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Dancing with fame

Dance Academy has global awards and counts Glee cast members amongst its fans, but as Jordan Rodrigues learns, fame has a price too.

Jordan Rodrigues knows all about fame.

At 19 years of age he is one of the cast of Dance Academy. Now in its second season, the ABC3 show is gathering fans from far-flung territories across the globe. And in the online teen world, sometimes the adoration can get a little out of hand.

“It’s going really well in Germany. I’ve had a good response (from) over there, and especially Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Argentina. On Twitter, I’m getting really good responses from them saying that they love the show and they want us to come over,” he says.

“But I’ve got a couple of fake people pretending to be me online and stuff. Yeah, it’s a serious issue.

“The most you can do is probably get a publicist or an agent to message them through their Facebook and tell them to shut it down.

“Some are being me, some are the character, but mainly me.

“I’m learning to live with it, definitely.”

Rodrigues began his career in The Lion King before a stint on Home and Away. Without the gristmill of 2.5 hours of TV a week, Dance Academy affords him more time to work on scenes.

“I’ve been training since I was 13 at Brent Street at FOX Studios and left because of Home and Away and went back to it because of Dance Academy.

Home and Away is a factory. It’s exactly like a factory. It’s nonstop, three shots, boom, boom, boom. And then coming on this show it’s a lot better, because you get to workshop ideas and the shots are really quite unique, so they take quite a while to set up.

“We take a lot more care into our scenes.”

On Dance Academy he plays reckless teen, and resident heartthrob, Christian Reed. In Season Two Christian becomes more devoted to the discipline of dance.

“First season he got in trouble with the police. It was just one incident with his mates that escalated and brought them into the Academy like a holding place, because he had nowhere to stay,” he says.

“This season he’s come back, because he wants to commit to dancing. He realises that he actually loves dancing. So this year he’s a lot more open with everyone, his friends and stuff. He’ll say what’s on his mind but whenever there’s a bad thing that happens to him he’ll still put that wall up to other people. But it’s great because he is a lot more open to learning and talking to other people about his feelings, I guess.”

Social topics merge with dance and romance on the show. Last season Christian was the object of affection for the emerging sexuality of friend Sammy (Tom Green) in scenes that were sensitively handled for an adolescent audience.

“I think acting the part of the crush was not hard at all. It was Tom Green who actually made that story line what it was,” he insists.

“He handled it so well. We’re both mates and we have gay friends so he didn’t make too much of a deal with it.

“But it’s not like it just came to him, he had to workshop ideas on how he was going to play it and stuff. I don’t think the gay storyline would have been as big of a deal to the audience if he didn’t make it as good as he did.

“It was a very risky move being the first season but still that’s what I like about the show. It takes a lot of risks.”

Dance Academy has also accrued accolades within Australia and overseas. They include nominations from AWGIEs, AFIs, Banff World Media Festival, Seoul International Drama Awards, Asian Television Awards and International Emmys, and wins at the Logies, Kidscreen, Australian Directors Guild Awards and Hugo Television Awards.

“It’s been amazing,” says Rodrigues.

“We thought it would be more of a kid’s show but it turned into a family show, which is great. So you get the mums, you get the grandfathers and you get the kids obviously. I’m quite proud about that we didn’t target one audience, it’s actually become a wider range.”

There are even fans amongst high-profile shows, including the cast of Glee. Rodrigues is clearly chuffed, as well he should be.

“Kevin O’Reilly watches Dance Academy. I don’t know how he got it over there but apparently he loves it.”

Dance Academy airs 6:30pm weeknights on ABC3.

 

8 Responses

  1. I love Tom green in this show! I’m in Colorado in the US and stumbled along this show looking for a good dance show and I found a great one! I am a gay ballet dancer as well so I really related to him in this show. when he died I literally cried. someone said he moved to los Angeles which is where I go to dance I would love a chance to meet him if anyone knows please let me know

  2. Great to see the ABC allowing Dance Academy to aspire to be a drama series for a family audience. “C” drama restrictions mean most “C” drama on commercial TV only appeals to a very young primary school age audience. The ABC has essentially stepped into this space – offering an intelligent alternative to H&A and Neighbours – which is very cool.

  3. Pleased to see you’re covering some more of Dance Academy, David.

    I think the show is a shining example of Australian-made TV. It’s great to see some quality programming for a younger generation, but what makes this show excellent is how it can appeal to a much broader age group as well.

    The show has tackled more mature issues, and handled it with true class. Tom Green does a fantastic job as Sammy.

    Very pleased to see such a quality program produced here in Australia.

  4. I like Dance Academy as well. Its really well done. Interesting article and comparisons to Home and Away. Hoping that ABC3 will repeat season 2 soon. They were pretty good with repeating season 1.

  5. It’s a brilliant show. Really enjoying season 2. They create some really well thought-out plots and the stories develop beautifully through the season.

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