Save The Last Dance

Ballet and hip-hop, Black and White, inner city and small town all merge in this gritty, romantic dance drama that has it all "goin' on". SAVE THE LAST DANCE is about two people and two cultures dancing around each other until they can reach some kind of "comfort zone" that allows everyone to thrive. Small town, white, middle-class SARA JOHNSON (Julia Stiles) dreams of devoting her life to ballet and attending school at Julliard until a personal tragedy makes her decide never to dance again. Her mother's death forces her to move to inner city Chicago to live with her club musician dad, ROY (Terry Kinney) and attend an almost all black high school where she struggles to fit in. Sara is befriended by CHENILLE (Kerry Washington) a black, unwed teenage mother who helps her fit in. At first, Sara doesn't like smart and somewhat cocky DEREK (Sean Patrick Thomas) but learns that they both love dance, although his choice is hip-hop. Derek shows her some moves and dancing leads to romancing.

"Save the Last Dance" is a 21st century version of all those cool '70's and '80's dance movies like "Saturday Night Fever", "Dirty Dancing", Urban Cowboy", "Footloose" and "Flashdance". It's great to see this tried and true combination of dance and troubled romance come back to the screen. The added element of inter-racial and inter-cultural conflict only makes the story more interesting.