User Reviews

My new obsession is Australian ABC3 teen drama, 'Dance Academy'. To be fair, I am jumping on this band-wagon way too late. The first season aired in Australia in 2010, followed by a year-long gap when the show's creators didn't know if it would be picked up for a second season . . . which it (thankfully) was, airing this year between March and April. There are 26 episodes in a season, and the last one for 2012 aired on April 24. And, yes, a third season has been commissioned (no word on whether or not there will be another year-long gap between season 2 and 3, making for a 2014 release?).

The show follows fifteen-year-old country ballerina, Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin) whose love of dance stems from a dream of flying. Tara gets one step closer to her dream when she is accepted into Sydney's prestigious National Dance Academy. . . but it doesn't take long before Tara realizes that loving dance isn't the same as being a good dancer.

Tara's technique is not where it needs to be, and her fellow students at the Academy are cut-throat, with their eye on becoming principal dancers by the end of their three years. In her first week at the Academy, Tara is given the nickname 'training bra' by scholarship kid Christian Reed (Jordan Rodrigues) after an embarrassing changing-room incident with the beautiful Ethan Karamakov (Tim Pocock) who happens to be the half-son of an infamous Australian prima-ballerina and choreographer. Tara's roommate is Abigail Armstrong (Dena Kaplan) the best and most ruthless first year dancer at the academy, and the one with the biggest grudge against 'country bumpkin', Tara.

Tara is ranked lowest in all of her dance classes and her teacher, the cold-blooded Miss Raine (Tara Morice) lets her know that she has a long way to go. . . But Tara got into the Academy because she has something that no dancer can learn - she puts her heart and soul into every pointe and pirouette. She dances from the heart.

There are bright spots in Tara's new life. Like Ethan's half-sister, Kat Karamakov (Alicia Banit) a bubbly, bright and begrudgingly good dancer who struggles to be one of the 'betty bunheads'. Kat's best friend is Samuel 'Sammy' Lieberman (Tom Green) string-bean with a heart of gold, who is attending the Academy without his father's support.

Season one of 'Dance Academy' follows Tara and her friends through the highs and lows of first year. Second season shows the gang return for second year, and adds goofball Ben Tickle (Thomas Lacey) to the crew, as well as new prima mean-girl in Grace Whitney (Issi Durant).

'Dance Academy' is phenomenal. Created by Samantha Strauss and Joanna Werner, it is a fantastic series that combines a coming-of-age story with all the requisite heartbreak, love triangles and hiccups, with the backdrop of a competitive creative environment.

The show is shot in the heart of Sydney, literally. The National Dance Academy is situated near Circular Quay, while the boarding school lies in The Rocks (the most beautiful and expensive area of the city).

I also love the show because it has a great, diverse cast. When so many Australian shows are lacking ethnic diversity in their casts, 'Dance Academy' shows a far truer Australian melting-pot and is more interesting for it. But the diversity is also in the story lines explored - the show had a wonderful plot about Sammy being attracted to his male roommate, Christian . . . this plot, in particular, was handled beautifully with no over-dramatizing; it was treated as the coming-of- age it was, grounded in reality and with little flamboyance some shows sometimes want to give the 'coming out' storyline.

Other heavy issues have been touched on - such as eating disorders and bullying (in the form of teacher/student, to make for an especially interesting change). And, of course, the complications of love and relationships are also consistently touched on. From liking your best friend's brother, to liking your best friend's ex. First season has a mini love-triangle between Tara, Christian and Ethan while second season changes shape to explore a Kat/Christian/Tara love complication. The romantic up's and down's of these characters are a real draw-card for fans, and the writers do a brilliant job of spreading the drama out across 26, half-hour episodes. But my favourite couplings have been Sammy's - the character with the most interesting and diverse love background, I have most enjoyed his romantic story lines.

I can't go past a review of 'Dance Academy' without at least touching on the dancing in the show (even though I must confess, I have the dance skills of a one-legged robot). The choreography is beautiful, and tells a story in itself. From Tara's obsession with 'The Red Shoes', to Sammy's explosively heartbreaking season two solo, performed to the Jezabel's 'She's So Hard'. The actors do a remarkable job, and the choreography is so good that while watching an episode I do find my feet pointing and hips shaking. God, I wish I could dance.

