"Previously on Dance Academy..." "When Mia went on exchange..." "Oh, this is Mia, your imaginary girlfriend?" "Are your hands always this clammy?" "I'm allergic to you." "Carbs after 3:00?" "I'd rather eat a deep-fried vending machine." "So you met Kat." "The staff know that if you're friends with her, then you're not really taking dancing seriously." " Who's that?" " Ethan Karamakov." "Are he and Kat together?" "Half brother." "The better half." " Jump!" "Jump!" "Jump!" " One, two..." " Jump!" "Jump!" " Tara!" "My enemy in primary school was Stephanie Maxwell." "She had this long, shiny ponytail and would tease me because all I had was tangles." "Uh-huh." "Auntie Beth did?" "Really?" "I cried about it to Mum, who said true beauty is in the imperfections." "She'd obviously never spent time at the Academy." "Hey, Mum, I'm going to have to call you back." "To be accepted here, you have to be in the top 5% of dance students everywhere." "Over the next three years some will leave because of injury, others because they're just not good enough." "A few will get tired of working so hard and just want to be normal." "Only two girls can expect contracts with the company." "And it's once in a generation that someone will become a prima ballerina, which, if you work it out, is like 0.001% of all girls who do ballet, so it's statistically impossible." "Yet all of us are convinced that we are the exception." "Guys, the company's back." "Three, four, five, six..." "That's not even possible." "Hey, you guys know it's after 9:00, yeah?" "I personally don't care, but you're always worrying about being late, so..." "I'd like you all to make welcome a special guest teacher, who over the next few days has generously agreed to give up what spare time she has." "Principal of the National Ballet and world-acclaimed ballerina..." "Natasha Willis." "I expect you all to make the most of it." "Darling..." "I've been looking for you all morning." "Hi, Mum." "So I got this weird message from Mia and then nothing." "It's not like her to go AWOL." "Who?" "Oh, your 'girlfriend'." "Right." "OK, look, Sammy." "There comes a time when our imaginary friends don't want to play with us anymore." "She's on exchange." "Tara, you saw Mia's photo." "Tell her." "Your mother is Natasha Willis?" "Interesting non-sequitur." "No, we were actually talking..." "Why did you keep this a secret?" "I didn't." "Heaps of people know." "Yeah." "But she's a ballet legend." "You know I have her photos in my locker." "I just thought you were being ironic." "What?" "You seriously didn't..." "Wow." "I could have sworn you were just being cool." "I'm never cool." "You know that." "Right." "But to have a mum who actually gets what we do." "She could, like, watch you practise, give you pointers." "Mm-hm." "All we do is share and massage each other's bunions." " Hey!" " Hi." "Hey." "So I've been summoned tonight." "I assume it's..." "Shared pain." "Uh-huh." "We have this opening night thing." "You guys wouldn't want to come, would you?" "Could be brutal." "Stuffy VIPs, hours of hanging around backstage..." "Actually, I'd totally understand..." "I love you!" "If you want to pass." "OK!" "Yeah, yeah." "OK." "This is supposed to be a walkway." "Excuse me." "Should we invite Abigail?" "I'm sure she'd want to go." "Oh, did you bump your head, poppet?" "Sammy!" "Guys, meet Mia." "You're real." "Today is officially weird." "And you know those people you have an immediate connection with?" "Jacket or no jacket?" "What do you wear to a premiere?" "Sorry." "Ignore her." "Hot Swedish guy in the kibbutz?" "Right, so we'd spend hours talking about everything and sneak out in the middle of the night to pick grapefruit." "Oh, loving it." "Juice running down his Viking arms." "Oh!" "Yeah, but none of it mattered because I couldn't stop thinking about Sammy for one single second, so I had to come home early." "Crazy, I know." "Hi." "You guys just hanging out in my room?" "No." "Actually, we're off to the theatre." "You're excused for catch-up time." "Great." "Oh, unless you want to postpone." "I mean, it is backstage." "She's just flown all the way from Israel, Romeo." "Exactly." "You're probably jet lagged." "See