About the dancing

''There is no question that hip-hop is the dominant pop culture in the world today, particularly in this country,'' notes Carter, who earlier directed ''Swing Kids,'' which incorporated music and dance from a very different era. ''The culture comes from the poor, the disenfranchised. Hip-hop was born from several disciplines. There's a great reggae influence because of the syncopated beat. It's certainly urban and very true to the language of the street. It's the poetry of people who are not necessarily sophisticated with language, but there is a raw elegance about it. It's so exuberant.''

To capture that exuberance on film, award-winning choreographer Fatima and colleague Richmond Talauega began working with the cast a month before filming began. After hours in front of the cameras during their normal work week, stars Stiles and Thomas would spend eight hours every weekend in a dance studio. In addition, they regularly went to Chicago clubs to soak in the atmosphere.

All this was in preparation for the film's big dance sequences, which Carter helmed over an eight-day period at Crobar, one of Chicago's hottest, most eclectic nightclubs. Located in a funky warehouse district on Chicago's North Side, the club gained infamy as the exclusive hangout for former Chicago Bulls bad boy Dennis Rodman.

Fatima also worked closely with fellow hoofer Randy Duncan, a veteran ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer, to create a special hybrid dance number for the film -- a combination of ballet and hip-hop that Julia performs for her final audition for Juilliard. Stiles says: '''Save the Last Dance' deals with a lot of social issues that are more serious than teen movies usually tackle, but then there's a lot of fun and excitement in all of the dance that goes on. It really makes you want to be part of that world when you see this kids having fun at the club.''

About the production

Principal photography began on November 22, 1999, in Lemont, Illinois, which was used as the rural town where Stiles character lives until her mother dies. The production filmed for a day in Lemont High School and used more than 100 Lemont students as extras before moving on to Chicago.

Madden says: ''Chicago is a city rich in character and color, and rife with racial conflict. Just by its sheer geography, it's a city enormously divided. You have the North Side, principally white and wealthy, and the South Side, which is rough and dangerous, all connected by el trains. These sharply demarcated neighborhoods worked well for the duality we were pursuing throughout the film -- the duality of the white girl and black guy, the duality of ballet vs. hip-hop and the small town vs. the big city.''

Locations chosen for the film included the regal Chicago Theater, the Schubert Theater and the Athenaeum Theater, where Sara's various ballet auditions were filmed. The production also visited Union Station (made famous by director Brian De Palma in ''The Untouchables''), the Chicago Academy for the Arts (which made its big-screen debut in the film), the omnipresent el trains, several of the city's depressed West Side neighborhoods and two Chicago public schools: Lucy Flowers High School on the city's West Side and Wendell Phillips High School (alma mater to music giant Nat King Cole) on the South Side.

Sara's father's home was a run-down flat on the South Side's South Sawyer Street , with the el train roaring only 100 feet away. Carter and company filmed their final scene (an all-night shoot) in the shadows of Chicago's skyline just as the sun illuminated the magnificent brick-and-glass structures on the morning of February 20, 2000.

About the music

The ''Save the Last Dance'' soundtrack on Hollywood Records contains some of today's hottest R&B, hip-hop and pop artists including K-Ci and Jo JO, Lucy Pearl, Donnell Jones, Kevon Edmonds, Pink, Athena Cage (of Kut Klose), Soulbone and Fredro Starr (of Onyx). The first single, ''Crazy,'' is performed by the multi-platinum selling duo K-Ci and Jo Jo is a radio hit. The second single is ''You,'' performed by superstar alternative/R&B trio, Lucy Pearl. The song showcases hip-hop heavy weights Snoop Dogg and Q-Tip performing together for the first time.

Soundtrack executive producer Mitchell Leib says, ''We are thrilled to be part of such on important musical film. ''Save the Last Dance'' will definitely be a breakthrough film for Julia and Sean, and the hit-filled R&B/Hip-Hop/Pop soundtrack will be one of this year's most powerful releases.''