Dance Academy — Season 2

The second year of dance school starts, with Tara and Christian having spent the holidays together on her farm and ending up rekindling their romance; Kat and Miles break up, and Kat begins attending a normal girls' high school after not being accepted back for second year; Ethan acts cold towards Tara for not taking up his offer, instead offering Miss Raine's goddaughter and new student from London, Grace, her role; Sammy brushes off his feelings for Christian as a normal teenage questioning of sexuality, instead taking advantage of first-year girls' eagerness to receive good accommodation (as he has been appointed boarding house adviser) by carrying on flings with them. Meanwhile, Abigail appears to have shrugged off her stubborn and competitive personality, however after Sammy tells her the reason they did not get back together at the end of the last year, she reverts back to her old self.

Tara meets prestigious former student Saskia Duncan, who invites her to a performance of The Firebird, and tells her stories of her busy dancing career since, which makes Tara doubt her future with Christian as well as his dedication to becoming a professional dancer; Saskia later falls during a performance and potentially ends her career. Kat tries to make friends with a group of girls at her new school, but is largely ignored. Sammy further struggles to find time to work at a restaurant to make money to support himself, while he and Christian spearhead an informal hip hop class since it was dropped from the official academy schedule, which becomes popular, although both are near-last and last (respectively) in classes. Abigail recruits two admiring first-year girls to dig up dirt on Grace, who has ranked first in every class after the first week. Grace eventually reveals the reason she left the Royal Ballet School in London was because she caused another girl to have a nervous breakdown and tells Abigail she "do[es]n't care about being the best".

First-year student Ben Tickle is put in second-year classes because of his talent, but gets off on the wrong foot with the students, namely Sammy and Christian, for being judgemental (saying things are "gay") and a little self-absorbed, telling people to call him "Benster"; he initially throws a party for himself on Observatory Hill, but no one attends. Kat helps a group of girls for a high school assignment by making an expressionist music and movement routine, enlisting the help of her dance friends. Sammy decides that he has to work out his feelings, but tells Christian all is good between them. Grace and Abigail both make attempts to become better friends, initially struggling, but bond through Grace's idea to have fun by tricking people into giving them things for free (Abigail pretends to faint from low blood sugar while Grace calls for help and food; Abigail pretends to be Vanessa Hudgens to a new employee at a dress shop to get free clothes; and both pretend to be lost Swedish girls to a police officer to get a free ride back to the academy). The episode ends with Kat having made new friends, Sammy giving Ben a talking to about his personality and how his words could offend people, and Ben receiving a proper party with all the students attending.

Saskia begins teaching repertoire class at the academy, and Tara and Abigail compete to impress her. Saskia asks the class to work on their solo pieces, so everyone, especially Abigail (with Grace's help) begins looking to find a good routine to do; Tara has already chosen The Red Shoes, Saskia's solo when she represented Australia at the Prix de Fonteyn. Saskia then criticizes Tara's performance during class, telling her it was "a mess" and later saying she doesn't have the experience, leaving Tara disheartened. Ethan convinces Abigail to dance for a piece he is composing, but still faces his father's harsh judgements, who tells him he isn't ready. Miss Raine discovers Sammy's job at the restaurant, and the two discuss his supporting himself. Sammy says he was hoping to get a scholarship the following semester, to which Miss Raine replies he will need a tutor.

Ethan changes his piece for Showcase after criticism from his father, adding extra dancers (including Grace), angering Abigail. Christian's street-smart friend Kaylah arrives at the academy, looking for help from Christian (who she calls "Cheds") for her Showcase routine, alienating Tara, who realizes that she is in love with Christian and had been wanting to tell him so. Kat, who has also been told by her parents that her father wants to travel to Berlin to choreograph The Firebird with her mother as the principal dancer, alters Sammy and Ben's "steampunk" tap-dancing entry into a more modern three-person dance piece with herself as a burlesque ballerina being fought for by the two guys, and is offered an opportunity by a talent agent. Kaylah is overcome by last-minute nerves and Tara helps talk her into taking the stage, for which Christian is thankful and unknowingly alleviates her earlier uneasiness by telling her he loves her first. Abigail then closes the Showcase with Ethan's originally-intended solo performance for her to a new piece of music, "The Last Day on Earth".

