Ben Tickle

Ben Tickle
Information
Full Name	Benjamin Tickle
Nickname(s)	Ben (By Everybody) The Benster (By himself)
Gender	Male
Hair Color	Brown
Network
Relationships	Tara Webster (Ex-Girlfriend) Kat Karamakov (Former Attraction)
Job	Dancer in the Austin Ballet
School(s)	Dance Academy
Affiliation(s)	Dancer
Production
First Episode	Dreamlife
Last Episode	Not for Nothing
Portrayed By	Thomas Lacey

Benjamin "Ben" Tickle is a breath of fresh air at the Academy. He’s like a puppy boundless energy a short attention span and the potential to lick you if he likes you enough. 

Ben could be considered a normal Aussie male cheeky,scruffy and more than slightly hopeless. He loves his cricket and footie as much as he loves his ballet. 

He’s also blessed with a huge talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

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. 

Ben was accepted into the Academy last year but chose to defer. As we’ll find out later he was under doctors’ orders to do so. 

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.

While relaxed about almost everything Ben is intense about his dance training. 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.

In addition to ballet he’s skilled in ballroom and acrobatics he’s also an excellent tap dancer.

He ships Benstara.

When he was 5 he developed leukemia. 7 years later he started dancing

Character History

In Dreamlife, he is one of the students who comes to the underground hip hop class taught by Christian.

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... no matter how blunt or insensitive it sounds. 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. 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.

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. Ben finds Tara a four-leaf clover (stuck together with chewing gum), and Tara gets Ben to start wearing deodorant.

In The Break, Ben joins Christian and Sammy on their boys night out to celebrate the end of exams. He pretends to have a tattoo to impress Kat, but she tells him she has feelings for someone else.

In Breaking Pointe, Ben is concerned for Tara when Saskia pushes her too far and breaks her back on purpose. Although Ben is shown to have a crush on Kat at first, he ends up truly falling for Tara.

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. 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 Ladder Theory, Ben first asks Tara to the beach as a tactic to psych out Christian before the Prix contemporary performances. When Tara says she's ready to date, Ben intially tells her that he considers her on the friend ladder, not the girlfriend ladder, and you can't cross ladders. However, after spending time together, he begins to realize he has feelings for her too. When Tara wishes him luck, he takes her hand, and while he watches her perform he wears a big smile. Christian is clearly jealous of Ben's interest in Tara, and he tells her that Ben is "suddenly all over her" only because he's trying to mess with his head. After Tara's contemporary performance, Ben tells her that if it may be possible to cross ladders, if you could just lean over. He leans in and kisses her, which Christian sees. After Tara sees that Christian was watching their kiss she asks Ben if he did it to mess Christian up, to which he admits that the beach invitation was a tactic. Although he genuinely likes Tara now, she says her crush is over, thinking he was only using her to mess with Christian.

In Love It Or Fight It, Ben asks Christian for advice on how to get Tara after failing by dressing up in her bra and tutu. Christian tells him that Tara is a special girl and he needs to do something special to win her affection. Ben remembers how she wanted to go to Russia so she could ice skate and wear furry hats. So, at the end he takes her to the beach where an ice skating rink is there for her and her friends to use for the day. She soon falls for him again as they skate togeather and kiss on the ice. This leads to Kat dumping Christian, out of realization that Christian is still in love with Tara. Now Ben and Tara are boyfriend and girlfriend and very happy together according to the last seen episode, but Christian is still in a jealous storm.

Relationships

Tara Webster

At first, Tara didn't really like Ben. The two were assigned as Pas de Deux partners, and Ben was alway being obnoxious by licking his hands before lifting her up, and never wearing deoderant. After his obnoxious phase settles down, both of them become friends. After Tara is fully over Christian, she wants to start crushing so her horoscope will work in her favor. Ollie suggests that she start crushing on Ben, but she says that he's "too goofy and harmless." To retaliate, Ben kisses her and Tara develops feelings for Ben. She sets up a double date with Kat and Christian which ends up with Ben and Tara riding their bike into the harbour and them pulling seaweed off each other angrily.

Ben and Tara during their date on the beach.

