Some people look back on the turbulence of their university years with a mixture of horror and nostalgia. For others, like Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin), the bad memories only include the occasions when they forgot to pick up kombucha* and activated almonds on the way home from dance class.

Or, in the case of her fame-hungry friend Kat (Alicia Banit), when a topless* selfie destroys her credibility* as the star of a squeaky-clean* kids show.

“Dance Academy,” director Jeffrey Walker’s feature adaptation of ABC TV’s successful soap opera about teen dance prodigies* seeking stardom*, keeps the series’ appeal for unpacking* issues relevant to young people, though it does have something to say about smartphone-powered self-love and narcissism* in the iGeneration.

When former boyfriend Ben (Thomas Lacey) tells Tara, the protagonist*, that his leukemia* has returned, she tells him straight: “It’s not the best status update.”

A summary of her present situation wouldn’t make the best status update either.

Tara remains determined to succeed as a dancer. Every time she makes an ambitious body-stretching move, however, a shocking sensation hits her, accompanied by traumatic visions that play back in her mind.

On the night Tara auditioned* for a contract with the National Ballet Company (retold in flashback), she broke her back in an accident.

Tara drops a lawsuit that could have given her a million dollars. The catch for accepting the money would have been declaring she can never dance again, thus losing any chance of a comeback.

When Tara’s attempt to rejoin the dance company is scotched* by the once supportive artistic director (Miranda Otto), she runs away to New York, and then Austin, where things progress in the manner of a Nicholas Sparks tearjerker*. Tara and the terminally ill Ben train secretly, against the doctor’s orders, in a barn.

For a film called “Dance Academy,” there isn’t a lot of dancing — and the staging of the scenes where characters do cut a rug* is far from inspiring. Like any soap opera, the focus is on relationships. (SD-Agencies)