The Next Step

I think this was a very good movie, well acted, written, directed. You could actually see and enjoy a lot of the choreography unlike so many dance movies. I, however, must question the release date of 1997. It says to me it is a 1980s movie, early 90s at most. Why? Look who is in it? Thomas Gibson in a tiny part as a bartender? Taylor Nichols in a minor supporting role? And the choreography looked of that time, Donald Byrd looked at least ten years younger than he does now, etc. I saw dancers I knew in classes in the 80s, they couldn't look exactly the same now. So I say, this was originally filmed around 1989, before Far and Away and Metropolitan, and was released to DVD in 1997. Can anyone confirm or deny this?