ya, Mia." "Great to meet you guys." "You too." "Wait." "This is a life-changing moment." "Is it over?" "Thank you." "Missed you, kiddo." "Aw." " You look fantastic." " So do you." "Just analyse the story for a second." "The dude falls in love with a swan." "Tell me that's not creepy." "OK, I'm going to head back to the green room." "I take it that you're staying?" "OK." "OK, so this is the kibbutz where we lived." "You can't really see it but it's actually on the Jordanian border so all that separated us was this barbed wire fence." "What?" "I've been here obsessing about pirouettes and you've actually been doing stuff." "I missed you." "Yeah, right." "With all these ballet girls running round?" "I'm sure they kept you company." "Abigail, do you want the couch?" "'Cause we can move." "Who are you?" "You don't go here." "How can you tell?" "I'll leave anything dance-related to this one." "He's amazing, don't you think?" "Wrong pipeway." "Oh, would you like some pizza, Abigail?" "Come on." "Help us out before we explode." "She doesn't do carbs after 3:00." "Apparently." "That looked good." "I was just..." "Really?" "Kat will be wanting backup by now." "The first time I performed it was 12 weeks after Kat was born." "Oh, my gosh." "'Bye, darling." "Thank you." "Goodbye." "Thanks so much for coming." "And, listen, go easy." "You know reviews terrify me." " Goodbye." "Thank you." " We should go too." "She's my mum." "Truffle?" "I'm glad that's over." "So you must be the famous Tara I've been hearing all about." "It's an honour to meet you, Miss Willis." "Tonight was incredible." "Oh, really?" "Did you think?" "Darling, can you pass me the...?" "Thanks." "Well, I love meeting Kat's friends." "You didn't want to bring Abigail too?" "Well, I would have if it was four years ago and we were actually still friends." "But, hey, bonus points for name recall, Mum." "I'm always in so much trouble with her." "Me too." "Now, tomorrow..." "I know you're far too busy to spend time with your decrepit mother, but we haven't done anything together in ages." "Well, my wardrobe could use some credit card action and I guess..." "I was more thinking an early dinner." "I have a matinee in the afternoon which I thought..." "Oh, I just remembered that we have... a thing on." "We have a thing on." "Well, if you get an opening, I'll leave your names on the door." "Oh, that would be fantastic." "Sorry, Mum." "So you guys got along?" "How could you not?" "Mia is smart, she is funny and she is way too hot for you." "Yeah, she's perfect, isn't she?" "But theoretically, what's perfect when you get down to it?" "Are you sure you want Lieberman?" "Because I can show you around." "Positive." "Hey, how was the ballet?" "I feel bad Sammy missed out 'cause of me." "No." "No, no, don't." "As a present to the reunited lovebirds, I got you matinee tickets." "Oh, thanks, Kat." "That's so sweet." "Oh, stop it." "Hey!" "When you die, I'm having your feet." "It's a genetic gift." "Mum and I are both double-jointed." "You ready?" "Watch this." "OK." "Normal." "Mm-hm." "Abnormal." "Eugh!" "Bones aren't meant to go that way." "What?" "La, la, la, la." "Something's different." "You got a new training bra, right?" "You look like someone." "I think it's sweet you're trying to copy Natasha." "It's a shame it doesn't do much for your bone structure." "I'm not trying to look like anyone." "Is it illegal to want a change?" "First Ethan, then your mother." "Isn't it adorable how your best friend has a crush on your entire family?" "Ballon, everyone." "Light and shade." "Imagine yourselves more bird than human, energy connecting you up through the sky." "Is something funny, darling?" "The rest of us are trying to work." "Isn't that right, Tara?" "Good." "Excellent." "Lovely..." "lightness." "Sorry." "I'll get out of your way." "Actually, I was looking for you." "You were?" "I heard you had tickets to this afternoon's performance." "Hmm." "I wouldn't usually, you know, ask, but for some reason I haven't been able to source any, which is really irritating because it's 'Swan Lake' and that's obviously something I have to see." "So?" "Yes." "We can absolutely go to the ballet together." "Great." "Meet you