I’m just slightly shocked that Josephine has never seen the behind the scenes of Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses, where Maria Kowroski (NYCB) dances as Genevieve for the motion capture (she did all the early Barbie ballet movies)
@@catkendall5680 Same here. I was kind of amazed Peter Martins created original choreography for that movie. It'd be really cool to hear Josephine's thoughts.
and also in the barbie and the nutcracker's dvd there's the documentary "living the ballet dream" with maria kowroski too, that's literally my childhood🥺🥺
Fun fact : Barbie in the 12 dancing princesses , had a dance company perform in the motion tracking suites with dots on to portray the exact real movement of the dancers . There is a video of behind the scenes somewhere.
Yes, yes yes! Specifically it was Peter Martins who choreographed it and NYC Ballet dancers danced it including Maria Kowroski-legend that she is-as the main girl. This is also how they did Barbie Nutcracker and Barbie Swan Lake, both of which I grew up on and the choreographic/motion capture process is yet another reason I will love those movies forever.
Dance Academy is so good! I love it compared to, say, Bunheads, because it actually has a LOT of dancing. And the main cast all have a real dance background so they are doing a significant amount of the dancing shown on screen.
This! It's probably my favorite tv show (it's one of those things I rewatch every year, much helped by how Dance Academy's official TH-cam channel still have all of season 2 and 3 available and if you search around most episodes from season 1 are possible to find on TH-cam too), it's at least very addicting. I unfortunately haven't got the chance to see the movie, but I've spoiled most of it for myself by reading about it on the internet and stuff like that.
Josephine!!!! I highly recommend the entire Dance Academy TV series (currently on Prime). Only three seasons so not a giant commitment. They wrap up the story with a feature length film they made several years after the show ended (also on Prime). The actors are dancers, and they're all quite good. The dancer who played Charlie in Center Stage plays a corps dancer in the STARZ series "Flesh And Bone," a very edgy story. All the actors are professional dancers. STARZ cancelled it because it was too expensive to insure the production for the dancers' safety. Caution: it is not for kids. It deals with a lot of traumatic and triggering topics. I could barely stomach the rest of the show but I enjoyed the dancing aspect of it.
Oh man, Flesh and Bone was absolutely terrific. I always thought it was intented to be a miniseries - I had no idea a second season got scrapped for insurance reasons. Fascinating.
@@ccdecker Agreed! F&B was terrific. I can usually handle heavy storylines but I know it will be a bit much for a lot of viewers. It was basically Game of Thrones for dance 😂 I found out they had planned a second season several years ago when I read that while the viewership was high, they just couldn't afford the production. Too bad, because Sarah Hay is an ace. Everyone was just so gooodddd
The Turning Point back from the 1970’s with Lesley Browne & Mikael Baryshnikov, Shirley McClain, and Ann Bancroft. Saw it at least 7 times in the theatre and hundreds of times on VHS!
The ballet Barbie films are actually done in mocap with actual dancers. The Barbie Nutcracker was really good considering when it came out. Especially something as elegant and complex as ballet and is a very well known and renowned ballet.
If you are obsessed with red pointe shoes you should've included 'The Red Shoes' - ICONIC original dance movie. And also the ballet scene from A Chorus Line movie and the actual GODDESS that is Cyd Charisse in 'Singin in the Rain'. Go old school.
Loved that post! Thank you Josephine ❤ My problem with Black Swan is the lack of honesty from Natalie and the production regarding the fact that she was not the one actually dancing :/
The teacher at 02:34 is Tara Morice, herself the star of a fantastic dance movie, Baz Lurhmann's Strictly Ballroom (1992). It's an absolute gem of a film!
Josephine's reaction to Center Stage is me. Entirely me! We had a senior level pointe dancer at the studio where I studied, and she actually did a gorgeous number to Lady In Red one year, and we were all super jealous because she had the red pointe shoes.
There was a children's ballet company in my area growing up that did one big production a year. The year before I started they did 12 Dancing Princesses. They brought in a choreographer each year to create the ballet on the company and I think it was the one year there were enough advanced/pre-professional students to cast all 12 Princesses. So, at least one version of that story exists as a full length ballet!
I love that you watched so much more of center stage than any other movie. It's by far the best ballet movie. It's my guilty pleasure at 43 years old for sure
My former dance teacher Deanna McBrearty did a lot of the main ballet stuff in center stage. She was a corps dancer with NYCB at the time. She’s front and center in a lot of the class clips! She’s also Maureen’s full body double in a few class scenes. Besides the speaking roles, she’s the star. 5:466:32
I was wondering if Maureen was actually that good or if there was a body double involved, cause damn, that movie is so well done, you can't even tell. Well, that and the fact that the actresses have ballet backgrounds too... like Zoe Saldana, for example.
The first possible move to react to that into my head was White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. It is an older one. I think from the 80's, but the opening sequence...OMG. I loved Dancers as well. It is also with Mikhail Baryshnikov, but also a young up and coming (at the time) Julie Kent.
Came here to see if anyone mentioned White Nights. Not just my favorite dance movie, but possibly my favorite all time movie. Still own it on VHS... though I have no VHS player, it was so important to me as a teen, I just can't let it go!
the creator of Dance Academy was in fact a ballet dancer growing up and created the series based on her experience growing up. Yes same scenes are dramatized for the show tho XD
I love Center Stage. The acting is... rough, but the dancing is sooooo good. Especially compared to the other dance movies that came out around the same time. Now do Save the Last Dance.
