There’s A Mini “Dance Academy” Reunion In Netflix’s “Apple Cider Vinegar”
The New Australian Netflix Series Features Some Familiar Faces From The 2010s ABC Hit.
Apple Cider Vinegar is the latest hit series from Netflix Australia, telling the “true-ish” story of infamous cancer fraudster Belle Gibson, whose rise and fall as an early wellness influencer was one of the biggest stories in Australia in the 2010s.
Although Belle herself is played flawlessly by American Kaitlyn Dever — with an impeccable Australian accent — the rest of the cast is predominantly Aussie talent. It’s cool to see familiar faces pop up throughout the series — especially when it comes to alumni of a particular teen show that was also a big deal in the 2010s.
That’s right — Apple Cider Vinegar is practically a Dance Academy reunion, and as a huge fan of the latter I basically turned into that Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme whenever one of the former cast members was on screen.
Both series, of course, come from the same brilliant brain — Apple Cider Vinegar creator and writer Samantha Strauss was also co-creator and writer for Dance Academy.
Plus Apple Cider Vinegar director Jeffrey Walker not only directed several episodes of the Dance Academy series, but also the 2017 movie (appropriately titled Dance Academy: The Movie).
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It’s perhaps no wonder, then, that so many stars from the popular ballet school drama show up in Apple Cider Vinegar.
Alycia Debnam-Carey, for starters, plays second lead Milla Blake, a wellness influencer who is a rival of Belle’s and who actually has cancer (the character is loosely based on the late Jessica Ainscough).
Although not what she’s most known for, Debnam-Carey had a small role on Dance Academy, appearing in one episode as Sammy’s girlfriend Mia.
Sammy Lieberman himself, aka actor Thom Green, also appears in Apple Cider Vinegar. He plays Lenny, a photographer who works for Belle on the development of her app The Whole Pantry. It’s a small but notable role, very different to sweet Sammy (sob).
But perhaps most fun for Dance Academy fans are the cameo appearances of two of the series’ leading ladies — Alicia Banit, who played the rebellious Kat Karamakov, and Dena Kaplan, who played the driven Abigail Armstrong (and another of Sammy’s girlfriends).
The pair appear in a scene together, making it a proper Dance Academy reunion. You can spot them in Episode 2 of Apple Cider Vinegar, playing new mothers in Belle’s mother’s group who bond by complaining about their partners and in-laws and how isolated they feel.
Kaplan’s character shares a very Abigail-esque rage fantasy about running her husband over with her car, and in another iconic moment, Kaplan and Banit’s characters exchange a silent side-eye conversation while Belle desperately tries to big-note herself.
It’s like a multi-layer hit of nostalgia watching a series set in the 2010s feature stars from an actual series set in the 2010s. While the two shows are very different in subject matter, they’re both incredible Aussie television.
big fan of what i assume is samantha strauss putting the entire dance academy cast in apple cider vinegar
— mich
(@mismatchedmich) February 8, 2025
