Dance Academy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dance Academy
Genre	Teen drama
Created by	Samantha Strauss Joanna Werner
Starring	Xenia Goodwin Alicia Banit Dena Kaplan Tom Green Jordan Rodrigues Tim Pocock Isabel Durant Thomas Lacey Keiynan Lonsdale Tara Morice
Opening theme	"My Chance" by The White Rhinos
Composer(s)	Bryony Marks
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	65 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bernadette O'Mahony Joanna Werner
Producer(s)	Joanna Werner
Cinematography	Martin McGrath
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	24–25 minutes
Production company(s)	Werner Film Productions ACTF
Distributor	ZDF Enterprises (Australia) CBS Studios International (United States)
Release
Original network	ABC1 / ABC3 (Australia) ZDF (Germany)
Picture format	HDTV
Original release	31 May 2010 (2010-05-31) – 30 September 2013 (2013-09-30)

Dance Academy is an Australian teen-oriented television drama produced by Werner Film Productions in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and ZDF. Series one premiered on 31 May 2010, and series two began airing on 12 March 2012. Series three premiered on ABC3 on 8 July 2013 in Australia.

The television drama lasted 3 seasons with 65 episodes. A film sequel to the television series, Dance Academy: The Movie, was released by StudioCanal in Australian cinemas on 6 April 2017.

Plot

Dance Academy is narrated mainly from the perspective of Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin), a newly-accepted first year student at the National Academy of Dance in Sydney, which also doubles as a Year 10–12 high school for the dancers. Throughout the series, she learns to better her ballet technique, as well as learn contemporary ballet and hip-hop dance, while creating lifelong friendships and experiencing many hardships. In the first series, Tara soon befriends fellow students Kat (Alicia Banit) and Ethan Karamakov (Tim Pocock), Sammy Lieberman (Tom Green), Abigail Armstrong (Dena Kaplan) and Christian Reed (Jordan Rodrigues), as well as eventually getting to know her teacher Ms. Raine (Tara Morice).

Series Two sees Tara return to the Academy for her second year with the hope of representing Australia in an international ballet competition, the Prix de Fonteyn. This series introduces new students Grace Whitney (Isabel Durant), Ben Tickle (Thomas Lacey), Ollie Lloyd (Keiynan Lonsdale), as well as teacher Saskia Duncan (Brooke Harman), and sees the characters react to an unexpected death.

Series Three follows the characters in their final year at the Academy as they compete for a contract in the dance company. Grace and Tara obtain temporary spots in the corps de ballet, Kat stars in a dance film, Abigail and Ollie explore commercial dancing and singing, and the third years go on tour for Romeo and Juliet throughout regional Australia.

Episodes

List of Dance Academy episodes

Cast

The six main characters from series one, clockwise from left: Kat, Ethan, Sammy, Abigail, Tara and Christian

Awards

Books

ABC Books has released seven paperback novels, each based on a particular episode and from the perspective of a single character. The books are published by ABC Books and HarperCollins Australia.

Film: Dance Academy: The Movie

On 22 April 2015, a feature film adaption of Dance Academy was announced along with other feature film projects to have received funding from Screen Australia. The film is a sequel to the television series, set 18 months after the events of series three, and follows Tara's journey as she pursues her dream to become a ballerina star. Pre-production for the film, then titled Dance Academy: The Comeback, began on 17 April 2016. Shooting for the film began on 29 May 2016, and wrapped on 22 July. The official trailer for the film was released on 25 December 2016. The film, retitled Dance Academy: The Movie, was released by StudioCanal to Australian cinemas on 6 April 2017. It was released internationally on Netflix under the title Dance Academy: The Comeback.

See also

In Spanish: Dance Academy para niños