Dance Academy — Season 3

The Academy is three weeks into the year. Tara is throwing Abigail her first birthday party, while Christian still has not enrolled or even shown up to the Academy. No one knows where he is or can get in touch with him. There are three openings for fill-ins for the corps de ballet in The Company's production of Giselle.

Tara finds Christian at his dad's surf shop. He blows her off to be with his new and reckless friends. Tara, Ben, and Grace rehearse for Giselle. Kat helps Abigail appeal to other dance companies. Saskia is back and gives Tara a journal to express her feelings about the school year.

Christian catches up with his friends at the Academy and goes through an interview to renew his scholarship. Grace starts meddling in Ms. Raine's private life so that Ms. Raine will stop messing with her. Marcus Caine, Ms. Raine's boyfriend while she was a student and company dancer at the Academy, comes to the Academy to help the second year students. He gives them an assignment to study a non-dancer and then reinterpret that person in a dance. Abigail and Christian spend the day together, which inspires Christian to stay at the Academy. Kat takes her second year assignment as an opportunity to study a man named Nick Hesk, who is the driver that hit Sammy in series two. She begins to feel insecure and becomes bulimic. She talks to Nick again and hears his side of the story. In the end, Kat ends up not using Nick as her assignment; she uses herself.

Saskia offers to become Ben's mentor after seeing him and Tara dancing together onstage after a performance of Giselle. While Ben is torn between loyalty to Tara and fast-tracking his career, after a session with Saskia, he starts to feel comfortable with the idea, although Tara suspects Saskia has an ulterior motive. Abigail returns to her classes and she and Christian post Ollie's music video online without permission; Ollie later takes Abigail to a commercial dancer's class to prove she isn't up to standard but it results in Abigail signing on for beginners' classes. Tara worries about Kat after noticing she is not eating in public any more and gets hypothetical advice from Dr Wicks. Kat gets mad at her when confronted about her bulimia. Christian calls Tara after finding Kat upset and she leaves a Company performance to comfort her friend.

Tara, Ben and Grace near the end of their stint as fill-ins for Giselle, but Saskia arranges an early audition for Ben with The Company's artistic director Sir Jeffrey. However, Ben is worried when Saskia also asks him out. Ollie and Abigail are making a music video; Abigail hires Kat as a dancer to take her mind off her bulimia while Zach agrees to let Christian take part as part of his make-up classes. Ollie and Christian clash over Christian changing the choreography and Christian walks off the shoot but Ollie ends up using his ideas. Grace is considered for a place on tour but loses out on both the tour spot and a place in the gala when the girl she was replacing returns unexpectedly. Coupled with the news that Miss Raine is engaged to Marcus, she sabotages the dance outfits with heat cream. Saskia and Ben fill the gap with a performance of the Black Swan but Saskia deliberately falls and runs off stage. Tara joins Ben on stage, repairing their friendship but earning them both Sir Jeffrey's scorn.

The cast list for the third year's touring show of Romeo and Juliet is posted. Ben is Romeo with Grace as Juliet. Tara plays Lady Capulet, Christian as the Nurse, Ollie as Mercutio, with Abigail playing Benvolio, a minor male part. Tara and Christian are selected to understudy the leads. With the arrival of Wes Cooper, the choreographer for the contemporary piece in the third year tour and Ethan's flatmate from Spain, more of Abigail's vacation is revealed: She had a fling with Wes in Barcelona but feels guilty about dating him so soon after Sammy's death and refuses to audition for his solo piece. Meanwhile, a movie requiring dancers hosts auditions at the academy, with Kat and Abigail auditioning for minor roles. Ollie begins flirting with the male lead of the film. Grace struggles with her feelings about her mother who also had the part of Juliet. Tara, now dating Ben again, tries not to be jealous of him working closely with Grace, but when Tara and Ben go bowling together Grace invites herself and Christian along to cause trouble. Abigail misses rehearsals for the tour to audition for the film. Kat is rejected as a dancer so helps Abigail with her audition, but the director, Gabrielle, seems more interested in her.

Zach attempts to enforce discipline on the third years out on tour. Kat begins filming for the movie, in which she has been cast as the lead. She clashes with Jamie, the third assistant director assigned to look after the class, but refuses an offer to have him dismissed and they end up on better terms. Things continue to be tense between Abigail and Wes. A night time game of truth or dare and Ben, Grace and Christian taking part in the traditional "dawn challenge" (in which the contestants have to run naked, collect three items of clothes and photograph themselves by the fountain) results in Grace being arrested and Ben playing sick so Christian can take the part of Romeo after finishing behind him and losing a bet. Despite Ben trying to stick up for her, Grace is sent home, and Zach announces Ben and Christian will alternate, leaving Christian dancing with Tara.