I don't think the acting is all that bad. Save the Last Dance is fun because they actually used Julia Styles even in all the ballet scenes. If you look carefully you can see she can't get her leg up high enough, and she is on demi-pointe while the rest of the class is on pointe.
Came here to second The Red Shoes. It was the "Center Stage" of an entire previous generation, in the sense of how many people it inspired to take ballet. Moira Shearer is absolutely dazzling. And also you get to see dancing from the likes of Robert Helpmann and Leonide Massine. Modern viewers may find the message of the artist being unable to choose between love and art outdated, but such a struggle is still relevant to dancers today. The film is a masterpiece in its own right and I'd love for Josephine to do a whole video on it.
I saw "Center Stage" in college, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it! I also absolutely LOVED the scene where they dance to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I just came home from a ballet class and I mentally felt like I was going to quit. I starting watching this video and it helped me feel more confident and happy. Im not going to quit dance because of you. Thank You So Much!!
i'm honestly shocked that hardly anyone has heard of Flesh and Bone because it was great imo! it's a mimi drama show starring the absolutely gorgeous Sarah Hay and while it has some over-to-the-top dramatic plotlines, i thought it was really entertaining and a fairly accurate representation of ballet! (and for y'all Charlie enthusiasts; it also features Sascha Radetsky and he's fantastic as always, you're welcome
Is that the one where the main girl was assaulted by her brother so she left home to go to dance school but he kept weaseling his way into her life? I could be wrong but I've been trying to remember the name of that movie forever and I guess I'm not putting in enough info in Google to find it.
Center Stage will ALWAYS be one of my favorite all time movies!! I loved it so much when it came out (I’m 40 this year) and I can’t hear the song “The Way You Make Me Feel” without immediately thinking of the choreography of this movie. 🥰
Definitely "The Turning Point " because it had Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne formerly of ABT and had some great dancing scenes. Another film just released this year called "Rise" a French film featuring Marion Barbeau of the Paris Opera Ballet.
I was on three month long trip in New York to take dance classes around the time when Center stage was coming out. They had flyers at one of the dance schools where I was taking classes for free showing. I think they ran some test shows with it before it came out. So of course I went to see it. Loved it back then and still love it now even though some of the scenes are bit childish when you stop to think of them.
The tv show The Next Step is about a team of competition dancers and so has many dance scenes and there’s a few pointe dancers, cast members are competitive dancers or ex completive dancers so is very accurate bar drama hyped up and also made clearer for non dancers and kids to understand
While “Center Stage” was LIFE, I’m surprised she didn’t react to “The Company”. I LOVED that movie! The behind the scenes were incredible too. As someone who is a retired professional ballet dancer, I found that to be so very realistic. Plus Neve Campbell was SO very invested and I loved that! I believe they used Joffrey dancers too! ❤❤❤❤❤
Center Stage is everything ♡ I used to do Hip Hop when I was younger but Center Stage really made me love ballet back then but I felt like I wasn't the right "body size". So I kept doing Hip Hop and Zumba and stuff until I finally got the courage at 27 and start ballet 🤗 So happy I did even if I started late.
I'd love to see a reaction video to Sergei Polunin dancing to Take Me to Church. I know there aren't any pointe shoes but it was the video that reminded me just how much I love watching ballet. Watching him dance and seeing the lines of his body also inspired me to start using dancers as inspiration for my art as the lines of the bodies in motion are incredible, and also feet in pointe shoes make for lovely art as well.
I had forgotten this! I love it so much. Amazingly beautiful, and less than 20 cuts in the entire 4 minute video. th-cam.com/video/c-tW0CkvdDI/w-d-xo.html
I forgot that Susan Stroman did the choreography to Center Stage until I saw the male soloist do those turns after leaving the bike. Fantastic work on that film.
For animation, the greatest dance series is Princess Tutu. A magical girl series about a dance student who becomes a magical ballerina to return the shards of a shattered heart to the prince. Battle scenes consist of dancing with the person holding the heart shard. Stories are based on great ballet, with The Nutcracker and Swan Lake featured repeatedly, as well as Giselle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia. Other music includes the Edgemont Overture, Midsummer Night Dream and Pictures at an Exhibition. th-cam.com/video/PKKaHJ3Hmng/w-d-xo.html
I loved Center Stage so much when it first came out that I had to do my own research (as a would-be dancer) to make sure I could, in good conscience, love it. I’m SO glad it’s Josephine-approved, as well! Best dance movie ever!! (I still have a crush on Charlie 😉)
I absolutely agree to Center Stage being in first place. Absolutely AMAZING movie. I've seen it too many times to count. They even mention eating disorders, which unfortunately does happen to a lot of girls who dance.
LOVE Center Stage! I worked at the Metropolitan Opera (where ABT performed) when Ethan, Sascha, & Julie were with ABT. Ethan has a pretty wild look now & is with American Rep. Sascha is with ABT Studio company. Amanda went on to do lots of good acting roles.
Center Stage was my favorite movie for YEARS. My friends and I used to try to learn the choreography and do it before our BM came in for class 🤣🤣I also loved Save the Last Dance.
Dance Academy is A+… Josephine only watched a few more dramatic scenes from the first episode and I feel ripped off. Please watch a least one season - you wont regret it! Many Australians who have watched all seasons of this show will do a yearly rewatch. It’s iconic.
I was 17 when I saw Center Stage and I LOVED that movie, bought a vhs, dvd and just watched it a couple days ago on Hulu! Hadn’t watched it in a long time but know it inside out!! Obsessed!!! And yes, CHARLIE! ☺️ Ethan’s (Cooper) dancing is amazing though!!!! He was a principal at ABT for 15 years!
