Dance Academy: The Movie

Tara was going to be a professional dancer. An injury stopped everything; the fracture in her back healed but her old strength did not come back. She lives in Sydney now, does not dance, and does not know what to do. Her former classmates are in different places: one with a company in New York, one working in Australia, one who left dance entirely. Tara decides to try once more. She goes to an audition and nobody takes her seriously; the injury is on record and she is older. Jeffrey Walker directs. Xenia Goodwin plays Tara. It is an Australian production. The film continues a television series; the series was aimed at a young audience and ran three seasons. It was made with money raised from the audience; viewers of the series contributed to the budget. The matter it treats is returning after injury; the film does not build that as an emotional triumph and takes the physical limit seriously. The dance was shot with real dancers and the rehearsal sections are shown in detail. Its limit is dependence; for anyone who has not seen the series the characters' history is missing. The supporting strands are kept short and some do not get enough room. Who it is for: people who watched the series and viewers who like youth drama built on dance. Who it is not for: it is not an entry point, the emotional register is high, and the ending is what you expect.