Dance Academy

Dance Academy is an Australian coming of age teen drama created by Samantha Strauss and Joanna Werner. It follows the lives of teenage dancers studying at the fictional National Academy of Dance.
The show ran for three seasons on ABC3, with a total of 65 episodes (26 each in seasons 1 and 2, 13 in season 3) airing between May 31, 2010 and September 30, 2013. A series of middle-grade books was released by ABC Books from 2010-2012. A feature film (known both as Dance Academy: The Movie and Dance Academy: The Comeback) was greenlit by Screen Australia in 2015 and was released in 2017.
== Fandom ==
Overall, Dance Academy has always had a smaller fandom, particularly in recent times. This may be because of it's age, with no new content being released since 2017, it's target audience of younger teenagers or because of it's location, as, while the show did air internationally and find significant popularity during its time, the majority of its popularity was found in Australia. It has somewhat of a cult following in Australia, with it frequently being mentioned online and it's filming locations (including the Walsh Bay Piers and Sydney Opera House) frequently visited by fans.
Tumblr has a semi-active fan community on Tumblr, with occasional gif posts, posts discussing its plot and its influence and ship posts being uploaded by several users. In particular, Tumblr user 'courtillyy' frequently makes moodboards for headcanons about Dance Academy characters. 
In regards to fanfiction, there are currently (as of September 25, 2024) 58 fanfictions on AO3 and 164 on Fanfiction.net. However, please note that some fanfictions on Fanfiction.net are actually for Dance Moms, the American reality tv show.
=== Ships ===
The four main ships in the Dance Academy fandom are Tara/Christian, Kat/Christian, Abigail/Sammy and Sammy/Ollie, all of which were canon at some point during the shows original run. There is some discourse between Tara/Christian and Kat/Christian fans, mostly due to the nature in which Kat/Christian became a couple, and while there are some negative comments/arguments on Tik Toks focusing on either couple, there has never been a 'ship war' as such. There has also been some discourse between Tara/Christian and Tara/Ethan fans, although this is limited and occurred mostly during the original airing as Ethan's more popular ship became Ethan/Abigail. 
Abigail/Sammy maintains significant popularity, and is regarded as more popular than Sammy's other ship, Sammy/Ollie. Another popular Sammy ship is the non-canon Sammy/Christian, supported by the season 1 plot line of Sammy's crush on Christian. As of current, it is the most written about ship on AO3, with 9 works. 
=== Tik Tok ===
The most active Dance Academy fandom space is on Tik Tok, where it is frequently discussed by a wide variety of fans in both the context of character/plot discussions and edits. Many edits focus on character's reactions to Sammy's death, particularly Abigail's. Likewise, there are many videos discussing the impact Sammy's death had on the viewers, particularly how the storyline still impacts them years after it was aired. 
Tik Tok page 'abcz', an official account run by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) focusing on previous ABC3 programming, has made a series of Dance Academy Tik Toks beginning in mid-2023. These Tik Toks are well received by fans and lead to somewhat of a resurgence in popularity of the show, particularly on Tik Tok. Some Tik Toks include previous cast members (particularly Alicia Banit and Dena Kaplan) discussing their character's plot lines, including their character's relationships on the show and their reactions to Sammy's death.
Likewise, the Tik Tok page Pash Network has posted a series of Dance Academy Tik Toks, although their series is dedicated more to reposting short scenes for the show. 
== Fanworks ==
=== Fanfiction Collections ===
Dance Academy AO3
Dance Academy Fanfiction.net
=== Notable Fanfiction ===
Dancing Queens (And Kings) by poeticgrace on Fanfiction.net
=== Fan Videos (YouTube) ===
Sammy and Abigail - Grave (Dance Academy) by XXKEHS
tara + christian | endgame by xdelinquent
Kat/Christian - love like fools by Ella Rose
=== Tik Tok Collections ===
abcz (see Dance Academy collection)
Pash Network (see Dance Academy collection)
== Links ==
Dance Academy (TV 2010) on AO3
Category:Live-action Television