I’m showing my age here Josephine but the original Fame has always been my favourite. Couldn’t get into ballet school but I studied music instead so Fame ticked all the boxes for me ❤
Dance Academy sucked me in and I binge-watched it so hard that I developed a very slight Aussie accent for a short time. (I'm American and that has never happened before.) Warning: Ugly crying may ensue in later episodes. 🖤😭
I would love to hear your take on Save the Last Dance because I have... thoughts... about the ballet dancing in that movie. Actually, don't even get me started.
I'm missing here Billy Elliot. You should also have included the anime " Dance dance danceur". Coincidentally both are about young boys who discover their love for ballet.
Girl, it's because of you that I know what center stage is and I'm so grateful! It's an amazing movie, watching it as an adult. I can't imagine how epic it must have felt watching it as a preteen... Love your videos and obviously thank you for everything :D
I grew up dancing from 3, but gave up at 14. I did line dancing, ballet, tap and disco dancing. 'Centre Stage' is my all time favourite dance film. It gave me the same feelings that I had as a child, that magical energy... that awe inspiring electricity and goosebumps. I thought it was and still is extremely ***ICONIC***. It holds up against any other film. It always blows me away with how stunning everyone is in each dance and variation. It will always be my favourite dance film. Yes it is pure nostalgia and yes I wanted those red pointe shoes. ❤
I love that baby Gillian Murphy was in that end dance scene from Center Stage! Amanda Schull has a really cool interview with Megan Fairchild on TH-cam talking about her accepting the role in the movie.
Fun fact about Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses: They used motion capture for the dancing to make it as accurate as possible. So it was fully choreographed, practiced and performed by actual people (source: th-cam.com/video/SaibrO3vcI0/w-d-xo.html )
My daughter and I watched Center Stage together soooo many times! She was probably 8 or 9. She's 25 now and still remembers it fondly, and I've still got it on DVD in my collection. 😊
Centre stage is so nostalgic for me too! I was obsessed with this movie. I remember sitting on the floor of my grandparents tv room watching it with my granny. Has very sweet memories attached for me ❤
The movie my ballet friend and I were obsessed with growing up was White Nights, with Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. There was one scene in particular where a pirouette bet was made that my friend and I watched over and over and OVER. You should definitely check it out!
I was obsessed with Step Up as a teen... I guess its not a "ballet movie" but the opening scene was so fun with the ballet dancers and the hip hop music interspersed with break dancing
Fun fact that a lot of people don't know about Center Stage: While most of the cast were actual ballet dancers, Ilia Kulik who played Sergei, was a well-known Russian Figure skater.
Oh yeah! I definitely agree with a teacher taking you off pointe or knocking you down a level not being mean or a bad thing! It happened to me when I transferred to my current studio this past year. My old studio did a TERRIBLE job at teaching pointe, yet simultaneously excepted you to be flawlessly amazing at it from the get-go. They didn’t even HAVE pointe classes. Our ballet classes were 2 hours instead of the usual hour and a half because I guess the owners assumed that last half hour would be used for pointe, but it almost never was. And if a teacher *did* teach pointe that day, it wasn’t anything really substantial. So I ended up really struggling and stressing over my pointe skills and was frustrated that I couldn’t pick up the correct skills. When I transferred to my current studio in the fall, the head ballet teacher pecked me down a level to beginner pointe so I could get proper pointe training (I was on pointe for 2.5 to 3 years prior to transferring). One year later and my pointe skills have immensely improved and I will be moving up to intermediate pointe in the fall!
Find me in Paris is a series on Disney plus about ballet with a time travel spin on it. It’s set in France but I would definitely recommend it!! Possibly takes a bit of getting into and it was originally made by Nickelodeon so it’s not the most mature but I think it’s great!!
Please have Josephine react to the making of the 12 Dancing Princesses!!! It shows the New York City Ballet (I’m pretty sure) choreographing the dances with real ballerinas! It’s fascinating and so cool to see the behind the scenes!!!
I really love Center Stage too. I got to see the blonde lead guy dance in Connecticut once, he had as much enthusiasm and talent live as he did throughout the movie, a joy to watch. I've watched Center Stage more than probably any other movie, so great.
There's an anime that came out last year called Dance Dance Danseur. Few of the Tokyo Ballet dancers were used for motion capturing. Highly recommend it.
I think you did a great job ranking! I love center stage it’s my favorite dance movie followed by Billy Elliot (Which you should do a reaction video to!) 🩷
Center Stage is my favorite dance movie too. Huge crush on Charlie too, but honestly I was taken by Cooper (which is weird, because I'm much more into brunettes and gotta have the amazing eyes)! I'm a little older than you, because this came out when I was 20.
@simplystreeptacular I agree with Zoe Saldana's line from the movie that she looks like a gerbil, so I definitely didn't have leanings that way. But I can see how others might. I'm sure you weren't alone.
I would love for you to react to an anime called Princess Tutu. It's very cute with a combo of both realistic and non realistic ballet scenes. You might enjoy.
12:37 The reason why that barbie movie looked real and had more accurate dancing than Leap is because it was motion-captured by New York City Ballet dancers. That's also why they move so organically when they're not dancing. I think the only thing hand-animated in those movies are the facial expressions and animals.
Leslie Caron in the Glass Slipper! There was a dream ballet dance sequence where she did pique turns around a big tiered cake. Also, there are some AMAZING dances from the dance show that J Lo produces (?). Can’t remember the name. But there was a M&F from Utah that 🤯🤯🤯 my mind (and the judges’ minds too)
I love "Center Stage"one of my all time favorites. Another movie you should check out is "High Strung". The girl who plays the lead character 'Ruby' danced before she acted and is beautiful.
