Center Stage      If the world needed an updated version of Fame, here it is, with a dash of A Chorus Line thrown in for good measure. Center Stage is a new film that follows a group of young dance students who have defied the odds to enter the prestigious American Ballet Academy. If they can survive love affairs, bulimia, badly bloodied toes and their own egos, they may even learn to help each other reach their goal: the end-of-the-season workshop that will gain them entrance to working ballet companies.
 
     Although the teachers include film stars Peter Gallagher and Donna Murphy, the young cast of Center Stage is almost entirely unknown outside the ballet world. Yet, despite their on-camera inexperience, many of them acquit themselves admirably in both dance scenes and dramatics. Spotlit in the film is sexy ballet superstar Ethan Steifel playing a teacher who sleeps with his students-but only to help them reach their true potential.
 
     Interestingly enough, with their hair pulled back into tight buns and all dressed alike, it's hard to tell the lead white-girl characters apart, so it's propitious that one of the leads is a feisty African American named Eva (Zoë Saldana) whose attitude goes against tradition. And, inevitably, one of the male dancers is gay: vivacious Erik (African American dancer Shakiem Evans), who enlivens each scene he's in.
 
     Although predictable, Center Stage is an enjoyable mix of ballet and teen drama. Even without anybody dancing on taxicabs.

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