The story begins sadly with the death of the mother of a young teenage girl Sara (Julia Stiles) and her move to inner city Chicago to live with her father. Her parents had been divorced for a while and her mother was her rock, her supporter and her best friend. Sara has to learn to deal with her mother's death, her new home and school and the loss of the love of dancing due to her mother's passing. The film later reveals that Sara's mother dies in a tragic car accident after rushing to see Sara audition for a place at the renown Julliard school.

Sara, feeling guilty for the death, quits dancing. She feels frustrated, for she is now in a predominantly African American school, with her being one of the only white students. But she finally finds her niche of friends and a boy, Derek( Sean Patrick Thomas), who takes special interest in her. Derek encourages Sara to pursue dancing again, and even audition for Julliard once more. But the public dislikes the inter-racial relationship, tearing the two apart days before her audition.

Does Sarah make it through? Do the two reunite? In the last griping moments of the film, all this is reveal. You'll just have to watch it to find out!

I must say that I am very partial when in comes to this film. This is a great film, for its acting, its dancing and its music. The film leads you through many emotions and after watching it, I wanted to stand up and dance the night away.

We rate this film as excellent and suggest it to all dancers and romantics at heart!