Save The Last Dance

PLOT

Seventeen-year-old Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles), a promising ballet dancer in suburban Chicago, hopes to be admitted to Juilliard School and invites her mother to attend the audition. She fails the audition and soon learns that her mother was killed in a car accident in her haste to get to it.

Sara is wracked with guilt and gives up ballet. She moves to the South Side to live with her estranged father Roy (Terry Kinney), a jazz musician who plays the trumpet at nightclubs. She also transfers to a majority-black school, where she is one of a handful of white students, but quickly befriends Chenille Reynolds (Kerry Washington), a teenage single mother who is having relationship problems with an ex-boyfriend named Kenny (Garland Whitt). Chenille invites Sara to a dance club called STEPPS, where she has her first experience of dancing to hip hop rhythms. At STEPPS, Sara dances with Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), Chenille's brother and a student with dreams of attending Georgetown University to become a pediatrician. He decides to help Sara develop her dancing skills by incorporating more hip hop into her style. He takes a reluctant Sara to the Joffrey Ballet and, afterwards, she confides in him about her mother and her dreams. Later, they return to the club and amaze others with their dancing. While performing, Derek's ex-girlfriend Nikki (Bianca Lawson) interrupts the two and begins dancing with Derek, making Sara retreat to the bar. Afterward, Derek returns to Sara and apologizes for pairing up with Nikki; they subsequently make up and return to Roy's apartment. Having achieved his dream of being accepted into Georgetown, Derek convinces Sara to follow her dreams of Juilliard; they eventually begin a romantic relationship.

At school, Nikki picks a fight with Sara. Later, Chenille tells Sara that she did not approve of the fight, but can understand the bitterness since Sara, a white girl, is "stealing" one of the decent black boys at school. Because of this conversation, Sara and Chenille's friendship becomes strained, and Sara decides to break up with Derek. Meanwhile, Derek deals with his friend Malakai (Fredro Starr), who is heavily into the gang lifestyle that Derek is trying to leave. Derek agrees to help Malakai execute a drive-by at the same time as Sara's audition. Roy has a heart-to-heart talk with Sara and encourages her to go through with the audition.

After learning what Chenille said to Sara, Derek confronts her for it, as well as explaining his true reasons for dumping Nikki. Remorseful for her actions, Chenille admits that what she did was wrong and apologizes. She also tells Derek that Sara did not want to dump him, but Chenille's words hurt her to the point of feeling forced to. Chenille also admits that she has been resentful for how Kenny has been treating her, including not helping her raise their son and sneaking around with Nikki instead. She unintentionally took it out on Sara since she has been jealous of her and Derek's relationship. Chenille encourages him to be with Sara, admitting that she knows that Sara has started falling in love with him. She also warns Derek not to follow Malakai, knowing that he may lose his chance to attend Georgetown and his future if he is arrested. Derek decides to bail on Malakai to attend Sara's audition, arriving at a crucial point in her performance to offer her encouragement and moral support. Afterward, Sara is accepted into Julliard and she rekindles her relationship with Derek. Meanwhile, the drive-by becomes botched and Malakai is arrested. The film closes as Sara, Derek, Chenille, and their friends meet at STEPPS to celebrate Sara's successful audition.

CAST

Julia Stiles as Sara Johnson

Sean Patrick Thomas as Derek Reynolds

Kerry Washington as Chenille Reynolds

Fredro Starr as Malakai

Terry Kinney as Roy Johnson

Bianca Lawson as Nikki

Elizabeth Oas as Diggy

Vince Green as Snookie

Garland Whitt as Kenny