To psych Christian out, Ben asks Tara to go on a date with him during the Prix de Fonteyn Nationals. Tara asks Ben out, but he states that she's on the "friend ladder" and that is was impossible to cross to the "girlfriend ladder." At the nationals, Christian tells Tara that Ben only asked her out to make him uncomfortable. After Tara's dance, Ben tries to kiss her, but is rejected and confronted about how she doesn't want to be played. He admits to asking her out as a "strategic" move, but he really has feeling for her now. Tara doesn't beleive him and walks away. Ben then goes out of his way to show public displays of affection to Tara so she would date him. Tara forgives him, but she doesn't want to get together with him. Afterwards, Ben arranges the group to go ice skating, but Tara is skeptic about it. She enjoys her time skating with Ben, and they both fall and kiss. By the next episodes, they're dating. all though after their friend Sammy's death, the two were both in mourning and were "technically still together", though Tara said that she didn't match Ben's happy personality anymore. By the end of " The Prix de Fonteyn " Ben says Tara can break up with him or avoid him, but he'll always be waiting, because she can't see it, but they are good for each other. Were dating in season 3 but broke up because Tara still has feelings for Christian.

Kat Karamakov

The first time meeting Kat, Ben suggests that she should be added to the group, but he doesn't really know all about her yet and develops a crush on her. He tries to do things so Kat will like him, but it doesn't work, as she explains she has feeling for someone else (Christian). Kat described him as a puppy, and when the puppy gets too annoying, you have to gently push the puppy away. Ben admitted that most girls don't like him because he's annoying. When she starts dating Christian, he loses his feelings for Kat, and the two become good friends.

Sammy Lieberman

Sammy first meets Ben during a freestyle hip-hop session outside the Academy that is broken up by Miss Raine. They are seen dancing alongside when Christian decides to hold a hip-hop class. Ben starts second year at the Academy and he tries to be best mates with him and Christian, but first impressions aren't going so well. Ben nicknames himself the "Benster," completely being irrelevant to the guys. Ben throws a party where no one shows up, but it is shown that Sammy apologises. Later, Sammy confronts Ben about his gay remarks and his obnoxiousness which ends up with Ben baking rainbow cupcakes for Sammy and Christian, assuming that they are an undercover gay couple. During the end of the series Ben and Sammy become good friends. When Sammy dies, Ben is shown crying at his memorial on the beach. Ben also showcases the performace that Sammy was going to perform at the Prix de Fonteyn alongside with the group.

Christian Reed

Ben and Christian meet during a free styple hip-hop session outside the Academy that is broken up by Miss Raine. Ben goes to Christian's hip-hop class. Ben starts second year at the Academy and tries to be mates with him and Sammy. As seen by facial expressions, Christian is really annoyed of Ben. He doesn't show up at Ben's party at all. When Ben makes the rainbow cupcakes for Christian and Sammy because of what Sammy told him, Christian was so confused for Ben thinking that Sammy and him were actually dating. After the little shape-up, Ben and Christian becomes friends. During the nationals for the Prix de Fonteyn, Ben makes Christian uncomfortable by asking Tara out on a date to the beach. Jealousy from Christian is noticeable. After Christian and Kat break up, Christian wants to tell Tara that he still loves her, but Sammy tries to stop him because Christian is friends with Ben. It's assumed that both Ben and Christian are still good friends.

Abigail Armstrong

Abigail and Ben don't actually interract at all unless they are both hanging out with the group.

Grace Whitney

Ben and Grace don't really have a friendship, but when the whole class has to do solos on their past, Grace talks Ben out of doing the solo on his cancer survival. He and grace get closer in season 3.

Trivia:

• Before dating Tara Webster, Ben never had a proper girlfriend before (long term). His longest relationship was a day.
• Ben was selected into the Academy along with Tara and the others but he couldn't join them as a result of his doctor's suggestion. Hence he joined this year, but was soon transferred to the 2nd year batch as he was at a much higher standard.

Quotes

• "Have you always walked funny or did ballet make you that way?"
• "You know that kiss meant nothing, right?"
• "Well, the ladders would have to be really close, and you could just lean over... or I could."
• "I made you rainbow cupcakes."
• "Ow, my lips! They're burning!"
• "Call me the Benster."
• "Pact or no pact, you know I'm still shipping Benstara. I'll keep waiting for you."
• "We've already lost one good mate. We've missed you, Reedo."