By Travis Johnson
Almost six years to the day that it premiered on May 31, 2010, beloved Australian youth drama Dance Academy is making the graceful leap to the big screen as production begins on Dance Academy: The Movie.
The ABC series followed the adventures of country girl Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin) as she left home for Sydney’s National Academy of Dance, grappling with relatable teen issues while also competing at an elite level. The movie, being filmed in Sydney and New York, picks up some 18 months after the finale of Season 3; the characters have graduated and gone their separate ways, and an injured Tara tries to overcome the odds and continue chasing her dream of ballet stardom.
Goodwin is joined by returning cast members Dena Kaplan (Abigail), soon to be seen in Honey 3 (releasing later in 2016), and fast becoming renowned for her DJ work. Thomas Lacey (Ben) was the lead role in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom the Musical, and has also recently appeared in Winners and Losers (Seven Network) while Jordan Rodrigues (Christian) is currently playing a lead role on ABC (US) Family show The Fosters and just finished on the feature Breaking Through. Alicia Banit (Kat) will soon be seen on screen in the feature film We Were Tomorrow and Keiynan Lonsdale (Ollie) was recently seen in the Divergent sequel, Insurgent. He recently appeared in The Final Hours with Chris Pine and Casey Affleck and is a series regular in season two of The Flash. Also back is Tara Morice, playing Miss Raine.
Director Jeffrey Walker, who worked on the first series, said “Dance Academy is incredibly close to my heart, working on this picture with Sam Strauss and Jo Werner is like coming home. The characters have matured with the audience and the film promises to deliver an incredible insight into the world of dance, not often seen. Australian cinema greats, designers Chris Kennedy and Tess Schofield, along with Director of Photography, Martin McGrath are collaborating with me to deliver a huge, widescreen cinematic experience.”
