Koehler, Robert (January 8, 2001). "Save the Last Dance". Variety. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022 . Retrieved August 15, 2022. Howe, Desson (January 12, 2001). "A Lively 'Last Dance' ". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017 . Retrieved August 15, 2022.

Caro, Mark (January 24, 2001). "Save the Last Dance". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 24, 2001 . Retrieved August 30, 2022– via Zap2It.com. Schwarzbaum, Lisa (January 29, 2001). "Save the Last Dance". EW.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022 . Retrieved August 15, 2022. Teen Choice Awards". Hollywood.com. August 12, 2001. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022 . Retrieved August 15, 2022. Canada's Top 200 R&B; albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on October 12, 2003 . Retrieved March 27, 2022.a b "Save the Last Dance (2001) - Financial Information". the-numbers.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Derek 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 interrupts them and begins dancing with Derek, making Sara retreat to the bar. Additionally, the idea that outside of a movie plot an "audition" of such low caliber could get the dancer admitted to Juilliard is ludicrous. As Karla Rodriguez from Complex Magazine pointed out in a twenty-year retrospective of the movie:

Ebert, Roger (January 12, 2001). "Save The Last Dance movie review (2001)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022 . Retrieved August 15, 2022. In a three-star review, Roger Ebert said that despite the film's clichéd story and romance, "the development is intelligent, the characters are more complicated than we expect, and the ending doesn't tie everything up in a predictable way." [12] Charles Taylor of Salon wrote, "for all its dumb clichés it offers the basic appeal of teen movies: the pleasure of watching kids be kids, acting as they do among themselves instead of how parents and teachers expect them to act." [13]We are sure Stiles worked really hard to learn the choreography for this scene and she deserves to be commended for her efforts—especially since the actress had no previous dance experience prior to the film and still did most of the dancing herself. But let’s be honest: If it wasn’t part of a movie, there’s no way that dance number would have held up in real life and gotten her accepted into one of the most prestigious dance schools in the world. After all, the famous NYC school has an extremely low acceptance rate of 8%, beating out a majority of Ivy League Schools. That figure makes the fine arts school harder to get into than Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania." [18] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Award