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Dance Academy #1
Tara: Learning to Fly
They've got the world at their feet, but have they got what it takes?
Fifteen-year-old Tara Webster has grown up on a farm in outback Australia and has dreamt of being a dancer ever since she was a little girl. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance - the best school in the country - she is sure her life is about to be spectacular. What Tara doesn’t realise is how far behind she is in her training, and that there’s a whole lot more to surviving the Academy than just dancing...
It’s through Tara's eyes that we enter the world of the National Academy of Dance. This is the year Tara will leave her home on the farm and go into boarding school in Sydney; the year she will fall in love for the first time and have her heart broken. It’s a year of friendships and jealousies, triumphs and disappointments. This is the year she'll be tested. Does she have what it takes to be a dancer? Can she cope with the sacrifices she's required to make?
Fifteen-year-old Tara Webster has grown up on a farm in outback Australia and has dreamt of being a dancer ever since she was a little girl. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance - the best school in the country - she is sure her life is about to be spectacular. What Tara doesn’t realise is how far behind she is in her training, and that there’s a whole lot more to surviving the Academy than just dancing...
It’s through Tara's eyes that we enter the world of the National Academy of Dance. This is the year Tara will leave her home on the farm and go into boarding school in Sydney; the year she will fall in love for the first time and have her heart broken. It’s a year of friendships and jealousies, triumphs and disappointments. This is the year she'll be tested. Does she have what it takes to be a dancer? Can she cope with the sacrifices she's required to make?
- GenresYoung Adult
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2010
19 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 28, 2018
I haven't watched the series but I plan to watch it after reading the book ..
It was a goodread for me ..Will read the entire series as well.
Storyplot-They've got the world at their feet, but have they got what it takes?
Fifteen-year-old Tara Webster has grown up on a farm in outback Australia and has dreamt of being a dancer ever since she was a little girl. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance - the best school in the country - she is sure her life is about to be spectacular. What Tara doesn’t realise is how far behind she is in her training, and that there’s a whole lot more to surviving the Academy than just dancing...
It’s through Tara's eyes that we enter the world of the National Academy of Dance. This is the year Tara will leave her home on the farm and go into boarding school in Sydney; the year she will fall in love for the first time and have her heart broken. It’s a year of friendships and jealousies, triumphs and disappointments. This is the year she'll be tested. Does she have what it takes to be a dancer? Can she cope with the sacrifices she's required to make?
It was a goodread for me ..Will read the entire series as well.
Storyplot-They've got the world at their feet, but have they got what it takes?
Fifteen-year-old Tara Webster has grown up on a farm in outback Australia and has dreamt of being a dancer ever since she was a little girl. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance - the best school in the country - she is sure her life is about to be spectacular. What Tara doesn’t realise is how far behind she is in her training, and that there’s a whole lot more to surviving the Academy than just dancing...
It’s through Tara's eyes that we enter the world of the National Academy of Dance. This is the year Tara will leave her home on the farm and go into boarding school in Sydney; the year she will fall in love for the first time and have her heart broken. It’s a year of friendships and jealousies, triumphs and disappointments. This is the year she'll be tested. Does she have what it takes to be a dancer? Can she cope with the sacrifices she's required to make?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2021
Reducing some of the greatest television this century to a 128-page novel was always going to be a challenge.
Read
June 28, 2021When we were younger, my sister and i got these from the library. Rereading brought back some fond memories but also made me cringe a bit…
February 6, 2017
I have always loved Dance academy and it makes me feel like I am apart of the story by falling into Tara's shoes and looking at things from her point of view
January 22, 2019
Welp. That was terrible. (Not that that's going to keep me from reading the rest of the series, mind.) I guess this is based on a TV series, which I didn't realise until after reading the book. It looks like this pretty much sums up the first part of the TV series, which means that parts of it read more like an outline than like a fully realised book. Not sure how much of this has to do with the guidelines for the book series, though; it would be hard to do otherwise if told that all of this had to be packed into 128-odd pages!
Some brief things:
-It's hard to credit the idea that Tara vacillates between being the student the teachers call out for praise and the students they take off pointe because she's not ready.
-Sorry. Wait. We're supposed to be happy that Tara ends up dating the guy who treats his girlfriends terribly, mocks her in front of others, and doesn't understand when she stops throwing herself at his feet in desperation?
-Abigail summed up: A nice girl and good dancer! How nice. Oh wait, no, she's evil. Let's spend half a paragraph detailing the ways in which we get back at her. And less than that on a mention that she's not eating enough. Bored now. Onwards to other characters and other dramas. Oops, better throw Abigail a last mention and note that she's gone home ill from not eating enough...no need to follow up on any of her other plot points.
-Methinks I will not be watching this show.
Some brief things:
-It's hard to credit the idea that Tara vacillates between being the student the teachers call out for praise and the students they take off pointe because she's not ready.
-Sorry. Wait. We're supposed to be happy that Tara ends up dating the guy who treats his girlfriends terribly, mocks her in front of others, and doesn't understand when she stops throwing herself at his feet in desperation?
-Abigail summed up: A nice girl and good dancer! How nice. Oh wait, no, she's evil. Let's spend half a paragraph detailing the ways in which we get back at her. And less than that on a mention that she's not eating enough. Bored now. Onwards to other characters and other dramas. Oops, better throw Abigail a last mention and note that she's gone home ill from not eating enough...no need to follow up on any of her other plot points.
-Methinks I will not be watching this show.
January 11, 2023
It's a great show but the book isn't all that different. It's repetitive.
December 11, 2024
SLAY!
May 19, 2012
Amazing show! Amazing book!
June 6, 2012
Not the most thought provoking read but anything Dance Academy I automatically love! :D
June 1, 2015
This is embarrassingly my guilty pleasure, I read it in one sitting. I am Tara and Tara is I, we are one.
Want to Read
November 22, 2015Dance academy is my favourite show of all time and I never knew there was books! I NEEEED to read this NOW!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews