THE ACADEMY IS COMING

Production has started on new kids drama series Dance Academy with former Strictly Ballroom star, Tara Morice, in a lead role, which is being made as one of the flagship series for the launch of ABC3 kids digital channel later this year.
AFI nominee for Best Young Actor, Tom Green; Dena Kaplan (Flight of the Conchords); Tim Pocock (X-Men Origins: Wolverine); and the 2009 Logie nominee for Best New Talent, Jordan Rodrigues join Morice in the ensemble cast for the 26-part series which tells the story of 15-year-old, Tara Webster – played by newcomer Xenia Goodwin – who has grown up on a farm in outback Australia and has always dreamt of becoming a dancer. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance – the best school in the country – she is sure her life will change spectacularly.
The series is being produced by Joanna Werner’s production company, Werner Film Productions, for ABC TV and ZDF (Germany) and will premiere on ABC1 and ABC3 next year. Werner was a producer on Jonathan M Shiff Productions’ kids series H2O Just Add Water.
The program’s cast show “an extraordinarily ability in dance and drama”, according to producers and the seriesw ill feature and a number of dance routines with some of Australia’s top choreographers.
ABC TV’s Children’s Head of Commissioning and thrilled with the calibre of talent, both off and on screen.
Dance Academy has been in development with ABC TV funded by the agency are expected to set aside funds sharing this landmark series with our audience.” The series will also screen on ABC1.
SOURCE: Media Day