In The Ladder Theory, Ben first asks Tara to the beach as a tactic to psych out Christian before the Prix contemporary performances. Ben tries to tell her the kiss was not a kiss but a point he was trying to make however, Tara continues to have feelings for him, bringing up the memory of him telling her he only kissed people if it means something. In The Naturals, Ben kisses Tara to prove that he's not 'harmless.' Although she originally said he was too goofy and nice, after their kiss she develops a crush on him and tries to plan a double date with Christian and Kat, which ends with her and Ben bicycling into the harbor. Although Ben is shown to have a crush on Kat at first, he ends up truly falling for Tara. In Breaking Pointe, Ben is concerned for Tara when Saskia pushes her too far and breaks her back on purpose. He pretends to have a tattoo to impress Kat, but she tells him she has feelings for someone else. In The Break, Ben joins Christian and Sammy on their boys night out to celebrate the end of exams. Ben finds Tara a four-leaf clover (stuck together with chewing gum), and Tara gets Ben to start wearing deodorant. In Connectivity Tara and Ben get off to a rocky start but they become friends and and start working well together on their contemporary pas de deux. Afterwards, Abigail complains to Grace that Tara has the best pas de deux partner (Christian), so Grace talks to her godmother, Miss Raine, and gets her to rearrange the couples: Abigail and Christian, Grace and Sammy, and Tara and Ben.

After Sammy explains to him that using the word 'gay' with a derogatory connotation is offensive, he makes Sammy and Christian a batch of rainbow cupcakes to apologize, thinking they are a homosexual couple. no matter how blunt or insensitive it sounds. In Faux Pas De Deux, Christian, Sammy, and Tara are put off by Ben's tendency to say the first thing that comes into his mind. In Dreamlife, he is one of the students who comes to the underground hip hop class taught by Christian. This is where Tara discovers Ben's past in the episode Rescue Mission, She is shocked to discover that when Ben arrived at the academy he didn't tell others out of fear that he would be treated differently. He helps others at the same hospital he was treated at by regularly volunteering to help with the children's productions. When Ben was five he was diagnosed with leukaemia (a type of blood cancer) after seven years of treatment he went into remission where he began dancing. In addition to ballet he’s skilled in ballroom and acrobatics he’s also an excellent tap dancer. He pushes himself every day determined to make the most of his natural talent. He is hard on his body harder than most students and sometimes needs to be told that it’s time to stop.

While relaxed about almost everything Ben is intense about his dance training. He begins this semester as part of the First Year class but it quickly becomes apparent that he’s much more advanced than the other students. They soon accelerate him to Second Year where he joins the rest of the gang.

As we’ll find out later he was under doctors’ orders to do so. This doesn’t stop him from talking far from it and one of his real charms is that he’ll try to make friends with anyone and usually succeeds.īen was accepted into the Academy last year but chose to defer. He’s also blessed with a huge talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. He loves his cricket and footy as much as he loves his ballet. He’s like a puppy boundless energy a short attention span and the potential to lick you if he likes you enough.īen could be considered a normal Aussie male cheeky,scruffy and more than slightly hopeless. Benjamin 'Ben' Tickle is a breath of fresh air at the Academy.

Christian and olli