Sammy's younger brother Ari unexpectedly turns up at the academy with a bruise on his face, but Sammy finds out in a call from their mother that he had a fight with a "mathlete" for taking his spot on his school's hockey team. Kat takes up the talent agent's offer, and accompanied by a keen Ben, attends a football cheer-leading tryout before getting a callback. Tara begins having body issues, feeling like she's not attractive enough for Christian and accidentally fake tans herself to excess, but Christian eventually assures her she's fine as she is.

The second years are assigned a dance project. Ben invites Kat to join his and Sammy's flash mob to impress her. Tara finds a picture of Christian and his mother on his bulletin board and unfolds it to reveal Christian's father. Tara questions him about his father but Christian refuses to talk about it. Grace makes things awkward between Abigail and Ethan when she says they obviously are dating each other, making Abigail tense and amusing Ethan. Tara and Christian, criticized by Miss Raine for skipping class, make their dance project a duet but still join Ben and Sammy's flash mob. Grace and Abigail also participate in the flash mob with Ethan as the cameraman. Sammy informs Ben that their planned flash mob show on the ferry is not possible due to the workers being on strike; Ben then decides to hold it on the train. Afterwards, Grace makes it known to Ethan that she in fact likes him before kissing him in sight of Abigail. This crosses into Tara and Christian's argument over Tara researching his father's whereabouts. In anger, Christian breaks up with Tara.

Pas de deux exam time arrives, and Tara is partnered with Ben, Abigail with Christian and Sammy with Grace. Sammy is hyped with energy (and caffeine) and is still trying to juggle his work priorities with dancing, but in a mind slip, accidentally forgets to lock up at work and allows the cash to be stolen. Tara is still reeling from her break-up with Christian, and tries calling him to help her practice as Ben is unworried (and has BO); meanwhile, Tara takes her and Ben's concerns that Saskia has a grudge against her up with Miss Raine, who brushes her off, telling her she asked Saskia to be hard on Tara due to her recent lack of commitment to dancing. Christian is unresponsive to Tara's calls, and skips class the next day with Kat (who is struggling with her own exams, having skipped school) to entertain kids at a fairy-themed birthday party, leaving Abigail to do her routine with Sammy, who accidentally lets her fall, causing even more mayhem.

On the last day of semester, the boys (Sammy, Ben and Christian) and the girls (Tara, Abigail, Grace and Kat) all try to have fun without talking about the other, but fail as Christian grows closer to Kat and further away from Tara. The boys try to get into a club (Kat says to the girls that her agent gave her tickets to get in), but fail to and then visit a tattoo parlor, where Sammy insists he wants a tattoo. When Christian interferes, he, Sammy and Ben come to blows; all then visit the club after Christian and Kat exchange photos and texts (into which Grace had been prying)—the pair later kiss. Sammy, still in dire straits financially and having learned that he has failed all of his exams, says he will call his father for financial support. Christian and Tara finally discuss their uncertain break-up, and officially decide to take a break. Grace and Abigail's friendship turns sour when Abigail deduces that Grace has spent the day scheming and manipulating to drive a wedge in between Kat and Tara's friendship. She then reconciles with Ethan and asks him for help with choreographing her solo for the Prix de Fonteyn auditions.

Sammy is looking to get Youth Allowance to support his dancing until he learns his Grandpa Morrie has died, so he returns home to his family (including his emotionally distant father) and then attends the funeral. Grace and Abigail fall out as friends, so Grace schemes to bring Tara on her side by breaking both hers and Tara's pointe shoes to make it look as if Abigail is against both of them and jealous. Abigail is later forced to apologise, however Tara still decides to move out of their shared room and into a room with Grace instead. Kat avoids Christian and Tara and gets an audition, then an interview and finally accepted to be a part of the Moulin Rouge in Paris. It is also later revealed Sammy's father begins repaying his tuition fees.

