"Previously on Dance Academy..." "Er, Webster?" "You're in the company." "You're Damien Lang." "Yeah, Damo." "Hi." "Now you're sure?" "Why are you going out with Ethan?" "Because... he's perfect." "OK." "You can flirt with as many..." "Ahh!" "Tara!" "Growing up, my least favourite fairytale was 'The Little Mermaid'." "Dislocated patella and I'm pretty sure the femur's fractured." " How long was it out?" " Only a few minutes." "But she's a dancer." "At 15, she decided she was tired of being magical." "She wanted a human soul..." "to feel human love." "So she traded in her tail for some guy." "And from then on, every step she took felt like she was standing on swords." "I never rated that story." "If it was a proper fairytale, she should have been able to have both." "Remember, this is the first time the prince has seen Cinderella." "They can't take their eyes off each other." "Good, Abigail." "Release the arms." "Yes." "There's the connection." "Finally you're showing me some artistry." "Um, Max, I'll have to call you back." "Tara, what is it now?" "A crisis over napkin colours?" "Sorry." "When you requested permission to stage this 'social event'," "I was assured it wouldn't be disruptive." "I know, Miss Raine." "It won't happen a... gain." "Tara can't talk right now." "You are NOT telling me the snow machine's booked?" "!" "But we had an agreement." "A bubble machine?" "Oh, so lame." "It's not even lame enough not to be lame." "That's a no on the bubbles." "Thanks, Max." "You know, I meant the formal in its entirety." "One small benefit of this place is that we get to miss out on the cheesy high school rituals." "But it's the..." "Defining moment of our teenage lives." "Please, Tara, just admit that the only reason you want a formal is because you have a boyfriend." "Mate, we've just gotta remember that it doesn't matter who it is so long as it's one of us, yeah?" "You know it." "Mmm?" "See ya." "'Bye." "Hi." "So, you heard about Damien Lang?" "His knee still hasn't improved." "Still a lot of ligament damage." "You know it's bad karma to look excited by that." "Tara has the exact same injury." "Just listen for a second, OK?" "The company are contemplating a shuffle-up." "They're taking a third-year early." "Wow." "So you and Tim are in the mix?" "You can't say anything." "'Cause they have to be seen interviewing people, but..." "I got the heads up they want it to be me." "Kat, if Damo doesn't make it back," "I'm in the company." "Missing it?" "Oh." "Dr Wicks." "I didn't see you." "I don't want you to be nervous about today." "We'll be able to tell more once the plaster's off." "I'm not nervous." "Good." "If it hasn't healed properly, there are other options." "OK." "OK." "See ya." "Hey." "Everything OK?" "Yeah, just boring doctor stuff." "Well, do you want to bore me with the details?" "Details, hey?" "How are you with finger food, fairy lights, streamers?" "Ohh!" "Oww." "I think..." "Oh, one second." "Your hand's caught." "Got your hair." "Ow." "Thanks." "We should probably stop anyway." "Mmm." "From the développé?" "Yeah." "Just... give me a second." "Sorry." "Didn't realise this was torture." "Well, I thought about charging you for war crimes, but..." "Mmm." "Actually, um... have you ever, you know...?" "We've been doing this for a while." "And... it could be worth discussing..." "The next level?" "We're not ready." "No." "No." "No, we're not ready." "Hmm." "Mmm, now, from the développé?" "Or do you need more time?" "Funny." "So, what's the verdict?" "Obnoxiously healthy." "I'm recommending to the company that you start work immediately." "Hey, Damo." "Hey." "Oh, Damien, you can go on through." "OK." "Oh, let me." "Thanks." "How's it going?" "Good." "You?" "Oh, yeah." "You haven't seen Tara Webster, first-year?" "Er, no, ma'am." "I heard someone was organising a dance." "We don't do that enough?" "Can I interest you in a ticket?" "It's a winter wonderland theme." "Kat says it's lame..." "But you've never seen snow." "You should be getting off that soon, right?" "Uh-huh." "Soon." "I was at the clinic yesterday." "How come you missed your appointment?" "Oh, I just got my times wrong." " Hey." " Hi." "Hey." "Well, I'll get back to you about the ticket." "Did I interrupt something?" "Yes, he was asking me how my knee is, and no-one has in the last five minutes." "I so badly wanted to talk about it." "Hey, I'm kind of sick of watching." "And you can't dance without me." "Are you asking me to ditch class?" "Ladies, you're boring me." "Cinderella has just arrived at the ball." "Let's see a spark of excitement." "What?" "Nothing." "Look, about yesterday..." "I feel bad." "It might have seemed like I was, you know..." "Where's Christian?" "And Tara?" "You know, like I was pressuring you." "Which I don't want you to think because..." "I respect the fact that you're not ready." "Next group." "Actually, I've changed my mind." "I think we're ready." "I'm sorry, I was just distracted there for a second." "'Ready' as in...?" "Ready." "But if you don't agree, we can wait." "No." "I'm a guy." "I'm hard-wired to think I'm ready." "It's ballet, Samuel." "Communicate through actions, not words." "Well, let's embrace the cliché at the formal." "It'll be special." "Aren't you afraid the best years of our lives are passing us by?" "While we're stuck dancing?" "Yes." "It's my constant refrain." "Which is what the formal's all about, avoiding FOMO." "FOMO?" "Fear Of Missing Out." "Tomorrow night you'll feel it when you're at the boarding house in your PJs and I am at the formal wearing... this." "It's almost perfect, isn't it?" "You'll thank me." "Go, go, go." "What about this?" "Ohh." "Ohh, you know what, if I can find a date, I'll come." "So, you and Tara - how's that going?" "I mean, you're close but you're not, you know... close." "It's Tara." "Tell me you're not." "No." "No, we're not." "I assume, though, that..." "Wait, can we stop for a second?" "That you've been... close with someone in the past?" "Mate, I don't want to talk about this." "Nah." "No, of course not." "Why?" "You and Abigail are...?" "She's requesting 'special'." "And I'm not sure how to deliver." "Uh..." "It's not special when it's rushed." "And if it feels wrong, I mean, it probably is." "Great." "But I'm more thinking logistics." "Music, location." "What are your thoughts on manscaping?" "Timmy, my good, good friend, please don't tell me you already have a date for tomorrow night." "Er, nope." "Not going." "I've got an interview with the company to worry about." "Really?" "I thought you got an early offer from New Zealand Ballet." "Yeah, but the National's the dream." "I'm going to call New Zealand and knock them back." "That's a bit drastic." "I mean, don't you wanna keep your options open?" "Well, they wouldn't interview me if they weren't serious, Kat." "Right." "You're right." "Unless they need to be seen to follow a process or whatever." "Unbelievable." "Tim..." "Have you seen my sister?" "I think she's giving in to FOMO." "Why?" "Oh, no reason." "Other than that she told the whole world" "I've been offered a contract with the company." "You have?" "That's amazing!" "Congratulations!" "Yes." "Except it's because of Damien Lang." "And it's only just been confirmed that he's out permanently, so it's really bad timing." "Damo's not going to dance again?" "No." "But every injury is different." "So I wouldn't..." "Yeah, of course." "Absolutely." "What are you doing, Tara?" "I thought you were someone who'd do anything to get back into dancing." "You know, before..." "Getting injured was, like, my worst nightmare." "It's normal to be scared." "No, see, that's the thing." "I go through days where no-one yells at me." "Where I'm not trying as hard as I can and still never being good enough." "You're not supposed to say it, but I like being injured." "I like having a..." "Boyfriend." "Life." "I like not dancing." "You wouldn't say that if it was forever." "How do you know?" "I know you." "Hey." "Hey." "How's Tara?" "Yeah, she's fine." "It's just we were talking last night and she seemed pretty upset." "Well, it must just be you, then." "She's fine with me." "Have you even asked her why she hasn't got her plaster off yet?" "Is it hard still hanging around for scraps?" "Mate, your girlfriend came to me when she needed someone to talk to." "I'm not sure what you mean about 'scraps'." "Hey." "What