01x22 - Flight or Fight Response

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Dance Academy...

Once this whole court thing's over,
I reckon we head to Indonesia.

Yeah, and what
if we go to jail, Aaron?

Why so negative?

The board, in its almighty wisdom,

has decided to cut the changes
that you made to the curriculum,

pretty much anything
that's not classical.

If Damo doesn't make it back
I'm in the company.

Hey, can we just stop for a second?

It doesn't feel... right.

Dislocated patella and
I'm pretty sure the femur's fractured.

Everyone keeps telling me that I'm
wasting time, that I have to choose.

Let me make it easy for you, then.

Four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine...

So apparently there's this
basic human reaction to fear.

It's called the fight
or flight response.

Don't you have a company
costume fitting to go to?

It can wait. Focus on your VMO.

When something freaks us out,

our first response is to run
very fast in the opposite direction.

The second response
is actually much harder.

I'm not hearing you breathe.

It's where you
ignore every instinct...

and instead of running,
you stay and fight.

You're late.

Where's the other lawyer?

She's been reassigned.
It's OK. She gave me your file.

The court hearing's been set
for early next week.

Right.

Now, do you have a personal
reference from the school?

Not yet.

You know it's important, Christian.

Look, what do you give me -
60-40, 50-50, that I'm going to juvie?

Well, look, so long as
the co-accused, your friend...

Aaron.
Yeah, that's right. Aaron.

So long as Aaron
supports your story,

there's a good chance of
getting a suspended sentence,

which means no time
in juvenile detention.

And if he doesn't show
I'll just go down, right?

Yeah, we need Aaron to say he's
the one who planned the robbery, OK,

he's the one who brought the Kn*fe.

Is he planning on skipping out
on his court date?

No, he's solid.

Good. Get that reference, alright?

Yep.
We'll take it from there.

Yeah, it's me. Again.

Chin up, Kat.
You're at court. Be regal.

Sir, I think we should
get some white, crusty wigs.

Very 18th century. Very fetching.

I know you all have an opinion
about the curriculum changes,

but the board want us to spend
more time on the classics.

Did Dr Wicks say anything
about coming back to class?

We want to make certain
it heals properly.

I can't believe
they cut hip-hop for this.

Mr Reed, where's your note?

What?

New regime, new rules.

Unexplained absences must
be taken to the principal.

What's going on, Christian?

I had to see my lawyer.
He needs a personal reference.

And what's it going to say?

"Christian used to come to class
but now can't be bothered?"

You can say whatever you like.
Sit.

The board is serious about
their new 'back to ballet' policy.

Our teaching methods
are being scrutinised

and even your being here
under bail conditions

is something that they question.

Well, I'm sorry to make
things hard for you.

That's not what I meant. I just
need you to work with me a little.

You know what? Don't worry about it.

We can't take these changes
lying down. We have free will.

We need a plan.

I'd love to plan
but I have knee stuff.

Sammy.

Come find me when you're free.

Hey.
Hey.

I was looking for you last night.

Yeah? I was just
hanging out with Kat.

Again.

Are you avoiding me?

No, it's just...

You know, you and Kat,
you're like opposite magnetic poles,

and anything in between is instantly
crushed and... it's not pretty.

So if I could be friends
with Kat, that would help?

Sure.

I should go.

Kat's... I promised.

- How's that feel?
- OK, I guess.

Well, the ligaments around
the patella are healing nicely.

I think you're ready to start class.

Just barre work at first,

but you should be able to build
up your strength quite quickly.

No guarantees, though, right?

Never are. At some point
you have to take a leap of faith.

Aaron, call me back.

Our hearing's next week.
I need to talk to you.

Hey.

Hey.

What did Mr Kennedy say? Does he
know you've been missing classes?

Didn't think you noticed.

Don't worry about it.
Tara.

Can we go somewhere and talk?

Now?

I'm supposed to be meeting... Ethan.
He's helping me with my rehab.

Good for him.

Christian.