The 12 dancing princesses was my top best most favorite movie as a kid, and I love to revisit it still. I actually looked into the production of it not long ago and they used actual ballet dancer(s) as a reference to make the animation. They actually had someone dance the choreography and used the video to animate the models. So yes. It does look better and feel more real than leap, because it was made using actual ballet footage (I don't believe I've seen leap production bts or anything mention they used real footage for their choreographies/animation)
There was a girl at my daughter’s studio who was on pointe at a different studio but then came to our studio on pointe. Not only that but she was using amazon pointe shoes of some kind of brand. Ballet teacher immediately took her off pointe because she is really strict about when someone is ready to be on pointe - technique and ankle/feet strength, strong core, etc. She makes it a huge deal when kids make it onto pointe, too. My daughter’s friends were on pointe for almost two years before my daughter and it seemed really frustrating but she worked hard, got a lot of privates, and got her invitation (They get an actual invitation) to be on pointe last month and she goes for her fitting in two two weeks. I like how it is done. The high expectations prevents injuries from starting when they’re not ready, but also.. it makes it a HUGE deal for dancers when they finally get it and everyone hugs them, screams with excitement, and celebrates them. They only get invites once a year, too, as they don’t want to risk injury during comp season.
there is a german ballet tv series en subsequent movie called "Anna". you just check it out, the dancing is good as far as i can remember. There is a bunch of ( now ) women in germany that lived their ballet fantasies through that series. i am one of them. :)
Fun facts about Amanda Schull of "Center Stage" - her mother Susan Schull is the President of Ballet Hawaii. Amanda trained at Hawaii State Ballet, then became an apprentice with the San Francisco Ballet. She was in her apprenticeship while filming this movie! She moved up to the Corps and then retired in 2006 to act full-time.
6-7 years ago, I saw a production of the Nutcracker and when I opened my program, I nearly died because Charlie from Center Stage was featured. I had no idea he would be there when we bought the tickets. And no one around me knew what I was talking about, so I was just freaking out to myself.
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
I’m just slightly shocked that Josephine has never seen the behind the scenes of Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses, where Maria Kowroski (NYCB) dances as Genevieve for the motion capture (she did all the early Barbie ballet movies)
Omg she NEEDS to react.
I was thinking EXACTLY the same
@@catkendall5680 Same here. I was kind of amazed Peter Martins created original choreography for that movie. It'd be really cool to hear Josephine's thoughts.
Barbie ballet was always a slay, i can’t believe it didn’t rank higher
and also in the barbie and the nutcracker's dvd there's the documentary "living the ballet dream" with maria kowroski too, that's literally my childhood🥺🥺
Fun fact : Barbie in the 12 dancing princesses , had a dance company perform in the motion tracking suites with dots on to portray the exact real movement of the dancers . There is a video of behind the scenes somewhere.
Yes, yes yes! Specifically it was Peter Martins who choreographed it and NYC Ballet dancers danced it including Maria Kowroski-legend that she is-as the main girl. This is also how they did Barbie Nutcracker and Barbie Swan Lake, both of which I grew up on and the choreographic/motion capture process is yet another reason I will love those movies forever.
Yes! Center Stage is SUPREME, but Dance Academy is also S level for me. The whole series is just *chef's kiss*. You should react to more of it!
It's really good, and I love the movie.
Dance Academy is so good! I love it compared to, say, Bunheads, because it actually has a LOT of dancing. And the main cast all have a real dance background so they are doing a significant amount of the dancing shown on screen.
@deniseeliza1 but bunheads was also amazing, and was canceled way too soon.
This! It's probably my favorite tv show (it's one of those things I rewatch every year, much helped by how Dance Academy's official TH-cam channel still have all of season 2 and 3 available and if you search around most episodes from season 1 are possible to find on TH-cam too), it's at least very addicting. I unfortunately haven't got the chance to see the movie, but I've spoiled most of it for myself by reading about it on the internet and stuff like that.
@Agent160FTW the movie is so good!!
Josephine!!!! I highly recommend the entire Dance Academy TV series (currently on Prime). Only three seasons so not a giant commitment. They wrap up the story with a feature length film they made several years after the show ended (also on Prime). The actors are dancers, and they're all quite good.
The dancer who played Charlie in Center Stage plays a corps dancer in the STARZ series "Flesh And Bone," a very edgy story. All the actors are professional dancers. STARZ cancelled it because it was too expensive to insure the production for the dancers' safety.
Caution: it is not for kids. It deals with a lot of traumatic and triggering topics. I could barely stomach the rest of the show but I enjoyed the dancing aspect of it.
Oh man, Flesh and Bone was absolutely terrific. I always thought it was intented to be a miniseries - I had no idea a second season got scrapped for insurance reasons. Fascinating.
@@ccdecker Agreed! F&B was terrific. I can usually handle heavy storylines but I know it will be a bit much for a lot of viewers. It was basically Game of Thrones for dance 😂
I found out they had planned a second season several years ago when I read that while the viewership was high, they just couldn't afford the production. Too bad, because Sarah Hay is an ace. Everyone was just so gooodddd
Dance Academy the complete series is also on TH-cam! Xx
@@kaelaleedaley OMG you're right I just checked and they even have extra long episodes?! MY NEW OBSESSION
@@theGreta Enjoy! 😄 xx
The Turning Point back from the 1970’s with Lesley Browne & Mikael Baryshnikov, Shirley McClain, and Ann Bancroft. Saw it at least 7 times in the theatre and hundreds of times on VHS!
