AustLit

'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?' (Publication summary)

''I'm here to dance. The rest of you can play happy families.'

'Abigail has been dancing forever and is the best student in the class. It's not a title she’s going to give up easily.

'Startlingly beautiful, she learnt long ago how to use her charisma to manipulate others. When Abigail wants something she can make you feel as if you're the whole world... and when she's got what she wanted she can end the privilege just as quickly.

'This year Abigail's body is changing and she regards it as a terrible betrayal. Suddenly, it's no longer so easy to be the thinnest or the best and Abigail pushes herself to work harder than anyone. She is a naturally gifted dancer but knows she's not perfect.

'Abigail isn't a horrible person but she believes ballet is everything and she will do whatever it takes, even if means stepping over every friend she's got in the process. Besides, on the rare occasion she tries to let other people in, it never works out the way she planned. And so Abigail figures since everyone already thinks she's a bitch, she may as well be the biggest bitch she can be.

'But when things get tough, is loneliness too high a price to pay for reaching the top? This year, bit by bit, Abigail learns the value in friendship.' (Publication summary)

'They've got the world at their feet, but have they got what it takes? Sammy Goldstein is the kind of guy who's every girl's best friend but finds the other boys at the Academy much more difficult to talk to. He becomes the third member of Kat and tara's pas de trois and it's a role that suits him perfectly. the only son in a conservative Jewish family, it's always been expected that Sammy will follow in his father's footsteps and go into medicine. Sammy broke his father's heart when he decided he wanted to be a dancer instead. As a result, Sammy now has to juggle the pressures of his faith and his family against those of the Academy. When Sammy arrives at the Academy he's considered a total outcast until Kat rescues him and makes him cool. Well, as cool as Sammy can be in his own unique way. While Sammy may wish to be more like the other guys, he always stays true to himself. Sammy immediately develops a massive crush on the bitch of First Year, Abigail Armstrong. He couldn't have picked a more difficult person to fall for, but who knows? He just might be the one to turn her into a nice person. In the latter part of the series Sammy is assigned a new roommate and makes his first real guy friend at the Academy. Sammy never knew he could have so much in common with anyone - but is it more than friendship he feels? ' (Publication summary)

'Christian White is the kind of boy most teenage girls dream of - gorgeous, mysterious and angry with the world.

'Christian likes to push his body to the max; the greater the risk, the more it interests him. Before his mother died, she made Christian promise that he′d audition for the National Academy of Dance. Christian kept his promise but never said he'd go if he got in. Instead, he ignores his letter of acceptance and continues to hang out with his fellow adrenaline-seeking mates. One night, Christian ends up in serious trouble with the police. Kicked out by his foster family, he arrives at the Academy not because he wants to be there but because he has no place else to go...

'For a long time Christian remains a bit of a mystery. What isn't in question is his dancing ability. But while some of the girls swoon over Christian's bad boy image, Tara finds him unbearable. Down-to-earth one moment, moody and aloof the next, Christian is the most infuriating boy she knows! As the year progresses Christian lets down his defences, revealing a complicated person underneath. It's a turbulent journey but slowly he begins to trust people again. And, gradually, Christian and Tara discover that love and hate can be two sides of the same coin.' (Publication summary)

'After a summer workshopping her feelings, Abigail starts Second Year at the Academy with a new attitude. But being nice isn’t easy... The competition is tougher than ever and opening up to people only results in getting hurt and making enemies. Abigail has always put ballet first. But could it be there’s more to life than dance?' (Publication summary)

'When Tara is expelled from the Academy, it seems her dream of becoming a world-class ballerina is finally over. But Tara is a fighter - and it's not long before she′s back at the barre, with the biggest challenges of her life looming ahead of her. Will they make her or break her?' (Publication summary)

'It’s a new year and Tara has returned to the Academy determined to work harder than ever before. But it’s not long before obstacles start building up against her: a new rival from the Royal Ballet School, a jealous teacher and an injury that threatens to destroy her dream of becoming a world-class ballerina. At least she has Christian to depend on. Or is there yet another rival waiting in the wings?' (Publication summary)

'Now Kat is back amongst her friends in the Academy, she expects things to go smoothly. Instead she finds herself totally alone. Her fellow First Years’ seem to hate her, Tara won’t return her calls and something strange is going on with Christian. For once, dancing is her first love and nothing else seems to matters. But this year Kat’s whole world could change forever.' (Publication summary)