The tour is on its last stop, at an aboriginal town, and Ben and Tara still have not worked out their chemistry for Romeo and Juliet compared to how Tara and Christian operate. Kat is disappointed when the film hires Grace as her dancing double but the two girls end up bonding over their mutual insecurities. Tara decides to sleep with Ben but they are unable to go through with it, and Tara learns Kat never slept with Christian. The tour attempt to give dance lessons to the local children but Abigail's harsh teaching nearly reduces the girls to tears and Ollie's hip hop lesson leaves the boys unimpressed; Tara and Christian end up taking over and Christian takes an interest in Jayden, a talented boy from a poor family. Abigail, who had been trying to get Wes to give her his solo instead of Tara, tells him she's lost too much that she loves to risk it again but a free-spirited dance and a kiss with Wes seem to change her mind. Ben reads Tara's journal and is annoyed that she talks so much about Christian; Tara is upset that she can't get rid of her feelings for him.

Kat finishes filming her movie and accepts a date with crew member Jamie. After spending a chaste night with Christian and realizing she still has feelings for him, Tara breaks up with Ben who has trouble accepting the relationship is over. An injury means Ollie has to pull out of the festival so he accompanies Rhys to the wrap party; Rhys is disappointed that he seems more interested in networking but arranges for him to sing in front of the crew. Kat is worried about ruining her friendship with Jamie but still kisses him on the dance floor. Abigail becomes paranoid when Wes is rejected for a job at the Company; he offers to get a job in Sydney but she suggests they pursue a long distance relationship. Christian volunteers to take over as Mercutio so Ben can play Romeo at the festival, and their love triangle seems to come to a head during the performance.

Ollie and Christian put together a crew for the Street Beatz battle. After Grace and Ben fail to make Tara jealous, they decide to start their own crew for the battles in an effort to get back at Christian and rope Abigail in to help them. Jayden also turns up and Christian convinces Ollie to let him join the crew. The second years are auditioning for Coppelia but Lulu, top of the class, dictates who all the other girls are allowed to audition for. Tara helps Kat practice for a minor role but, after some encouragement from Jamie, Kat leads a rebellion to try out for the lead. Christian reluctantly beats Ben in the Street Beatz battle, then refuses to meet with Sammy's father when he tries to make a donation to the academy in Sammy's memory, upsets Jayden and goes surfing on the day of the final. He ends up apologizing to Jayden and suggesting a drop-in center for children who can't afford dance classes, but he and Ollie still end up outclassed in the final.

Christian tells Tara he's ready to commit but she is reluctant and confused after his recent behavior towards her and wonders if their previous failed relationships are a sign it will never work out. Sir Jeffrey unexpectedly resigns as musical director, leaving Rebecca in charge. Tara's back injury becomes a problem and she is told to take time off from rehearsals; with her audition coming up in a few weeks, she goes to see Saskia, who Rebecca has dismissed from the company, for advice. Saskia convinces her to forget the complex solo Miss Raine assigned her and try the simple but artistic Persephone solo. Kat lands the lead role in Coppélia. Ben and Grace need Kat's help in executing muck-up day and she organizes a seaweed fight between the third and second years. Ollie meets Jessica Mauboy, who tells him she is a fan of his music. He and Abigail audition to be her warm-up act on tour, and must decide between the auditions and accepting her offer.

Kat attends the premiere of her film, despite being disappointed by a review that called her "clunky", but not all goes smoothly and she trips on the red carpet. Grace misinterprets her time spent with Ben to be more than a friendship and, when Marcus offers her a place at Austin, she tries to use it to pressure Rebecca into taking them on at the Company, leaving Ben accusing her of ruining his chances. When she sees him rehearsing together with Tara, she sabotages Tara's costume. Ollie, doing the cursed Macbeth solo, locks himself in his room on the night of the auditions but is rescued by Kat, Jamie and Rhys, and kisses Rhys before going on stage. Tara arranges for Raf to watch Christian's audition. Ben changes his piece at the last minute but Miss Raine convinces Tara to do the piece she worked on with Saskia. Tara slips on a bead, accidentally left on stage by Grace during her audition, causing serious injury.

The Academy students must deal with their professional futures being laid out for them; while some receive Company contracts, most do not. Christian must choose between dancing for the Company or teaching at the Sammy E. Lieberman Memorial Studio for kids who cannot afford a dance education. In the end, he chooses teaching. Tara must come to terms with the fact she may never dance again due to her injury. Kat chooses an acting career after finishing third year.The episode ends in an open house for Sammy's memorial studio, where the Academy graduates all perform, except for Tara, who has not danced in months. Christian invites her to dance along (within reason of her injury) and he tells her that they'll take things slow, hinting at a possible relationship re-igniting between the two. The reason for Tara's narrative throughout the three series is revealed as her writing a book about her life at the Academy.