I can't believe this piece of paper

means you get paid to dance
with the National Ballet.

Wait. Why haven't you signed it yet?

I have the whole week
to read the fine print, so...

I would crawl over broken glass
to sign my contract.

Yeah, well, you should
be glad that I haven't.

Once I'm in the company I won't
have time to be your personal spotter.

Say 100 crunches?

Oh! Hey, stranger.

Have you seen Aaron?

"Hey, Kaylah. How's things?"

Have you seen him?
Yeah. He's gone up north. Why?

Our sentencing hearing is next week.

No biggie.

I'll k*ll him.

So, you guys been hanging out?

Listen, he just said he had
to go sort some stuff out.

So he might be here next week?

Yeah, it's possible.

His gran had a rolling pin, remember?

I remember you and Aaron

were on the other side
of the street laughing at me,

letting me cop all the abuse.

Price you pay for being an idiot.

Dude, what are you doing?

You've never thought about it?

It's too much history.

Aaron's not coming back, is he?

He might.

You know, I can't
think about it anymore.

I don't care what happens.

I don't care! I don't care!

Yeah, you do.

No.

No, I'm done.

The future can be
whatever it's gonna be.

You can't dance forever
with a straight knee.

But my whole leg's shaking.

You need to build up strength.
It doesn't feel right.

I'll do it another day.
Do it today.

I have to make sure
I recover properly.

You're stopping
because you're scared.

Do you know how close I came
to never being able to dance again?

That's why I'm pushing you.

It's easy for you. You have
a contract with the company.

You know exactly
where your life is going.

Why are you even here? Don't you
have rehearsals or something?

I thought I was helping you.

We're not getting back together,

so if that's what
you think this is about...

Trust me, that's
the last thing on my mind.

Think of it like
Defence of the Hip-Hop Arts.

You're Hermione.
Why am I Hermione?

Why can't I be Harry? Or at least Ron?

OK, you can be
whoever you want to be

so long as you come and help me
co-teach my illegal hip-hop class.

OK, I'll be there.
You are like blood to me, Lieberman.

Blood!

Christian's
coming today, isn't he?

I guess. I mean,
I'm not entirely sure.

He's going to fail if he
doesn't show up to class.

Do you know what's going on?

Maybe.

You're his mate. Look out for him.

Yeah.

Hey.

Hey.

I thought we could do something
special this afternoon,

maybe go for a picnic.

Things are crazy at the moment.

I've got to go find Christian

and I promised Kat I'd help her
with her Dark Arts hip-hop thing.

So Kat snaps her fingers
and you come running?

You wonder why my friends
have issues with you.

Sorry. Look, I didn't mean that.

Picnic. Great.
I'll be there after hip-hop.

Hello?

Who's that?

Who's that?
Sammy.

Is Christian there?

Listen, whoever you are,
I need to talk to him, OK?

He's in trouble.

If you have his phone
you're either a friend or a thief.

If you're a friend,
you'll tell me where I can find him.

Sammy.

You said he was in trouble.

Yeah, he's been missing class.

School's pretty worked up about it.

What? That's it?

Yeah, they'll kick him out.

I love Tara,
but she's not worth that.

Tara? You think all this
is about a girl?

Well, it was a pretty
intense break-up.

What?

OK, so hip-hop starts
in half an hour. Bring a friend.

Yep. Cool. Yep. Bring a friend.

Hey, you're gonna be there, yeah?

Um... No, I can't. My knee.

Sorry, Kat. Next time, I promise.

OK, good. Great. Well,
you guys all go get a drink.

I'll meet you back at the studio.
Just drink up. Yep.

I can wait with you.

Mm-hm. Funny.

Sammy asked me to come. Here I am.

Why?

You're important to him...

although apparently
not enough to come himself.

Best burgers in Sydney.

Seriously, one is enough.

Next weekend I'll
be eating prison food.

Will you stop it?

Yeah, I agree.
My aunt's a barrister, OK?

I can talk to her
and get some legal advice.