Love this movie, too. Such great acting as well as dancing.
Yes yes yes! Hands down one of the best!
Same, my favorite, now i need to watch it again!!
Amazing movie, with a great story and acting.
Absolutely!
The ballet Barbie films are actually done in mocap with actual dancers. The Barbie Nutcracker was really good considering when it came out. Especially something as elegant and complex as ballet and is a very well known and renowned ballet.
If you are obsessed with red pointe shoes you should've included 'The Red Shoes' - ICONIC original dance movie. And also the ballet scene from A Chorus Line movie and the actual GODDESS that is Cyd Charisse in 'Singin in the Rain'. Go old school.
OMG I love the Red Shoes. It's such a gorgeous movie.
100% Agree! You can't beat old school. Red Shoes was one of the most iconic movies ever.❤
LOVE 'The Red Shoes" so so much!! ♥
❤ center stage movie especially when she wears the red costume underneath.
Loved that post! Thank you Josephine ❤
My problem with Black Swan is the lack of honesty from Natalie and the production regarding the fact that she was not the one actually dancing :/
Bunheads (starring Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop) is an absolute favorite. Such as good show but was cancelled after a season :(
YES, was just scrolling through comments to see if anyone else posted about it before I did. I love it. so much..
Yeah, I'm still a little salt about that being canceled. It was *so* good!
Loved this show.
Loved Bunheads!
everyone agrees
The teacher at 02:34 is Tara Morice, herself the star of a fantastic dance movie, Baz Lurhmann's Strictly Ballroom (1992). It's an absolute gem of a film!
I thought I recognized her! I love Strictly Ballroom too.
Strictly ballroom is so amazing!!
Josephine's reaction to Center Stage is me. Entirely me! We had a senior level pointe dancer at the studio where I studied, and she actually did a gorgeous number to Lady In Red one year, and we were all super jealous because she had the red pointe shoes.
Same, except the ballet part, not a dancer, just love it.
I loved it but could never get over how the staging would actually work for Cooper's ballet
There was a children's ballet company in my area growing up that did one big production a year. The year before I started they did 12 Dancing Princesses. They brought in a choreographer each year to create the ballet on the company and I think it was the one year there were enough advanced/pre-professional students to cast all 12 Princesses. So, at least one version of that story exists as a full length ballet!
I need to see this!
@@TheHugeDilEmma It was the 90s. I doubt the video even still exists 😥
Everyone who loves Black Swan should see Dancing on Glass. It basically does with Giselle what Black Swan does with Swan lake. It’s really good!! ❤
ooo thank you!
I love that you watched so much more of center stage than any other movie. It's by far the best ballet movie. It's my guilty pleasure at 43 years old for sure
My former dance teacher Deanna McBrearty did a lot of the main ballet stuff in center stage. She was a corps dancer with NYCB at the time. She’s front and center in a lot of the class clips! She’s also Maureen’s full body double in a few class scenes. Besides the speaking roles, she’s the star. 5:46 6:32
I was wondering if Maureen was actually that good or if there was a body double involved, cause damn, that movie is so well done, you can't even tell. Well, that and the fact that the actresses have ballet backgrounds too... like Zoe Saldana, for example.
The first possible move to react to that into my head was White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. It is an older one. I think from the 80's, but the opening sequence...OMG. I loved Dancers as well. It is also with Mikhail Baryshnikov, but also a young up and coming (at the time) Julie Kent.
Alessandra Ferri's in it, too. Such a stunner!
Came here to see if anyone mentioned White Nights. Not just my favorite dance movie, but possibly my favorite all time movie. Still own it on VHS... though I have no VHS player, it was so important to me as a teen, I just can't let it go!
the creator of Dance Academy was in fact a ballet dancer growing up and created the series based on her experience growing up. Yes same scenes are dramatized for the show tho XD
I love Center Stage. The acting is... rough, but the dancing is sooooo good. Especially compared to the other dance movies that came out around the same time. Now do Save the Last Dance.
I love save the last dance too, but it's not the same level at all.
I don't think the acting is all that bad.
Save the Last Dance is fun because they actually used Julia Styles even in all the ballet scenes. If you look carefully you can see she can't get her leg up high enough, and she is on demi-pointe while the rest of the class is on pointe.
Came here to second The Red Shoes. It was the "Center Stage" of an entire previous generation, in the sense of how many people it inspired to take ballet. Moira Shearer is absolutely dazzling. And also you get to see dancing from the likes of Robert Helpmann and Leonide Massine. Modern viewers may find the message of the artist being unable to choose between love and art outdated, but such a struggle is still relevant to dancers today. The film is a masterpiece in its own right and I'd love for Josephine to do a whole video on it.
I saw "Center Stage" in college, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it! I also absolutely LOVED the scene where they dance to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I just came home from a ballet class and I mentally felt like I was going to quit. I starting watching this video and it helped me feel more confident and happy. Im not going to quit dance because of you. Thank You So Much!!
literally never stop dancing 💫
You owe it to yourself to watch all of the dance scenes in White Nights! Baryshnikov in his prime was something to be seen!
This!! Some of the best dance scenes in movies ever
Gregory Hines is no slouch either. No one can beat his tapping. He died way too early.
Whites Nights is amazing as is Misha! The first time I saw him perform I was about 10 years old and was in heaven. He is pure brilliance.