I fell into obsession watching the first season of 'Dance Academy', but it was really the second season that cemented this show as something truly remarkable for me. The second season storyline takes a dramatic and heart-wrenching twist towards the end. I refuse to give anything away, but save to say the writers outdid themselves and the actors broke my heart while watching a breathtakingly sad story unfold.

'Dance Academy' is one of the best Australian shows I have had the pleasure of watching in recent years. It's a little bit 'Centre Stage' crossed with 'Heartbreak High', and with stories and dialogue that would do Aussie YA proud.

I started watching for the fact of something to watch but intensely intrigued me and ended up becoming a fan and addicted to the show. Dance Academy isn't like other dance series of just being about dance it had drama, love, passion and life events that would happen and not Just in ballet. I loved the romance between Sammy and Abigail and in my opinion deserved a longer relationship or to explore it more in season 2 aleast, before Sammys death. Speaking of that, Sammys death hurt me so much that it hurt my heart and stomach and I have never cried so much at a show.

I am in love with this show. It is quite realistic and I love how I almost feel I know the characters. The storyline is great and it's hard to find a suitable, non-cheesy show without all the smart remarks and inappropriate comments for teenagers. There are 3 seasons with 65 episodes. The story follows a group of older teenagers who have all been accepted into the National academy of dance. Their three years there are jam packed with all kinds of dancing, drama and even romance. I personally think it is the best Australian TV show for a long time, possibly ever ( it beats home and away by miles) but it is no to be misconceived as a young children's show. Many issues involving teens questioning their sexual orientation, complicated relationships and an emotional and gut wrenching tragedy make it unsuitable for those under 10 years.

SEASON 3 IS MEGA AND I LOVE THIS SHOW 100%

This show kept coming up on Netflix and I just had to watch it because I am a dancer myself. When I started it, I thought it was gonna be bad, but as I got later into the first episode, I realized this is going to be a great show. At the end of all 3 seasons, it leaves you with a cliffhanger, which encouraged me to keep watching because I was too curious what was going to happen. One night I stayed up all night just to get through season one, and I did.

My least favorite part of the whole show was the end of season 2, when Sammy died getting hit by a car. I was literally crying because I loved Sammy. He was so nice and he was a good dancer. I also hated the two times Tara got badly injured and could not dance. My least favorite character was definitely Saskia, she was pretty mean. She even broke Tara's back.

This show has the perfect amount of drama, whereas some shows have way too much, or not enough. I love all the relationships that Tara goes through, because it kinda resembles the real world problems. This is definitely my favorite show and probably will be for a while. The show also demonstrates what dancers really go through behind the scenes, and how dancers have to manage juggling their real life with their dance life. It has great acting/actors that star in it. I love this show! Definitely recommend to dance lovers and non-dance lovers!

Overall, I like the show very much. Does anybody else recognize the ballet teacher from the movie, " Strictly Ballroom"? She looks almost the same! My only comment I wish to make for now is that all the boys/ men students have TERRIBLE feet! Am I missing something? I love to watch for the ballet, a mostly believable story line and the scenes from Sydney, having been there a long time ago. The main character, Tara, seems very real. The little problems she has, the crush oh the character Ethan, showing up for class with too much make-up, starting a rumor about a company member and her becoming involved to boost her " likability rating" seem real. Having to jump off the pier seemed a bit extreme, and that nobody got in trouble does not seem plausible.

So I started watching this about 3 years ago and am watching it again for a second time, and WOW Tara really gets on my nerves. But aside from that I love all of the characters. There's Sammy, the lovable sidekick who I absolutely adore, there's Kat, who acts like she doesn't care but really does, Christian, the bad boy ig, Ethan, Tara's first "love" and Kat's brother, Abigail, the girl who's always tryna sabotage Tara (for whatever reason), New guy Ben who is really annoying at first but then grows on you within the 3rd episode of seeing them, and then Grace, who is just kinda a psycho. This show makes your heart hurt. It's so hard to watch other people go through really hard things, but honestly this show does a really good job with all of the characters to the point that when Sammy died, I was sobbed harder than I did at my grandmas funeral. This show is so good, if ur in the edge about watching it just watch it, who will be a better person for it.