do you think you're doing?" "I'm warming up." "Incorrect." "You're bludging with me." "Tara, I can't." "I have to keep up attendance." "OK." "Hey." "Are you OK?" "Oh, yeah." "Just formal stuff." "Couldn't be better." "Webster!" "You reckon there's something in the country water that's bad for the knees?" "Maybe." "So you heard my news?" "No, just rumours." "No, well, they're probably true." "The ligaments are shot, so..." "It's OK." "I'm gonna help Dad out on the property." "I'm actually looking forward to getting out of the city." "Can't believe it's been 10 years since I got here." "Really?" "18 since I first set foot in a ballet studio." "Yeah, you know, it's probably time for something else." "I'm sorry." "You ready?" "May I come in?" "I was just..." "Yeah, sure." "I saw Dr Wicks." "The initial MRI seems positive." "How hard you work in rehab will be critical to ongoing damage." "I wish I could believe you're up to it." "Miss Raine, I know my focus has wandered in the past couple of weeks." "It's been a whole year, Tara." "That's not fair." "I've worked." "When it's suited you." "The wasteful part is you have potential." "But I'm untrained and..." "More potential than you know." "Unfortunately, it's not enough to carry you through this." "Are you going to commit 100% to becoming the dancer you're supposed to be?" "Or are you going to keep on throwing it away on... this?" "It's just a formal." "No, it's not." "And as much as you may wish to have everything... it's just not possible." "Oh, I manscaped." "Didn't know it was so itchy." "Don't... do that." "Hi." "Stop looking at me like that." "Sorry." "Come on." "What if I said I had a surprise for you?" "I'd say, "Me first."" "Can't believe you didn't notice." "You got your cast off." "Yeah." "It was actually long overdue." "Boring story." "No snow, but..." "It looks awesome." "Hi!" "You look gorgeous." "So I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but I found a date." "He couldn't get one either." "You look good out of your plaster." "We'll see you later, yeah?" "You don't mind if we stand here for a bit, do you?" "My knee's not up to anything too fast." "You know, it's the first time you've mentioned it." "My knee?" "No, it's not." "To me, I mean." "I'm so sorry, it wasn't intentional." "I just opened my mouth and..." "Do you know what?" "I'm out of this place." "I don't care what they think." "Sorry, I got fixated on the music and then..." "I went down this creepy rose petal path before I realised that I was trying too hard." "It's probably not what you meant by 'special'." "We should raincheck." "No." "It's perfect." "What made you change your mind?" "I get these glimpses where I want to be about more than just dancing." "Why did you?" "I can't believe you got me a surprise as well." "Are you sure you should be..." "It can handle one dance." "How should I know?" "I mean, I'm not... what is it, sensitive or smart enough to be told the details." "I don't get why you're so caught up on this." "You spoke to HIM, right?" "About your knee?" "Had a little heart-to-heart." "Yeah, but... you don't need to be jealous." "He just... he just gets it." "Gets what?" "That side of me." "The dancing side." "And I don't?" "No, you're like the other..." "I don't know how to explain it properly, but..." "No, it's pretty clear." "He gets you, I don't." "There are lessons in fairytales." "Even wearing the perfect dress, Cinderella discovered that the perfect night can't last forever." "Hey, can we just stop for a second?" "It doesn't feel right." "And it should." "You deserve that." "Yeah." "Yeah, it's a good decision." "When midnight came, the fantasy ended." "And real life switched on the lights." "You know what, you don't have a right to know about my knee or my dancing." "If you hadn't made me stay at the beach, then we wouldn't have been rushing and none of this would have ever happened." "That's what you think?" "I don't know what to think." "Except everyone keeps telling me that I'm wasting time, that I have to choose." "Let me make it easy for you, then." "You made it snow!" "Christian did, as a surprise." "What's wrong, pumpkin?" "I think rehab's gonna hurt."