That was a great movie
Wow! Thank you for mentioning this wonderful movie! ❤
I love Black Swan. I read in an interview that the pointe shoe scene you showed was actually Sarah Lane showing how she breaks in her shoes.
i'm honestly shocked that hardly anyone has heard of Flesh and Bone because it was great imo! it's a mimi drama show starring the absolutely gorgeous Sarah Hay and while it has some over-to-the-top dramatic plotlines, i thought it was really entertaining and a fairly accurate representation of ballet! (and for y'all Charlie enthusiasts; it also features Sascha Radetsky and he's fantastic as always, you're welcome
Came here to comment the same thing!!! ❤
Problem is it is on one of the subscription channels. Don’t think it got the wide audience views.
Yes! It was so over the top but the ballet stuff was so much fun!
Such a great show!
Is that the one where the main girl was assaulted by her brother so she left home to go to dance school but he kept weaseling his way into her life? I could be wrong but I've been trying to remember the name of that movie forever and I guess I'm not putting in enough info in Google to find it.
I got into ballet when I was 12 via the show 'Find me in Paris', set at the Paris Opera Ballet School with a time travelling russian ballerina.
Center Stage will ALWAYS be one of my favorite all time movies!!
I loved it so much when it came out (I’m 40 this year) and I can’t hear the song “The Way You Make Me Feel” without immediately thinking of the choreography of this movie. 🥰
Definitely "The Turning Point " because it had Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne formerly of ABT and had some great dancing scenes. Another film just released this year called "Rise" a French film featuring Marion Barbeau of the Paris Opera Ballet.
Leslie Browne was actually supposed to be Gelsey Kirkland, but she did not want to do the film.
My favorite will always be The Red Shoes. Some other old movies that are fun are The Tales of Hoffmann and The Turning Point.
Gene Kelly's "Invitation to the Dance" is good, too.
I need a series of Josephine just reacting to Dance Academy🥲
Center Stage is also one of my favorite movies. It's a comfort movie for sure! And that epic dance at the end that features Jamiroquai! 10/10.
I was on three month long trip in New York to take dance classes around the time when Center stage was coming out. They had flyers at one of the dance schools where I was taking classes for free showing. I think they ran some test shows with it before it came out. So of course I went to see it. Loved it back then and still love it now even though some of the scenes are bit childish when you stop to think of them.
The tv show The Next Step is about a team of competition dancers and so has many dance scenes and there’s a few pointe dancers, cast members are competitive dancers or ex completive dancers so is very accurate bar drama hyped up and also made clearer for non dancers and kids to understand
While “Center Stage” was LIFE, I’m surprised she didn’t react to “The Company”. I LOVED that movie! The behind the scenes were incredible too. As someone who is a retired professional ballet dancer, I found that to be so very realistic. Plus Neve Campbell was SO very invested and I loved that! I believe they used Joffrey dancers too!
❤❤❤❤❤
Neve was a former dancer and spent years in professional ballet school. But she hated ballet!
Equally obsessed with Center Stage as Josephine - so appreciating her enthusiasm!
Center Stage is everything ♡ I used to do Hip Hop when I was younger but Center Stage really made me love ballet back then but I felt like I wasn't the right "body size". So I kept doing Hip Hop and Zumba and stuff until I finally got the courage at 27 and start ballet 🤗 So happy I did even if I started late.
I'd love to see a reaction video to Sergei Polunin dancing to Take Me to Church. I know there aren't any pointe shoes but it was the video that reminded me just how much I love watching ballet. Watching him dance and seeing the lines of his body also inspired me to start using dancers as inspiration for my art as the lines of the bodies in motion are incredible, and also feet in pointe shoes make for lovely art as well.
Have you watched Travis Wall dance to this is me sung by Shoshana bean? It's spectacular!!!
I had forgotten this! I love it so much. Amazingly beautiful, and less than 20 cuts in the entire 4 minute video. th-cam.com/video/c-tW0CkvdDI/w-d-xo.html
I forgot that Susan Stroman did the choreography to Center Stage until I saw the male soloist do those turns after leaving the bike. Fantastic work on that film.
For animation, the greatest dance series is Princess Tutu. A magical girl series about a dance student who becomes a magical ballerina to return the shards of a shattered heart to the prince.
Battle scenes consist of dancing with the person holding the heart shard. Stories are based on great ballet, with The Nutcracker and Swan Lake featured repeatedly, as well as Giselle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia. Other music includes the Edgemont Overture, Midsummer Night Dream and Pictures at an Exhibition.
th-cam.com/video/PKKaHJ3Hmng/w-d-xo.html
I loved Center Stage so much when it first came out that I had to do my own research (as a would-be dancer) to make sure I could, in good conscience, love it. I’m SO glad it’s Josephine-approved, as well! Best dance movie ever!! (I still have a crush on Charlie 😉)
I absolutely agree to Center Stage being in first place. Absolutely AMAZING movie. I've seen it too many times to count. They even mention eating disorders, which unfortunately does happen to a lot of girls who dance.
I think we need her to watch more of Dance Academy!!!
LOVE Center Stage! I worked at the Metropolitan Opera (where ABT performed) when Ethan, Sascha, & Julie were with ABT. Ethan has a pretty wild look now & is with American Rep. Sascha is with ABT Studio company. Amanda went on to do lots of good acting roles.
I only know of two she did. Did she do more??
@@a.nonymous2089Amanda was on Suits!
Center Stage was my favorite movie for YEARS. My friends and I used to try to learn the choreography and do it before our BM came in for class 🤣🤣I also loved Save the Last Dance.
Dance Academy is A+… Josephine only watched a few more dramatic scenes from the first episode and I feel ripped off. Please watch a least one season - you wont regret it! Many Australians who have watched all seasons of this show will do a yearly rewatch. It’s iconic.
