Megan Sargent

Well, being a religious viewer of Dance Academy since 2014, I had very high hopes for this movie. The show, except for most of season 3, was based around teenage drama. Who was dating who, eating disorders, and the competitive nature of teen ballerinas. The movie, however, was a huge step away from that. It takes a look at the main characters from the series after they graduated the academy. Abigiail is still in The Company, but Ollie has quit The Company to focus on his music. We witness him struggling to get record deals or even a basic job that has to do with the arts. We catch up with Christian and see that he is living a fullfilled life- dating Tara Webster and working with the kids at Sammy's Memorial Dance Studio. Kat has been getting acting jobs all around America and, as we can see based on her New York apartment, she is doing very well for herself. Later in the movie, we see that Ben is living with Ms.Raine and her husband. He has accumulated cancer once again. Tara is having an inner conflict with herself. She never got a chance to get into The Company due to her breaking her back so she still wonders if she was ever even good enough to get a contract. She fights to get better at ballet since she has stopped dancing for 18 months. At the end of the movie, she realizes that she was still chasing a dream that she grew out of a long time ago. Realizing that she doesn't want to be a dancer anymore, she can finally take that last step into adulthood and find something she actually loves instead of trying to dance because she thinks she should. This is the epiphany that the characters Kat and Grace also went through in season 3 of the show, but we never ever expected Tara to come to that same realization. After all, she is the girl that dreamt of flying. This film is the ending we didn't know we needed. While I was viewing, I hated it. I was astonished that the writers were screwing over my favorite childhood characters. It was ruining my childhood! But after finishing it, I understood. I started watching the show around the age of Tara in season 1. After viewing this movie and seeing all the tribulations and troubles the characters went through, it made me realize that when you're a kid, everything is a dream. But when you grow up, life happens...and it can almost destroy you. This movie made me showed me how much I have grown up. When I was younger and I watched Dance Academy, I thought that all the characters were going to have happily ever afters...but that was not the case. The movie shows you the reality. Life really does sneak up on you and deck you right in the face. I adore this movie. The writing is excellent, the acting is great, the editing is incredible. Definitely worth watching, but you should watch Dance Academy the series first.