It’s been a quarter of a century since Julia Stiles starred as ballet hopeful Sara in Save the Last Dance, but it seems she’s still got the moves after paying homage to the film on Dancing with the Stars.
Stiles, who is competing on the 2026 series of Strictly Come Dancing’s American cousin, recreated memorable moments from her character’s much-memed final dance routine – and even brought on co-star Sean Patrick Thomas for a cameo.
Paired with professional dancer Ezra Sosa, Stiles performed a Jazz routine to a remix of Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block” as part of the show’s Super Bowl Night theme. The pair incorporated moves from the dance number that Stiles performs in Save the Last Dance, which sees her character perform ballet with a hip hop twist in her audition for the prestigious performing arts school Julliard.
Mid-way through the DWTS tribute on Tuesday (13 October), the cameras even cut to see Stiles’s Save the Last Dance co-star Thomas, recreating the often-parodied moment where his character Derek, Stiles’s love interest in the film, is seen nodding his head in approval of Sara’s audition.
Just like the shot from the film, Thomas stood in the wings of the theatre with his jacket over his shoulder at the side of the stage, nodding along to the music while Sosa copied him.
The routine earned the pair a score of 24 from the three judges, placing them second on the leaderboard behind ex-Love Island star Maura Higgins and her partner Mark Ballas, who also happens to be the son of Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas.
Fans were full of praise for the nostalgic dance routine, with one person writing in the video’s comments on YouTube: “Seeing Sean in the audience and giving a node to Save the Last Dance was absolutely EVERYTHING!! I can’t believe that it’s been 25 years since the movie came out i love that iconic movie so much.”
Another wrote: “She ate and left no crumbs,” while a third commented: “Aaahhhhhh Patrick Thomas there doing his signature move of approval.”
Released in 2001, Save the Last Dance follows teenager Sara as she moves to a new school following the death of her mother, and falls back in love with dance with the help of new boyfriend Derek (Thomas).
While the dance film was originally panned by critics, it has become a cult classic over the last few decades thanks to Stiles’s final routine, which has gone on to become a meme. In 2023, the actor made a cameo as her film character on Saturday Night Live, joining then-cast member Chloe Fineman to recreate the dance live on air.
Next week’s episode of Dancing with the Stars will see Stiles perform a contemporary routine to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” in honour of Heath Ledger, her co-star in 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You. The Australian actor died in 2008 from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 28.