Totally agree. This American does a yearly rewatch too!
I was 17 when I saw Center Stage and I LOVED that movie, bought a vhs, dvd and just watched it a couple days ago on Hulu! Hadn’t watched it in a long time but know it inside out!! Obsessed!!! And yes, CHARLIE! ☺️ Ethan’s (Cooper) dancing is amazing though!!!! He was a principal at ABT for 15 years!
I’m showing my age here Josephine but the original Fame has always been my favourite. Couldn’t get into ballet school but I studied music instead so Fame ticked all the boxes for me ❤
The movie & the tv series! Lots of ballet at the New York high school for the performing arts 😉
I was hoping that 'prinses tutu' would be in the video.
Center Stage is on Hulu right now. I just watched it for the thousandth time last night 😊
Well I guess I know what I'm doing tonight 🤣
My favourite ballet movie is Red shoes from 1940s, it has an incredible dance scene, it would be absolutely amazing if you reacted to it.
Dance Academy sucked me in and I binge-watched it so hard that I developed a very slight Aussie accent for a short time. (I'm American and that has never happened before.) Warning: Ugly crying may ensue in later episodes. 🖤😭
Noooo! Dance academy is amazing! Heartbreaking at times. Though from an actual dance pov you’re prob right. 😂
I would love to hear your take on Save the Last Dance because I have... thoughts... about the ballet dancing in that movie. Actually, don't even get me started.
I'm missing here Billy Elliot. You should also have included the anime " Dance dance danceur". Coincidentally both are about young boys who discover their love for ballet.
Girl, it's because of you that I know what center stage is and I'm so grateful! It's an amazing movie, watching it as an adult. I can't imagine how epic it must have felt watching it as a preteen... Love your videos and obviously thank you for everything :D
I was completely OBSESSED with Centre Stage when it came out! Fully agree with your opinions. ♥
Absolutely agree, and Center Stage is EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!
I grew up dancing from 3, but gave up at 14.
I did line dancing, ballet, tap and disco dancing.
'Centre Stage' is my all time favourite dance film. It gave me the same feelings that I had as a child, that magical energy... that awe inspiring electricity and goosebumps.
I thought it was and still is extremely ***ICONIC***.
It holds up against any other film.
It always blows me away with how stunning everyone is in each dance and variation.
It will always be my favourite dance film. Yes it is pure nostalgia and yes I wanted those red pointe shoes. ❤
The fouettés at the end are EVERYTHING!
Charlie was such a gentleman! How can you not love him?!
I still love Center Stage. I too was obsessed with Charlie. 😍❤️
White Nights (1985) with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.
The Turning Point (1977) with Mikhail Baryshnikov.
I love that baby Gillian Murphy was in that end dance scene from Center Stage! Amanda Schull has a really cool interview with Megan Fairchild on TH-cam talking about her accepting the role in the movie.
Amanda Shull from CenterStage is now doing Hallmark movies (The Blessing Bracelet)
Fun fact about Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses: They used motion capture for the dancing to make it as accurate as possible. So it was fully choreographed, practiced and performed by actual people (source: th-cam.com/video/SaibrO3vcI0/w-d-xo.html )
My daughter and I watched Center Stage together soooo many times! She was probably 8 or 9. She's 25 now and still remembers it fondly, and I've still got it on DVD in my collection. 😊
Have you ever seen The Turning Pointe with Shirley Maclaine & Anne Bancroft? And Mikhail Baryshnikov?!? You NEED to see it.
Centre stage is so nostalgic for me too! I was obsessed with this movie. I remember sitting on the floor of my grandparents tv room watching it with my granny. Has very sweet memories attached for me ❤
The movie my ballet friend and I were obsessed with growing up was White Nights, with Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. There was one scene in particular where a pirouette bet was made that my friend and I watched over and over and OVER. You should definitely check it out!
I was obsessed with Step Up as a teen... I guess its not a "ballet movie" but the opening scene was so fun with the ballet dancers and the hip hop music interspersed with break dancing
I love Center Stage and adored the recreation Tiler Peck did of the red shoes scene
Fun fact that a lot of people don't know about Center Stage: While most of the cast were actual ballet dancers, Ilia Kulik who played Sergei, was a well-known Russian Figure skater.
I was into figure skating so I knew. All those Russian skaters were required to take ballet.
The anime, Princess Tutu by Ikuko Itoh
Oh yeah! I definitely agree with a teacher taking you off pointe or knocking you down a level not being mean or a bad thing! It happened to me when I transferred to my current studio this past year. My old studio did a TERRIBLE job at teaching pointe, yet simultaneously excepted you to be flawlessly amazing at it from the get-go. They didn’t even HAVE pointe classes. Our ballet classes were 2 hours instead of the usual hour and a half because I guess the owners assumed that last half hour would be used for pointe, but it almost never was. And if a teacher *did* teach pointe that day, it wasn’t anything really substantial. So I ended up really struggling and stressing over my pointe skills and was frustrated that I couldn’t pick up the correct skills.
When I transferred to my current studio in the fall, the head ballet teacher pecked me down a level to beginner pointe so I could get proper pointe training (I was on pointe for 2.5 to 3 years prior to transferring). One year later and my pointe skills have immensely improved and I will be moving up to intermediate pointe in the fall!
Find me in Paris is a series on Disney plus about ballet with a time travel spin on it. It’s set in France but I would definitely recommend it!! Possibly takes a bit of getting into and it was originally made by Nickelodeon so it’s not the most mature but I think it’s great!!