I'm sick of advice, alright?

I've got one week left of freedom
and I'm gonna enjoy myself.

Then you're an idiot.
I'm sorry you feel that way.

You make one massive mistake

and then a whole bunch of really
good things start happening for you,

and you're gonna
throw them all away

all because Aaron let you down.

Again.
Out of my hands, Kaylah.

She's always like that.

Have another. Haven't even started
on the list of things to do today.

It's really quite exciting.

That's it. Commit to it.

Abigail, come on. Don't fake it.
If it's not real, it shows.

Go, Jordan.

Yeah.

Yeah!

Come on. It's not even
that hard. Loosen up.

Abigail. Abigail, come on.
Is that all you've got?

You're right. It's not
actually that hard.

We're gonna jump?

Trust me. It looks worse than it is.

There are no rocks, and me and Aaron
used to do it all the time.

Can I ask why?

'Cause life is short, Sammy.

Wow. I didn't know you played.

I'm just messing around.

You're really good.

There's this amazing
collective in Spain.

The choreographer's
also the composer

and spends
the whole time on stage.

I don't know. I was thinking of
maybe sending them some of my ideas.

- You should do it.
- Yeah.

But the National probably won't
like that, not if I'm under contract.

Look, Ethan, I came
to apologise about this morning.

It's fine.

I so appreciate everything
you've been doing, and you're right.

I have to not be scared.

When did you decide
you wanted to dance?

Probably watching Natasha
on an old video.

That was the first time?

No, the first time was when I was
five and I jumped off a roof.

I decided that dancing must be...

The closest thing to flying.

Something like that.

That was awesome!
I told you.

You're right.

But you're wrong
about your court hearing.

Kaylah's right. You're running away.

What am I supposed to do?

I don't know, Christian,
get some legal advice

and keep taking class
so you can get a reference.

But I was there. We robbed the servo.

We totally did the guy over.
You gonna do it again?

What do you think?
I regret it every day.

Exactly, so why are you sitting here?
They need to know that.

You know, you're like
a 40-year-old man...

trapped in a geeky
16-year-old body.

See you later.

Um, wow. Would you like
to tell me what that was?

Sammy taught me a few things.

Hey, can I ask you something?

If a guy tells you he's not
ready to go to the next level

and then he starts avoiding you,

that's probably not
a good thing, right?

I don't know. Maybe...
Maybe he's embarrassed?

Really? Is that what he said?

No, he actually hasn't
said anything. Sorry.

Well, I probably
won't be back next week.

Guess the Dark Arts
will have to live without you.

Are you sure about this?
No fear, right?

You want to fly?

My whole life.

This is insane!

Sammy, a burger's not
a burger without beetroot.

I'll leave you guys to it.

You made a basket.

We had a date.

I... forgot.

I figured that.

I am so sorry.

Christian's got some
full-on stuff happening

and I can't tell you
what it is, but...

Tell me one thing.

At any point today

did you remember that you
were supposed to be with me?

Sammy, this isn't working
and I don't know how to fix it.

I know. Me either.

Maybe we shouldn't be doing this.

Maybe we shouldn't.

I mean, if that's what you want.

Yeah. That's what I want.

Hey, you.

Flying gave me an idea.

How cool would it be to do
a whole piece around the ropes,

have, like, 10 of them
on stage at once?

So you drew it
on your company contract.

Yeah, well, didn't
want to forget it,

and I've been carrying this
around with me all week.

I know.
So why haven't I signed?

It's what I've always wanted.

Things change.

I want to create my own work.

I can't do that

if I'm standing in a corps de ballet
for the next five years.

Let me have a look at that.

OK, so we start
with a pianist on stage.

The thing about fear
is that you can run from it...

you can pretend it doesn't exist,

but at some point it will always
find a way of catching up with you.

Good, Christian.
You're really committing.

I guess that's why people go swimming
with sharks and jump out of planes...

why they fall in love...

because the only way to conquer fear
is to live dangerously...

to stare it in the face.