Line #30 Series/DanceAcademy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ddaaance_303.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: [[ThePerfectionist Abigail]], [[NiceJewishBoy Sammy]], [[{{Keet}} Ben]], [[NaiveEverygirl Tara]], [[ByronicHero Christian]], [[GenkiGirl Kat]], and [[BitchInSheepsClothing Grace]]]]
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4	->''"I always knew in another life, I could fly. So that's why in this life, I dance."''
5	-->--'''Tara Webster'''
6
7	''Dance Academy'' is an Australian teen TV show that follows Tara Webster and her time at the National Academy of Dance in Sydney. The story also focuses on Kat Karamakov (Tara’s best friend), Ethan (Kat’s half brother), Sammy Lieberman (Kat and Tara’s friend), Christian Reed (Sammy’s roommate) and Abigail Armstrong (Tara’s roommate and biggest competition).
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9	Ever since Tara was a little girl, she knew she wanted to dance. In her hometown, she is known as “the dancer”. So when she is 15, she decides to audition for a position at the prestigious National Academy of Dance. When she is accepted, she thinks her new life at the academy will be spectacular. However, it doesn’t take her long to discover that there is much more to surviving at the academy than just dancing. She soon becomes painfully aware of how far behind she is in her ballet training and that there is a long way to go if she wants to become a principal dancer.
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11	The series became most-watched drama ever aired on its home channel Creator/{{ABC3}} during its first broadcast in 2010. Season 2 premiered in 2012, and Season 3 premiered in 2013. The show started airing in the U.S. on Creator/{{TeenNick}} in February 2012. TheMovie came out in 2017.
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13	----
14	!!This series provides examples of:
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16	* AlliterativeName: Kat Karamakov, Abigail Armstrong.
17	* ArtisticLicenseEducation: Miss Raine, strangely, does not fire Saskia for [[spoiler:injuring Tara]], instead making her apologize (which she [[TheUnapologetic refuses to do]]), despite the fact that it's a termination-worthy offense in Australia. Saskia does end up quitting anyway when her students harass her for [[spoiler:what she did to Tara]].
18	* BackForTheFinale: Okay, so Ethan came back in the penultimate episode, not the finale, but his reappearance at the end of season 2 still fills this trope.
19	* BadLuckCharm: The Macbeth solo is said to be one, and Ollie has many unlucky experiences when he's assigned it. [[spoiler:It's subverted when he gets a contract]].
20	* BigEater: Kat, though it's a more realistic portrayal of one.
21	%%* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Sammy dies in a car crash near the end of season 2]]
22	* CoitusInterruptus: Ben and Tara get interrupted by the hotel housekeeping service before they could get started. Unsurprisingly, it killed the moment [[spoiler:and the relationship]].
23	* ComingOutStory: [[spoiler:Sammy's about halfway there.]]
24	* ContinuityNod: Kat baking when she's sad, Tara finding {{Four Leaf Clover}}s before an exam and Tara having lied to Ethan about losing a bracelet are all referenced in season 2.
25	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Christian's mother.
26	* DefrostingIceQueen:
27	** Abigail is initially quite a horrible person, but Sammy's persistence and support of her eventually makes her much nicer and she eventually falls in love with him despite her claims that she "[doesn't] do emotions."
28	** Christian starts off very cold and distant from everyone and isn't too keen to make friends. Tara, Kat and, again, Sammy all play a role in making him a warmer person.
29	** [[spoiler: Depending on how her reaction and subsequent behaviour in the last episode of series 2 is to be interpreted, Grace may be in for this in series 3. After watching her dance ''The Red Shoes'', Abigail comments that Grace has "never felt a genuine human emotion"; by the end of the competition, though, it's clear that she has.]]
30	*** It takes until the end of the last season, but [[spoiler:falling for Ben, Tara's fall, and quitting dance to travel the world finally defrosts Grace]].
31	* DisproportionateRetribution: In season 2, the first years dislike the second years for [[LampshadeHanging focusing more on relationships than ballet]]. Because of this, they decide to flour bomb the second years and then squirt them with water pistols in the middle of the night.
32	* DisappearedDad: Christian's father.
33	* FireForgedFriends: Abigail and Ollie were never very close due to both having dated Sammy, but [[spoiler:Sammy's death]] makes them much closer, to the point where they're best friends in season 3.
