Dancing queen

>> With Center Stage, director Nicholas Hytner brings smarts to the aspiring dancer movie

by MATTHEW HAYS

More often than not, wannabe dancer movies fall into one of two categories. There's either the arty, thoughtful documentary, like last year's excellent The Dancemaker, or the rather flaky, schmaltzy, I-want-to-make-it-so-badly-it-hurts movie, like Fame or Flashdance. With his latest film, Center Stage, director Nicholas Hytner attempts to merge the two.

"Yes, tone was a concern," Hytner confirms from his New York office. "The film is designed to be an attractive commercial movie, but I hoped I could do that while also being true and honest about the dance world. The dancing in the film is excellent. I wouldn't have done it if I couldn't have used real dancers."

For Hytner, whose previous films include the stage-to-screen adaptations The Madness of King George and The Crucible and the gay-themed The Object of My Affection, directing a backstage drama had great appeal. "Though I've never worked in a dance company, I've directed musicals [including Miss Saigon and Carousel] and I've done a play at the Lincoln Center, where much of the film is set. I'm a theatrical kinda guy."

The openly-gay Hytner took some heat for his casting in 1998's The Object of My Affection. When promoting the film, he explained that he wanted to avoid stereotypical gays, repeatedly stating there would be "No limp wrists, no slashed wrists." Numerous gay critics, including Bruce LaBruce, slammed the film as a commercial whitewash. "I didn't really read a lot of that criticism," Hytner says now. "I made it and moved on. I didn't really understand that criticism, I must say. Are we all supposed to be limp-wristed nellies? To politicize one's sexual urges to that extent, I don't really understand. The recent mayoralty race in London, for example, I found quite bizarre. The campaign degenerated into a discussion of whether or not candidates advocated people having sex in public places."

Though happy with Center Stage, Hytner does admit that concessions to the studio were made. Accuracy was an important factor for the director and this is reflected in the film's casting calls. "I very much wanted to cast dancers as dancers," he says. On that point, Hytner won, scoring superstar Ethan Stiefel, Sascha Radetsky (both of the American Ballet Theatre) and Amanda Schull (of the San Francisco Ballet) in key roles. "The dance classes we depict are real dance classes, the rehearsals real rehearsals. That aspect is perfectly authentic."

But Hytner concedes the film's gay quota is way off. "That's definitely the least authentic element. The film has four major male dancers and one former male dancer. Only one is gay. That was a commercial decision, one the studio made. They didn't want too many nellies.

"At least it's better than The Turning Point, in which there are none." :

Center Stage opens Friday, May 12