Please have Josephine react to the making of the 12 Dancing Princesses!!! It shows the New York City Ballet (I’m pretty sure) choreographing the dances with real ballerinas! It’s fascinating and so cool to see the behind the scenes!!!
yesss, center stage in the top tier where it belongs!! definitely one of my comfort movies
I really love Center Stage too. I got to see the blonde lead guy dance in Connecticut once, he had as much enthusiasm and talent live as he did throughout the movie, a joy to watch. I've watched Center Stage more than probably any other movie, so great.
There's an anime that came out last year called Dance Dance Danseur. Few of the Tokyo Ballet dancers were used for motion capturing. Highly recommend it.
STOPPP I LOVE DANCE ACADEMY IM SO GLAD YOU REACTED TO ITTTTT
I think you did a great job ranking! I love center stage it’s my favorite dance movie followed by Billy Elliot (Which you should do a reaction video to!) 🩷
Center Stage is my favorite dance movie too. Huge crush on Charlie too, but honestly I was taken by Cooper (which is weird, because I'm much more into brunettes and gotta have the amazing eyes)! I'm a little older than you, because this came out when I was 20.
Yes! Team Cooper here. I always went for the emotionally unavailable bad boys. Lol.
@taras7075 Now, he's whatever. Adulthood really changes what is acceptable.
Hang on, was I the only preteen having a subconscious sapphic crisis over Juliette?? 🤣
@simplystreeptacular I agree with Zoe Saldana's line from the movie that she looks like a gerbil, so I definitely didn't have leanings that way.
But I can see how others might. I'm sure you weren't alone.
Josephine, take a look at the dancing in Disney's Fantasia. The ostriches are my favorite!
I’m with you on Fantasia (the original). It was the second movie that came to mind. After The Red Shoes
Ohhhhh I thought this said "Ranking Ballet Moves" and I was like "Grand Plie in centre better be at the dang bottom."
Yes I still know the warmup sequence from when Jodie takes the class that's "anything but ballet." CENTER STAGE forever!!! ❤❤
Pricilla Lopez from A Chorus Line was the teacher! She is so amazing!
I would love for you to react to an anime called Princess Tutu. It's very cute with a combo of both realistic and non realistic ballet scenes. You might enjoy.
12:37 The reason why that barbie movie looked real and had more accurate dancing than Leap is because it was motion-captured by New York City Ballet dancers. That's also why they move so organically when they're not dancing. I think the only thing hand-animated in those movies are the facial expressions and animals.
Leslie Caron in the Glass Slipper! There was a dream ballet dance sequence where she did pique turns around a big tiered cake.
Also, there are some AMAZING dances from the dance show that J Lo produces (?). Can’t remember the name. But there was a M&F from Utah that 🤯🤯🤯 my mind (and the judges’ minds too)
Center Stage was and still is *everything* such incredible dancing!
Center Stage was the first dance movie I 100% fell in love with. It’s my go to anytime I need a comfort movie🥰
You need to do ‘The Company’ with Neve Campbell and the Joffrey. My all-time favorite.
'Dancers' with Baryshiknov, Julie Kent and Alessandra Ferri. 'Pavlova. A Woman for all time' two other gorgeous movies.
I love "Center Stage"one of my all time favorites. Another movie you should check out is "High Strung". The girl who plays the lead character 'Ruby' danced before she acted and is beautiful.
The Turning Pointe. Absolute classic.
The 12 dancing princesses was my top best most favorite movie as a kid, and I love to revisit it still. I actually looked into the production of it not long ago and they used actual ballet dancer(s) as a reference to make the animation. They actually had someone dance the choreography and used the video to animate the models. So yes. It does look better and feel more real than leap, because it was made using actual ballet footage (I don't believe I've seen leap production bts or anything mention they used real footage for their choreographies/animation)
There was a girl at my daughter’s studio who was on pointe at a different studio but then came to our studio on pointe. Not only that but she was using amazon pointe shoes of some kind of brand. Ballet teacher immediately took her off pointe because she is really strict about when someone is ready to be on pointe - technique and ankle/feet strength, strong core, etc. She makes it a huge deal when kids make it onto pointe, too. My daughter’s friends were on pointe for almost two years before my daughter and it seemed really frustrating but she worked hard, got a lot of privates, and got her invitation (They get an actual invitation) to be on pointe last month and she goes for her fitting in two two weeks. I like how it is done. The high expectations prevents injuries from starting when they’re not ready, but also.. it makes it a HUGE deal for dancers when they finally get it and everyone hugs them, screams with excitement, and celebrates them. They only get invites once a year, too, as they don’t want to risk injury during comp season.
there is a german ballet tv series en subsequent movie called "Anna". you just check it out, the dancing is good as far as i can remember. There is a bunch of ( now ) women in germany that lived their ballet fantasies through that series. i am one of them. :)
Fun facts about Amanda Schull of "Center Stage" - her mother Susan Schull is the President of Ballet Hawaii. Amanda trained at Hawaii State Ballet, then became an apprentice with the San Francisco Ballet. She was in her apprenticeship while filming this movie! She moved up to the Corps and then retired in 2006 to act full-time.
The turning point was my tween obsession movie! Baryshnikov, be still my heart! 😊
I absolutely loved Center Stage! I want to see a reaction to Tiny Pretty Things. It’s not a movie, but it’s a ballet series.
6-7 years ago, I saw a production of the Nutcracker and when I opened my program, I nearly died because Charlie from Center Stage was featured. I had no idea he would be there when we bought the tickets. And no one around me knew what I was talking about, so I was just freaking out to myself.
Center Stage is one of my all time favorite movies, everything about it is perfection