Dance Academy
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.
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, 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 and Ethan Karamakov, Sammy Lieberman, Abigail Armstrong and Christian Reed, as well as eventually getting to know her teacher Ms. Raine.Series Two saw 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 introduced characters Grace Whitney, Ben Tickle, Ollie Lloyd, and Saskia Duncan, and saw the characters' reaction to the untimely death of Sammy.
Series Three followed the characters as third years at the Academy, competing for a contract with the dance company to become principal dancers. After the temporary contracts have been established, the third years go on tour for Romeo and Juliet.
Episodes
Cast
Production
Dance Academy is produced by Joanna Werner's film company Werner Films Productions in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Screen Australia, Film Victoria, Film New South Wales and ZDF for Germany., airing rights to Dance Academy have been sold to 180 territories, airing on every continent except Antarctica.Casting and filming
Series one
Casting for series one began in early 2009 in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. All cast members had to be skilled in drama and dancing and had to cope with Australia's best choreographers. Filming began on 13 July 2009 and wrapped up in early November. The series premiere was originally planned for a mid-2010 premiere on ABC3, however, like Dead Gorgeous, the premiere was pushed to ABC1 on 31 May 2010 and ABC3 on 6 June 2010. The first series premiered on Germany's ZDF on 26 September 2010.Series two
Production of series two was officially green-lit by ABC and ZDF on 2 July 2010. Casting calls were issued on 14 September 2010, and principal photography in Sydney took place between 31 January and 4 August 2011. Series two premiered on ABC3 on 12 March 2012 and ran for 26 episodes, airing each week from Monday through Thursday, ending on 24 April.Series three
approved investment funding for a third series of 13 episodes on 5 December 2011. Filming began 27 August 2012, ended filming 27 November 2012. On 5 June 2013, Alicia Banit and Thomas Lacey appeared on ABC3's Studio 3 to announce the series 3 premiere on 8 July 2013.Release
Online streaming
The show is available on streaming sites, including Hulu.com and Netflix.com. Entire episodes of all three seasons are also available, for free, on the show's official YouTube channel, however it is not available in Australia.DVD releases
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has released all episodes from series one through three on DVD—with series one and two across four volumes and series three over two—as well as series collections and a complete series one to three compilation.| Title | Region 4 release date | Episodes |
Learning to Fly | 1. "Learning to Fly, Part 1", 2. "Week Zero", 3. "Behind Barres", 4. "Minefield", 5. "Real Men Don't Dance" | |
Growing Pains | 6. "Perfection", 7. "Crush Test Dummies", 8. "Growing Pains", 9. "Heartbeat", 10. "Through the Looking Glass", 11. "One Perfect Day", 12. "Pressure" | |
Turning Pointe | 13. "Family", 14. "Turning Pointes", 15. "My Life En Pointe", 16. "Free Falling", 17. "A Midsummer's Night's Dream", 18. "Betty Bunheads", 19. "Fairest and Best" | |
Ballet Fever | 20. "Ballet Fever", 21. "FOMO: Fear of Missing Out", 22. "Flight or Fight Response", 23. "BFF: Best Friends Forever", 24. "Heatwave", 25. "The Deep End", 26. "Learning to Fly, Part 2" | |
The Complete First Series | All 26 episodes from series one. | |
Raising the Barre | 27. "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated", 28. "Dreamlife", 29. "Faux Pas de Deux", 30. "Legends", 31. "Showcase", 32. "Like No One's Watching" | |
Breaking Pointe | 33. "A Choreographed Life", 34. "Connectivity", 35. "The Break", 36. "A Good Life", 37. "Self Sabotage", 38. "Breaking Pointe" | |
Catch Me If I Fall | 39. "Backstab", 40. "Rescue Mission", 41. "Moving On", 42. "Origins", 43. "Love and War", 44. "Catch Me If I Fall", 45. "The Nationals" | |
Win or Lose | 46. "Tick, Question Mark, Cross", 47. "Ladder Theory", 48. "Win or Lose", 49. "Love It or Fight It", 50. "The Prix De Fonteyn", 51. "The Second", 52. "The Red Shoes" | |
The Complete Second Series | All 26 episodes from series two. | |
New Rules | 53. "Glue", 54. "New Rules", 55. "Second Chances", 56. "Short Cut Clause", 57. "Negative Patterns", 58. "Fake It Until You Make It" | |
The Ultimate Test | 59. "Graceland", 60. "Traveling Light", 61. "Don't Let Me Down Gently", 62. "N'Fektd", 63. "Start of an Era", 64. "The Perfect Storm", 65. "Not for Nothing" | |
The Complete Third Series | All 13 episodes from series three. |
Awards
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''