We Asked Xenia Goodwin About Returning to “Dance Academy” (and Pleasing the Fans)

Tara returns.

If you were to list Australia’s biggest television exports, some obvious titles would come to mind: Kath and Kim, Please Like Me, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and, Adele’s favourite of course, Neighbours.

But what about the program that’s broadcast in 160 countries and been rewarded with multiple International Emmy nominations?

That’d be Dance Academy, the adored show that ran from 2010 to 2013, and still maintains a ravenous fan base. So much so, Twitter is replete with posts enthusiastically counting down the days to the Dance Academy movie’s release.

OMG THERE'S A DANCE ACADEMY MOVIE

— Girl With The Staff (@hayleyglyphs) March 31, 2017

I wish the Dance Academy movie was coming to theaters in the states not just Australia :( #americanprobs

— Malka♛ (@mochafrapp) March 31, 2017

Ahead of the film’s debut on April 6, we caught up with star Xenia Goodwin, who reprises the role of Tara Webster, the Australian dance prodigy who decides to make a final go of a dancing career in New York City.

She told us how she kept up her fitness between the show and the film by dancing (“Why would I go to the gym when I can go to ballet?”) and what she had always wanted from a sequel—as well as what the fans had demanded of her.

Listen to the full interview below.

Dance Academy arrives in Australian cinemas April 6, 2017.

Photo: StudioCanal