Miss Raine introduces Sammy to his tutor—talented, opinionated and uninterested third-year Ollie. Ollie is initially unimpressed by Sammy, telling him to buy him food and not paying attention while Sammy tries to receive constructive criticism. However, after Sammy analyses him, Ollie decides to take Sammy on as a serious protégé. Grace convinces Tara to film her dancing for Saskia, also managing to capture Saskia harshly criticizing Tara's performance, who tells her, "You're never going to make it." Grace later convinces Tara to upload it online, where it becomes a viral hit overnight, and comes to the attention of Miss Raine; Tara apologizes to Saskia, but defies Saskia's past criticism of her Red Shoes performance by asking Miss Raine if she can perform it at the Prix de Fonteyn. Kat continues practicing for the Moulin Rouge, but arrives late and unprepared. Despite being told she is talented but just needs to work at it, she is let go.

Kat asks Miss Raine if she can come back to the academy, and continues pestering her until she begrudgingly relents—but tells Kat that she must repeat first year as she failed; in the meantime, Ethan assigns Abigail to train Kat for readmission as payment for choreographing her solo. Kat also tells Christian that although she may have feelings for him, she knows that he's only pretending not to still have feelings for Tara, who is literally being pushed to the limit in practice by Saskia, who injures Tara's back by stretching her leg in exaggerated arabesque position to reprimand her. Tara seems to find comfort for her injury from Christian, but he says he won't be guilted into getting back together with her. Tara gets an MRI scan from a non-academy doctor, who tells her she has cracked a bone in her spine, and not to do any high-strain activities—like dancing.

Prix de Fonteyn auditions begin, while Sammy re-takes his dancing exams and Kat dances for Miss Raine to get back into first year. Tara continues practicing despite her injury, and goes to see the non-academy doctor again as her friends become concerned. She eventually decides to tell Miss Raine with her dad present, who tells her she has no choice but to expel her because of her lying about not being injured and the academy's rules about other doctors. Tara also finds out that Kat and Christian kissed, and claims Kat back-stabbed her. Saskia asks Abigail to audition with The Red Shoes, but Abigail sees that Saskia wants to use her to get back at Tara. Waiting backstage, Abigail kisses Ethan and then performs the solo he has choreographed for her. Kat is also accepted back into first year.

Tara is taken home by her father, who wants to get an opinion on her back injury from their family doctor. Tara's friends begin calling her, offering support—even Ethan and Abigail, and later, Christian. Kat tries to integrate herself with the first-year dance students, who see her as an outsider due to her past uncommitted attitude to dancing, but their idol Abigail tells them to accept her. Kat and Abigail's childhood friendship shows signs of being rekindled then and Kat moves into Abigail's room. Tara visits St. Vincent's Hospital, where Ben is coincidentally volunteering and helping children with leukemia put on a play involving space dog Laika called Space Rescue Mission Adventure. She soon discovers from a nurse that Ben was a patient in the past, and after the play finishes, asks Ben to back her up in telling the academy that Saskia caused her injury (as he was also present during the practice session), to which he agrees.

Ethan is offered the chance of choreographing a fringe musical, for which he recruits Abigail, who also practices singing for the role. Tara arrives back at the academy, having recovered enough to present her case against Saskia. Although Miss Raine offers Tara her position again, Tara refuses to accept it as Saskia is unrepentant and denies she did any wrong. After the second-year dancers become hostile and make sarcastic remarks to Saskia, she resigns and heads home to Perth. Despite still not apologizing to a returning Tara, Saskia tells her she'll be jealous of new dancers one day too, but Tara says she will never do what Saskia did, because although she loves ballet, she won't let it destroy her. After a party on a yacht for him, Ethan is offered a job opportunity in Barcelona, and bids a tearful goodbye to everyone.

The second-year students are asked to perform a piece expressing what made them who they are—Tara's piece is influenced by a critical Grace, while everyone learns from Tara that Ben had leukemia, so he changes his initial performance (pretending to be a red blood cell) to an upbeat number to deflect the pity he says he became a dancer to get away from. Sammy travels to the Regional finals of the Prix de Fonteyn as he missed the Preliminary round in the city, taking a road trip with Ollie and Christian, whose father, Raf, unbeknownst to the others, runs his own custom surfboard shop in the area. Sammy auditions and gets in with Ollie's help. Ollie is also revealed to be gay and admits to Sammy he likes him. Christian visits his father, and the two talk about Christian's mother. His dad later gives him a surfboard as well as his phone number. Arriving back at the Academy, Christian visits Kat and kisses her, and dances his second-year piece from the experience of meeting his father.

After the first-years flour bomb the second-years in the middle of the night, both years become competitive and schedule a hip hop dance-off. Sammy recruits Ollie's help, saying he is the best hip-hop dancer at the academy, while both years practice their moves and throw parties (the second-years' party being quiet and relaxed compared to the first-years' upbeat dance party with glow-sticks and a hot tub). Tara, whose attitude has been influenced by Grace, drunkenly confronts Christian and Kat at the party, and tries to kiss Ben, but ends up throwing up and being given advice by Miss Raine. Before the eventual showdown (at which the second-years win), Ollie and Sammy kiss.

Ballet teacher Zach wants to get all of the students re-enthused about dancing after the mid-semester break, so he takes them to a circus to help them learn to trust their bodies and "trust each other"; the bonding helps Tara and Kat reunite fully. Sammy announces to his friends that he and Ollie are dating, getting a mostly positive reaction, but was pressured having learnt that Ollie already told his friends; being somewhat "outed", Sammy stresses, initiating an argument and premature split between the two. Christian's dad Raf turns up at the academy and circus hoping to further bond with him, telling him that he will take him to get his learner's license, but later reneges on his offer.

Abigail, having trouble with Zach's practice, is sought by Finn, the producer of the musical Ethan was initially choreographing, and new director Mistii, who both pretend to be planning to cast a ditzy blonde (Mistii) in the lead role. Even after discovering their ploy, Abigail accepts that the role is suited to her. Grace becomes bored with dancing she considers beneath her natural ability, and seeks Zach out for more complicated practice. Tara looks for a new crush, saying that there are no crush-worthy guys at the school, when Ben kisses her.

As a cold goes around at the academy (which Miss Raine, Abigail and Ben have), Abigail discovers an email while waiting in Miss Raine's office that ranks the students' viability for Nationals with either a tick (Tara, Grace and Christian), a cross (Sammy and Abigail) or a question mark in Ben's case, who feels as if this mirrors his life as he waits for the results of his leukemia biopsy check-up. The email, having been sent around, incites the students and angers the teachers. Meanwhile, Sammy is annoyed by criticism from Ollie, Grace is strangely enjoying her intense practice with Zach, and Abigail's ballet teacher mother Anthea arrives at the academy, revealing family troubles and wanting Abigail to dance her old Helen Keller role. Abigail then feels torn between this and her musical role, which she later quits.

Nationals of the Prix de Fonteyn begin, with tensions running high. Ben tries to psych out Christian, pursuing Tara by asking her out. This leaves Kat feeling left out, but Tara grows closer to Ben (who tells her about his "ladder theory", the step up from friendship that a relationship involves). When Ben kisses Tara in front of Christian right before his solo, it distracts Christian and makes Tara realise Ben was using her. Sammy tries to hide having a boyfriend from his father and brother, who come to watch him dance, so he brings Abigail to lunch. After his performance, they find out the truth but are mostly unfazed. Meanwhile, Abigail chooses the musical over her mother's pressure to compete at Nationals. Tara, Grace, Sammy and a Tasmanian student named Michael Slade (Rarmian Newton) who tried to sabotage Sammy's contemporary solo are all chosen to represent Australia on the International stage.

The students selected to represent Australia are featured on the talk show Gav & Lena, with Sammy having a "meltdown", describing the rivalry between himself and Michael, and reenacting his performance as Michael cut the music off to his piece. Grace, whose father cancels his visit to see her perform, tries to kiss Zach, feeling confused after their closeness during practice sessions, leading to her returning to the UK. Christian and Kat argue over his attitude after his failure to make Nationals, and his reckless behavior as a result (riding off on a motorcycle after learner's training, neglecting his end-of-year production audition). After Ollie is denied a place in the Company, he loses his cool and harshly criticizes Sammy, saying they aren't equal in their abilities, leading Sammy to break up with him.