in the common room at 3:00." "OK." "Hi." "Yeah, sorry." "I didn't hear it." "Listen, about those tickets." "They've... they've fallen through." "Yeah, I know." "It sucks." "Yeah, what can you do?" "OK." "Alright, 'bye." "Jacket or... no jacket?" "Can nobody dress themselves around here?" "Sorry, I'm just a little..." "Aw!" "You and Mia still get nervous." "Yeah." "You know, if I wasn't girl-crushing on her, I'd be jealous." "Kat, where have you been?" "Sorry." "Was I supposed to give you my coordinates?" "Mind if I go to the Opera House?" "We didn't actually have a thing, did we?" "'Cause Natasha did leave our names at the door." "So you thought you'd, what, go and see if she'll adopt you?" "You know, why don't you rub her and see if some of her magic comes off?" "What?" ""What?" It's fine, Tara." "Just don't ask my permission because you're going to do it anyway." "I don't get what the problem is." "Natasha only wants to spend time with you." "Is that a fact?" "Yes, and if I was lucky enough to have a mother like yours," "I would make the most of it." "Stop embarrassing yourself, Tara." "Wear the jacket, Sammy." "What's with her?" "Oh, you seriously can't see it?" "I'm sorry I'm late." "I had a wardrobe malfunction." "Obviously not for you because you look..." "Are we ready?" "Where's Mia?" "Hmm?" "Your girlfriend." "Oh." "No, it's just us two today." "I think she's coming down with something." "Nothing contagious." "I'm not sick." "It's just a mint blockage." "But it's great of you to be concerned." "Sammy, you are seriously going to love me." "There wasn't a ticket left on the planet but Dad knows this guy who pulls strings and..." "You look nice, Abigail." "You going to the ballet as well?" "Together?" "Silly me." "Mia, I didn't mean..." "If they're going to waste..." "Hi, Natasha." "You look incredible." "Um, thanks for what you said in class today, you know, about feeling like a bird." "Do you often picture that?" "Because I know when I'm dancing, I..." "Five minutes." "Really feel like I'm flying." "I can't deal with this right now." "Could you?" "Come with me, love." "Don't worry." "The principals just get a bit twitchy." "Yeah, they have to focus on themselves before a performance." "Before a performance, after a performance..." "I've not met one yet who isn't just a little bit self-absorbed." "I suppose they have to be." "But Kat would have told you that." "Yeah." "She did mention something." "What's worse than dog poo?" "Maggots in the dog poo." "Right, so they're squelched between my toes and..." "Burrowing into your skin... which causes some horrible parasitic disease that makes you vomit incessantly." "Then that's what I am." "Worse." "You know, before I went away, everyone said... said that we were perfect together." "I know." "So is Abigail more perfect for you..." "No, she's..." "She's kind of the opposite." "But." "But." "Oh, I don't know what to do about Kat." "She has potential but such a bad attitude about her dancing." "Did you see that girl before?" "The new best friend and the worst-trained dancer in the entire Academy." "It's like she's trying to annoy me." "I just wish she'd realise how lucky she is." "Hey, Mum." "Do you have time to talk?" "Nothing much." "I dyed my hair." "How could you do that?" "You should know that I'm going with Mia in the divorce." "Hey, Kat." "Sorry about yesterday." "I was being insensitive..." "And self-absorbed?" "That too." "Cool." "Thanks for clearing it up." "Tara, darling." "Where did you run off to?" "I was looking forward to showing you around." "I'd like to give someone the benefit of my experience." "OK, leaving you to your lovefest." "Sorry, Natasha." "I had things to do." "Things?" "Yeah, hair appointment." "It's going to take forever to come out, but I guess I have time." "Mmm, mermaid chic." "I don't know." "Maybe if we added a few highlights..." "Around here we worship perfection." "It's what we chase in every moment of every class." "But sometimes 'perfect' isn't what we want... and sometimes it can make us selfish and let other people down." "Sure, I want to be in the top 0.001%." "But there's got to be another way because that's not my idea of perfection, not even close."