34	* [[FriendlyEnemy Frenemy]]: Abigail mentions that Kat is hers. Abigail and Tara could also qualify.
35	* FreezeFrameBonus: In the class rankings that come out at the end of series 1, episode 2. The camera pans from the top to the bottom very quickly, but by looking closely, we can learn that Tara's first-year class at the Academy apparently contains students with the names "Marie Taglioni" (the name of a nineteenth-century ballet dancer who is often credited with being the first person to dance on pointe) and "Samantha Strauss" (the show's main screenwriter).
36	* FunnyForeigner: Petra, German exchange student.
37	* GreenEyedMonster: Arguably Saskia jealous of Tara [[spoiler: which leads to her pushing Tara so far that she cracks one of her vertebrae]].
38	** Abigail tends to acts out in jealousy.
39	* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: Abigail, of all characters, gives this to [[spoiler:Christian about Kat]].
40	-->'''Abigail''': If you break her heart like you did [[spoiler:Tara's]], I'll hurt you.
41	* InMediasRes: Episode 13 of season 2 starts with Tara in Miss Raine's office after [[spoiler:her broken back has been found out.]]
42	* IntimateLotionApplication: In "Breaking Pointe", Tara hurts her back during coaching, so she needs to run cream on her back periodically. She doesn't find Grace or Sammy to help her, so she has to rely on Christian to do it, which is tense since they both have feelings for each other.
43	* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: At the end of the series, Tara's narration is revealed to be part of a book she wrote about her experiences at the National Academy of Dance.
44	* JerkassHasAPoint: Near the end of season 3, what Saskia says to Tara about being a professional dancer.
45	-->'''Saskia''': That's fantastic, love it all you like. But, being a professional is about what you do on your worst night--when it's your 100th performance, the orchestra's playing too fast, your costume falls off. You can't just stop and turn to the audience and say, "Sorry, no magic."
46	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Sammy in season 2]]
47	* TheLightfooted: Most characters are this, given that they're training to be dancers.
48	* LoveDodecahedron: As per the norm for a TeenDrama.
49	* MistakenForGay: Happens to Sammy when one of the football players visiting the academy asks for his number. [[spoiler:Subverted later though.]]
50	* MoodWhiplash: Tara goes from loudly annoucing she's going to make out with Ben to [[spoiler:complaining about how Miss Raine dealt with her back being broken by Saskia.]]
51	* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler: Kat and Ben in the movie]].
52	* PracticeKiss: Tara practices kissing Sammy, so she'll be prepared to kiss [[spoiler:Ethan]], with Kat coaching them along.
53	* PutOnABus: Ethan, on a bus to Barcelona.
54	* TechnicianVsPerformer: Explored and partially deconstructed with Tara and Abigail's ongoing rivalry. Tara is the Performer, and Abigail is the Technician. As a show about dance, it also explores the topic of physical potential: Tara has an idea body type for ballet, and Abigail doesn't. Originally the Technician Vs Performer trope is played very straight, with the narrative being in Tara's favor. But as the show wears on, it explores the other side, developing Abigail's characters as a DefrostingIceQueen, showing her more sympathetically. The trope is eventually deconstructed, exploring the heartache Abigail experiences--she works ''so hard'', sometimes pushing herself past the point of what's healthy, all because she ''desperately'' wants it, but in contrast with naturals like Tara, that's only barely enough.
55	* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: For the musical in season 2, Abigail says she's [[AlwaysWantedToSayThat always wanted to be the mean judge on a panel.]]
56	* TheirFirstTime: Tara and Ben decided to have sex, in season 3 [[spoiler: but then they get walked in on by the cleaning lady.]]
57	* UnusualEuphemism: When Kat and Sammy are talking about [[spoiler: him being gay and liking Christian.]]
58	* WhamLine:
59	-->[[spoiler:'''Christian''': The ambulance came and it didn't... Sammy died on the way to the hospital.]]
60	* WillTheyOrWontThey:
61	** Tara and Ethan for the first half of season 1, Tara and Christian for the second half.
62	** Sometimes applies to Tara and Ben in season 3 also, as well as Tara and Christian.
63	* WoundedGazelleGambit: A major aspect of Grace's MO. Example: [[spoiler:destroying Tara's and her own shoes, to convince Tara Abigail did it.]]

Context Series / DanceAcademy