As the movie unfolds, seventeen year old Sara is traveling in a train on her way to live with her father (Terry Kinney) in inner-city Chicago. Flashbacks fill us in. She was raised by her mother in a predominantly white, middle-class neighborhood and was a promising ballerina with an audition to Juilliard. Trying to make it to the audition, Sara’s mom gets in a car accident and dies. After the accident, Sara gives up her lifelong dream of becoming a professional ballerina, because she blames herself for her mother’s death. She is forced to go live with her father and attend a predominantly black school. She quickly has to adjust to the different lifestyle. At school,

she becomes friends with a teenage single mother Chenille (Kerry Washington) and her brother Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). They show her the ropes around school and they bring her to a dance club called Steps. Sara starts to dance with Derek and eventually their relationship leads to romance. They become really close, really fast and they begin dancing together in an old abandoned building. Derek teaches her the art of hip-hop while she shows him her love of ballet. Derek is not just someone who Sara is attracted to but also someone who challenges and listens to her and who is determined not to see her give up her dreams of getting into Juilliard. Both Sara and Derek have to deal with other people looking down on their relationship and it challenges their love for each other. At the end, Derek decides not to go with his friend on a scam so he can be there for Sara at her audition for Juilliard.

“Save the Last Dance” is a movie that relates to many people. It shows that everyone can overcome any struggle and achieve any dream they want with the help of family and friends who love them. The theme song, “All or Nothing”, ties everything up that the movie was portrays. “Live your dreams, it’s not as hard as it may seem. You gotta work to get the cream, on your hopes you must lean. From your fears you have to win yourself. It’s all or nothing, give your everything.”

The relationship between Sara and Derek is filled with passion, dreams, love, and determination. They both share the same passion for dance, his being hip-hop and hers being ballet. Derek’s dream is to attend Georgetown and become a doctor while Sara’s dream is to go to Juilliard and perform. They

Some topics in this essay:
Sara Derek, Derek Sara, Derek You’re, Steps Sara, Juilliard Trying, Julia Stiles, , Chicago Flashbacks, Patrick Thomas, Terry Kinney, derek sara, abandoned building, sara derek, movie sara, passion dreams, interracial relationship, dance scenes, “save dance”, love derek, live father,