Roles for the end-of-year production of Peter Pan are announced, with Christian as Peter, Kat as Tinker Bell, and Abigail as Wendy Darling. Ben goes out of his way to get Tara to like him again, singing and dancing in front of the other students. With Christian's advice, Ben sets up an ice rink on Bondi Beach for her, eventually winning her over. Zach encourages Kat to tap into Tinker Bell's jealous side, which leads her to have an epiphany about Christian. Realizing that Christian is still in love with Tara, Kat decides to end their relationship. Abigail decides she needs to take time off from everything (including ballet), and despite visiting Sydney Aquarium with Sammy to "prepare" for a date with Finn, cancels. Sammy and the other students also think about their future prospects.

The international competitors arrive for the Prix de Fonteyn at the Sydney Opera House as Tara and Sammy go into final preparations. Tara discovers that Grace has returned to represent the UK, and is dancing Tara's Red Shoes solo to prove she's better by winning, which upsets her. Sammy decides to have the others on stage with him despite the rules, but in the end, settles on a video montage accompanying his dance. He asks for Abigail's advice, who loves it; the pair then share a kiss. With the possibility of Tara studying elsewhere and still being in denial about his feelings for her, Christian finally realizes how much Tara means to him. Despite her dating Ben, Christian prepares to tell Tara his feelings for her although Sammy advises him not to. After receiving a phone call, Miss Raine tells the students and Christian (who was on his way to the Opera House) that Sammy was hit by a car while out running and died on the way to hospital, leaving everyone in shock and emotional distress. Tara later listens to a voice mail on her phone Sammy had sent her earlier.

After the second-year students attend Sammy's funeral, Miss Raine announces that the Prix de Fonteyn will be delayed for a week, that the production of Peter Pan is cancelled, and that absences will be excused. Abigail, however, throws herself back into training for a new production, while the others begin to plan a "memorial" to grieve and allow a better chance for closure, as everyone vividly remembers how they met Sammy—Miss Raine, who recognized him from not getting through initial auditions for the Academy; Kat, who helped him forge his dad's signature; and Christian, who met him while break-dancing. Christian fights with Kat, who wants to look at Sammy's laptop to play a song at the memorial, and also with Ollie, over Sammy's cardigan. Tara pulls out from the Prix, while Abigail breaks down during auditions for the production; later, the memorial goes ahead on the beach and Ethan returns to join them. Christian reads a eulogy, as well as a list Sammy wrote of the top 50 things he wanted to achieve, with the first being to make a group of close friends he could have for the rest of his life. The group stays all night at the beach, then in the morning, dance and play with each other in the water to remember Sammy.

After everyone celebrates Christian's 18th birthday on Observatory Hill, Abigail convinces Tara to compete in the Prix again, telling her she'll help her practice, while Ben says that he'll take Sammy's place in the competition, as he was third behind Sammy and Michael. Naturally-talented Grace remains in first place until the last day of competition, when contestants perform their solos. Meanwhile, Kat turns up for her first-year exams despite being given a break. Christian visits Tara who invites him back to spend the holidays on the farm despite her dating Ben. Tara confesses that things with Ben are awkward. At the same time Christian's father contacts him and invites him on a road trip during the holiday break to clear his head. Abigail wants Tara to remain focused and to do her Red Shoes solo even though Grace is still going ahead with it. Tara agrees after Abigail convinces her she can do it well. When the final day arrives, Grace's performance is noted by Tara to be "technically and artistically perfect", but Abigail says that she dances without emotion. Tara shows genuine emotion during her performance, imagining Sammy helping her perform, and she receives a standing ovation and emotional responses from everyone, including Grace. Ben, in second place, decides on doing Sammy's piece (with the video montage backdrop), despite choreography having to be approved, and invites his friends onstage. When he finishes, balloons fall down on the group, who embrace, while the judges look bewildered as Zach and Miss Raine also take to the stage. Tara's voice-over concludes the episode by saying that despite Grace winning (and deciding to attend the Academy for third year), it was "never about winning" for her. Christian chooses to spend the holidays motorcycling with his Dad in Tasmania, promising Tara he will return for third year, while Abigail goes to Barcelona with Ethan, and Kat decides to spend her break with Tara on the farm.