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Lurk in subway stations like normal people.

But then how are they supposed to fall in love?

This is Lacey Chabert erasure.

Too dangerous, evil street crews get in your way

Yes, but think of like Good Will Hunting. Harvard students in bars having debates about economics was something the townies tolerated, and I see no difference in New Yorkers seeing ballerinas do line-dancing on the bar like second-rate Coyote Ugly characters.

I get that the whole city is their campus, but I have to imagine that the community at large must be sick to death of all of these clowns. Everywhere these kids go, they’re trying to one-up the townies. If you live in that neighborhood, you must have to be constantly prepared to be shuffled off to the side so the conservatory kids can cut loose. Thinking of having a fun night at the club? Forget about it. A bunch of calorie deprived ballerinas have just cleared the dance floor to engage in some over-choreographed nonsense. Maybe you want to just go to the neighborhood pub and listen to some live music and watch some traditional dancing instead. Well, fuck you because the Madame Oksana’s contemporary dance class has just pushed the tables together and the nerdy, bad boy violinist with the serial killer smile just stole Angus’ instrument to play Swan Lake remixes. April even threatens one of the ladies dancing “You’re going down!” These people are just trying have a fun night out on the town for fucks sake, and they don’t need your hyper-competitive, rich kid bullshit bringing them down!

Here's just a genuine question about dance academies in general. How much dancing does a dance student do a day? I don't know what a full course load would be like but Ruby is doing at least contemporary and ballet in one day. That's a couple hours of aerobic exercise a day. Are students doing much more than that a day? 1. That sounds truly exhausting but I'm also lazy. 2. How much showering do students do a day? They change outfits for each class and presumably aren't changing into clean clothes after getting sweaty in an earlier class. So, I'd think they shower after every class unless they go sweaty and gross to every class.

That was insane! It’s like Paul said in the episode, every time the hint of conflict arises, it is immediately squelched. I thought for sure when the instrument loaner dude asked for her ID, he was going to at least say, “Your ID says you’re in the dance program...” I mean, when you think about it, the movie is just one big false stake. He think he’s going to be deported because he’s overextended his visa. All of his decisions and subsequent scenes are based on this. Then, at the end, it turns out nobody gives a shit. It’s bonkers. I would have loved if he had to fight through DHS or whatever just to make it to the competition.

I just want to say my thoughts and feelings are going out to that poor violin student at the conservatory that is in desperate need of a violin. Unfortunately they can't play and are almost going to get kicked out of the school as a result. They are in on a scholarship and the airline company lost their violin. They're not sure if they'll ever get it back and can't afford to buy a new one. Fortunately they heard the school lends out music instruments to their students. Unfortunately they lent out the last violin to a dance student who doesn't even know the difference between a viola and a violin for an indeterminate amount of time without asking a single question. Now Johnny is going to get this poor student's free scholarship and they're going to be forced to go back to toil in obscurity in Toledo as their talent and skills slowly fade away and die.

It kind of pissed me off that the school vending machines only provided fat-free options. What kind of fascist bullshit is that? I mean, if it were only a dance school, I could maybe get it, but I’m sure there are, like, ten-year-old French horn players who might appreciate Kit Kat break every now and again - especially after being bawled out by whatever sadistic taskmaster they’ve been saddled with for accidentally releasing their spit valve in the middle of Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suite No 1. A bag of cheddar flavored kale chips isn’t going to do shit to alleviate that kind of academic stress.

Did anyone else feel like it was wildly inappropriate for both Ruby and Jazzy to be sent to Madam Markova’s office together? Their infractions, such as they were, were completely unrelated. Jazzy was suffering from chronic tardiness due to sexy-fierce, forty-year-old dude fucking, and Ruby wasn’t, what, popping when she should be locking? I get Madam Markova was busy, but damn, it really felt to me like this might be a situation where two separate meetings might have been in order.

I know we’re dealing with movie logic here, but straight up, if I was in a truly devastating situation, one that might end in any permutation of destitution, homelessness, and deportation, and some person I barely know came to me with “you should probably enter this contest” as a solution, I would lose my damn mind. Homeland Security is about to bust down my door and my hunky ass back to Britain any second, so bring me realistic options or get the fuck out.

As a fellow man who is not flexible, I want to support Paul. This is the second episode his flexibility has been a topic. Let him be as flexible or inflexible as he is. Did anyone else think the dancing in this was very badly filmed? Especially the break dance scenes. The camera was very dynamic and the editing kept cutting back to different dancers. I get the desire to highlight a specific dancer, but the way this was filmed detracted from the dancing. The camera would often move with the dancer which made their moves seem less impressive. I think a more static camera would have benefited everyone.

