says.

The Starz project “really takes risks,” Radetsky continues. “It explores all the shadier elements of not just the dance world,...

If you are a fan of ballet, then you'll love some of the dancing in Flesh And Bone. However, if you are looking for real non-dancing drama in the Starz limited series, you'll be disappointed. As my video review above says, the series, which debuts November 8, never really takes flight and offers no real surprises. Besides the dancing — choreographed by former American Ballet Theatre dancer Ethan Stiefel — the only real bright spot in the Moira Walley-Beckett-created…...

The Center Stage dance crew is reuniting for a third installment of the franchise, along with new addition, Dance Moms alum Chloe Lukasiak. Production is underway in Vancouver, Canada on Center Stage: Dance Camp for a yet-to-be announced premiere date on Lifetime. Reprising their original roles from the Center Stage teen drama films are Peter Gallagher (Center Stage, Center Stage: Turn It Up, Law & Order Svu), Ethan Stiefel (Center Stage), Kenny Wormald (Center Stage: Tur…...

Beneath copious sequins and thunderous applause lies the grueling life of a professional dancer, and Starz’s Flesh and Bone is determined to bring you into that world — bloody toenails and all.

In the exclusive video above, series creator Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad) and members of the cast and crew take us behind the scenes of the ballet drama, which cast real dancers in the lead roles rather than using body doubles.

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“It felt important that the world of the [ballet] company feel as raw and authentic as we could make it,...

The AMC drama Breaking Bad has revealed the talents of a number of its crew over the years, with many of them going on to individual projects that have garnered attention themselves. Among them was writer and executive producer Moira Walley-Beckett, who has penned episodes such as “Ozymandias” and “Bullet Points” for the show. Walley-Beckett’s next project will see her at the helm of her own show, as she created the upcoming Starz series Flesh and Bone.

Billed as a limited series, Flesh and Bone will revolve around an aspiring ballerina in New York City, and will consist of eight episodes, with the cast being filled out by 22 professional ballet dancers. The show’s synopsis is as follows.

Claire, a talented but emotionally troubled dancer, joins a company in New York City, and soon finds herself immersed in the tough and often cutthroat world of professional ballet.

Starz had...

Starz is adding to their slate of originals with a limited run series, Flesh and Bone, and it could end up being one of the biggest shows around when it finally hits on November 8th.

It has a lot going for it in terms of getting people interested and talking – Breaking Bad connection, dancer with a troubled past and lots of problems – and with the track record of focusing on quality shows, this one should really be amazing.

Take a look below, and mark your calendars.

Starz Limited Series “Flesh And Bone” To Premiere November 8, 2015 From Emmy® Award-Winning “Breaking Bad” Writer and Executive Producer Moira Walley-Beckett

Starz today announced that “Flesh and Bone,” the eight-hour limited series created by Emmy® award-winning “Breaking Bad” Writer and Executive Producer Moira Walley-Beckett, will premiere on Sunday November 8, 2015.

Starz also released the key art for the limited series shot by photographer James Minchin.

“Flesh and Bone...

The curtain will rise on Flesh and Bone, Starz’s limited series about the competitive world of professional ballet, on Sunday, Nov. 8, the network announced Thursday.

The drama follows young, talented, self-destructive dancer Claire (played by Sarah Hay, Black Swan) as she navigates “the dysfunction and glamour of the ballet world.” Over the course of the eight-hour series, Claire is pushed to her limits by her ballet company’s artistic director (Ben Daniels, House of Cards) and shaken by the arrival of an unwelcome visitor from her past.

Video Patrick Stewart Is a Boorish, Boozy Blowhard in Starz’s Blunt Talk...

Starz has picked up a drama series called "Flesh and Bone" from "Breaking Bad" writer-producer Moira Walley-Beckett -- but the subject matter is far removed from the world of Walter White.

The series, which is to debut in 2015, centers on a talented but emotionally fragile ballet dancer and her fellow dancers in a ballet company in New York. Professional dancer Sarah Hay (above right with Walley-Beckett) has landed the lead role of Claire. Hay appeared in "Black Swan" as a member of the ballet company, but this will be her first on-camera acting role.

"From the beginning, we all agreed this project could not go forward unless we found a world-class dancer who had the ability to convey the widest range of emotions that Moira has written," Starz CEO Chris Albrecht says in a statement. "This is one of the most challenging and dynamic characters I have ever seen and...

Starz has cast a foursome of professional dancers in its upcoming dysfunctional ballet drama, which now has the title "Flesh and Bone," in addition to bringing on Ethan Stiefel, the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet and one of the stars of "Center Stage," as a consultant and choreographer. Former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko, current American Ballet Theatre soloist Sascha Radetsky (another "Center Stage" cast member), Ballet Arizona company dancer Raychel Diane Weiner and Emily Tyra (“Boardwalk Empire”) will all play supporting roles in the series. National auditions are underway for the lead role of "Claire Robbins," a young ballet dancer with a troubled past who joins a prestigious New York ballet company. "Flesh and Bone," which is in development at the network, comes from "Breaking Bad" co-executive producer Moira Walley-Beckett (whose writing credits on the show include the episodes "Gliding Over All," "Bug" and.

Exclusive: Starz is fast-tracking its ballet drama project, now titled Flesh And Bone. No formal green light yet, but the show, from executive producers Lawrence Bender, Kevin Brown and John Melfi and creator/exec producer Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad), has been actively casting, locking in four accomplished dancers for supporting roles. Additionally, Ethan Stiefel, star of the movies Center Stage and Center Stage: Turn It Up, has joined the project as consultant and choreographer. He is the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet and was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre from 1997-2012. Nationwide search for the lead role, Claire Robbins, continues, with more than 1,000 dancers already auditioned. Described as a dark and gritty exploration of the dysfunction and glamour of the ballet world, Flesh And Bone follows a young ballet dancer, Claire, who has a distinctly troubled past, as she joins a prestigious ballet company in New York.

Michelle Obama threw out the first ball for American Ballet Theatre's spring season, and with her powerful pitching arm it was little surprise that the seamed orb bounced off the Met's first ring and caromed off of Matthew Modine's head, disarranging his coif something fierce. But he laughed, we all laughed, because who says ballet has to be stuffy? Not me, who's been collecting ballerina trading cards since early manhood, apart from those two missing years when I was on my "vision quest." The lyric spring evening began on the Met balcony overlooking Lincoln Center, where an array of gowns and tuxedos occupied by socialites and celebrities greeted the gantlet of cameras and interviewers--gleaming notables whom I did my best to ID with the aid of my compact Leica binoculars. Kelly Ripa I recognized at a glance, of course; and could that be Lynda Carter?--it was, looking resplendent.

Tonya Plank--and whoever's bullying her, knock it off--reports on the Guggenheim's Ethan Stiefel/Larry Keigwin combo platter, which I'll be catching tonight (tickets are sold out). If there's a Q & A session afterwards, I hope there'll be time permitting to ask Ethan what his character's "motivation" was in Center Stage: Turn It Up, a question I will pose with the utmost sincerity so that his admirers in the audience won't take offense and bat me senseless with their ballet slippers. His fan base can be quite ferocious when poked with a stick. Update: Taylor Gordon also reports in on Sunday's performance demo. I had a good time last night, the section from Keigwin's "Natural Selection" was thrilling, but was nearly stampeded by senior citizens barreling to the refreshments tables as if they were storming Omaha Beach. I'm not a stickler for deportment and decorum, but I think stacking tiny sandwiches...