At the beginning, you're probably going to think that they're telling the same rehashed tale over again. It starts with a girl named Kate Parker (Rachele Brooke Smith) telling her sister Bella (Nicole Munoz) goodbye and that she will be in touch soon to tell her how the auditions went. Kate drives off into the sunset headed to the Big Apple to make all her dreams come true. With only her car, a suitcase, and a letter that she has an audition at the American Ballet Academy, she is determined that it will all work out.
Unfortunately for her, Kate is about to learn that life doesn't always work out like we want. She does wonderfully at the audition, catching the attention of the instructors and some of the fellow students. But due to various factors, Kate is rejected by the academy. From here on out, she'll have to figure out how to support herself, hide her failure from her sister, and decide if she even wants to continue pursuing her ballet dreams.
One of those students will quickly become her rival. Suzanne Von Stroh (Sarah Jayne Jensen) is one of those girls that has been given everything she ever wanted in life. She's rich, beautiful, and she gets accepted into the academy when Kate doesn't. Suzanne isn't your typical villain in the story, though. While she's not the world's nicest person, for the most part, she doesn't sabotage Kate's chances.
As you could probably guess, one of the other academy students, Tommy (Kenny Wormald), becomes Kate's love interest, or at least he is interested in her. Whether or not he'll get anywhere with her remains to be seen. To further complicate matters, little Miss Von Stroh has her eyes set on Tommy. She's got the money and power to make it happen with very little effort.
There are quite a few things that make Center Stage: Turn It Up worth watching. If you liked the first one, you'll be glad to know that given the return of two of your favorite instructors, Cooper Nielson (Ethan Stiefel) and Jonathan Reeves (Peter Gallagher), this truly feels like a sequel without being a rehash of the same plot from the first one. Also, all of the dancers in Center Stage: Turn It Up are really dancers first that became actors for the part. This means that they could do very complicated dance routines without being forced to use body doubles. That, alone, makes for much cleaner and better dance scenes than a lot of dance movies have had lately. This one also has a much smaller central cast which makes it easier to identify with the characters in a movie. A large ensemble cast is fine for a weekly TV series, but in a movie, it just doesn't work as well. Having 12 characters in the first one made it too hard to really like anyone in particular. The cast in Center Stage: Turn It Up just works perfectly.
If the movie isn't enough for you, there are also some special features on the DVD to keep you entertained. They are pretty interesting and definitely worth watching. Overall, my recommendation is to definitely get this movie if you like dance movies; you will love it. I also think that fans of drama will enjoy it too. The plot might be a little predictable, at times, but not so much so that it will bother you. If you're not sure, go rent it first. But definitely check it out in some form!