Also I want to ask one more question, what's the age range? It seems on one hand post-secondary because they are going out drinking, but yet they have kids their practicing music. Do those kids have tutors their for their regular schooling?

I agree with this. Even if they were both in academic probation for the same reason, they don't really need to have the same meeting. I could see if they were failing as part of a group project but they are roommates.

omg if you're confusing popping and locking do you even belong in a dance academy?!?!?!?! It's like confusing bournonville and cecchetti methods of ballet!!!!!!

Yes! She was doing the same moves as the hip hop dance crew but in a not as fluid way. She was still very straight and precise which seemed more in line with modern ballet then contemporary style. She still seemed "stiff" which is what the crew and Jane Seymore didn't want her to be and were trying to get her not to be but they all praised her. Maybe contemporary dance is simply a fancy term for "modern ballet."

So does the school want Ruby to fail? She's clearly a trained and skilled ballet dancer and I assume that's what got her the scholarship. However, she admits in the first contemporary class that she has zero experience with contemporary dance. The first day at the school she's told there is no dress code for contemporary dance and she asks what she should wear. Instead of getting a straight answer from the head teacher she gets "Use your imagination." How is that helpful? She doesn't do that kind of dancing and you know that because you just read her bio. What is the harm in saying something helpful? Then she's called out in the first class and after the second class. She has zero experience and you're trying to pull the "It's because she has so much potential." Bullshit. She's had two days and you're already threatening to kick her out even though she promises to start getting better. If you really thought she had potential you would give her actual instruction rather than berate her after her first attempt. Then what? A week goes by and you are threatening to end her scholarship because she's not showing enough improvement in something she literally just started? Maybe wait until the end of the first term or something. Fuck you dance conservatory.

Right?! I was also kinda wondering why go to all the effort of having it stolen at all? The movie didn't present it as something he needed to make good music or whatever, he borrowed the violin in the battle scene and then he used the rental??? during the rest of the movie?

To settle the debate on whether the actor playing Johnny was actually playing the violin, here’s an excerpt from an interview with the actor Nicholas Galitzine, himself: ”While Galitzine appears to be an accomplished musician himself playing Johnnie in High Strung, the actor was unfamiliar with the instrument before landing the part. Prior to his casting, he had only played guitar. “They gave me some time before and during the filming where I had very extensive crash course training. I had an amazing tutor in London, and then throughout the filming, sort of day and night whenever I wasn’t filming I was kind of practicing to make it authentic,” Galitzine told uInterview. ” [Director] Michael [Damian] is a musician as well, and we kind of spoke to each other and I think sort of he understood my musicality and what I could bring to the role acting-wise. So, I mean, eventually it worked out quite well ‘cause I think most people think I actually play the violin, which is great. [Laughs] Mission accomplished.””

Paul said that the sequel had no link to the first movie, but that is not correct. Jane Seymour reprises her role as dance instructor Oksana in the sequel. Jane Seymour was also an executive producer on both films.

So "crematiing your pointes" is a thing. Pointe shoes can be worn through REALLY quickly. It's a way to keep your shoes going longer and stay stiff. I don't know if I've ever heard of the term in my reading on the history of ballet, but according to a dancer wear blog I found one way to do this is "Some dancers also use this method to revitalize dead shoes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Swirl a floor polish like Mop and Glow inside the pointe shoes, the pour out the excess. Place the shoes on a baking sheet covered in foil, and place them in the oven. Turn the oven off, and let the shoes sit in the oven 8 hours or overnight. The polish will re-harden the box and shank of the shoes, but it stains the satin a yellowish color and makes them super stiff. This method is not exact, and it will take experimenting to find the perfect amount of polish. Practice this method on an old pair of shoes you don't need before you try it with the pair you are wearing. " http://thedancewearguru.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-to-make-pointe-shoes-last-longer.html I found a lot of recommendations to use Jet Glue which I think is pointe shoe glue? I also saw on a dance forum that some recommended putting shoes in the freezer for a brief fix. Or to use shellac http://www.dance.net/topic/8757237/1/Pointe-Beginners/Rehardening-pointe-shoes.html&replies=1

So are we gonna talk about how this old violin is magically an electric violin at times?

I am sad I didn’t get to see this live since I am in NYC. Stupid family. I sort of want to know what June would think of CENTER STAGE now. If Paul is flexible now, what does that mean for June’s anti-male flexibility/splits movement?