| Sammy Lieberman | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Full Name | Samuel Isador Lieberman |
| Nickname(s) | Sammy |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of Birth | 22 May, 1994 |
| Date of Death | 19 April, 2012 |
| Eye Color | Hazel-light brown |
| Hair Color | Light brown |
| Network | |
| Family | Dr. Lieberman (father) Mrs. Lieberman (mother) Ari Lieberman (younger brother) Grandmother Grandpa Morrie (deceased) |
| Relationships | Mia (left for exchange, ex-girlfriend), Abigail Armstrong (ex-girlfriend) Christian Reed (crush), Ollie Lloyd (ex-boyfriend) |
| School(s) | National Academy of Dance |
| Production | |
| First Episode | Learning to Fly |
| Last Episode | The Prix de Fonteyn |
| Reason | hit by a car, died on the way to the hospital |
| Portrayed By | Tom Green |
| “ | Every dancer knows that being technically perfect isn't enough. We need to know why we dance. For me it's to be connected. I'm inspired by my friends. | ” |
—Sammy Lieberman, The Prix De Fonteyn | ||
Samuel "Sammy" Isador Lieberman is the kind of guy who's every girl's best friend but finds the other boys at the Academy much more difficult to talk to.
The eldest son in a conservative Jewish family, it's always been expected that Sammy will follow in his father's footsteps and go into medicine. Sammy broke his father's heart when he decided he wanted to be a dancer instead and he'd do almost anything to prove to his family that he made the right choice..
Sammy has a self-deprecating sense of humor, but deep down inside, he's a good guy who wants to do the right thing. He may not be the best dancer at the academy, but he is one of Tara and Kat's closest friends.
In the emotional last three episodes of season 2, on his way to the Prix de Fonteyn (Competition), Miss Raine gets the call that Samuel Lieberman was hit by a car while walking to the Prix de Fonteyn. He is pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
Relationships
Tara Webster
Since the first season and their first year at the academy, Sammy's best friends were Kat and Tara. Sammy helps Tara in times of need such as in the episode "Behind Barres," where Sammy helps Tara make a pros and cons list for the guy she had a crush on. Tara also advises Sammy and supports him when important decisions need to be made (e.g. when he had to choose between dancing or his Synagogue services). She is not upset or shocked when Sammy declares that he has a boyfriend (Ollie). Tara and Sammy are both picked to represent Australia at the Prix de Fonteyn and are extremely excited! Just before Sammy's unfortunate and shocking death, he leaves Tara a voice message to tell her, "Miss Webster. Can you believe that this momentous day has finally arrived? It's just you and me. Prix de Fonteyn, baby! Look I think Christian's on his way to see you, but, um, ignore him, OK? This is your day, T. Don't get distracted. I was just thinking, remember last year, when we were at the bottom? Now here we are, conquering the world. I'll see you out there." Tara was in shock when she heard about Sammy's sudden death. She couldn't cry at first, later admiting that Abigail's reasoning was correct, that she only wouldn't cry because that would mean it was real, that Sammy was really gone. Later on, during the Prix de Fonteyn, she imagines Sammy's help through her dance, then falls on the floor and cries..
Kat Karamakov
Sammy and Kat are best friends. The second to last episode of season two shows that they met when Kat forged his fathers signature to get him into the Academy. They are shown to have a much stronger bond than others. When Sammy first arrived at the academy he roomed with Kat, which is how they began their friendship. They also share something in common. In "Growing Pains," Sammy is getting a dance belt even though he really doesn't want to buy one. In "Heartbeat," this is Kat's reaction to the short shorts she's expected to wear to dance in a music video. (see left for both photos). In Week Zero, Kat stands up to Sean and a couple of other guys and says that Sammy is more of a man then all of them put together. As well as Tara, Kat is not shocked or surprised that Sammy has a boyfriend (Ollie). Kat is shown to be deeply sadened by Sammy's death and is seen crying and stating, "We are his family."
Christian Reed
Out of all of the guys, Christian is Sammy's best friend. In "Growing Pains," Sammy called someone who works at the store Sammy went for dance belts, and it looked as if Christian liked her, so Sammy called her and left her a message on his phone (with Christian right next to him knowing), and it said "Be brave. Leave a message at the beep." and Sammy does, and pretends to be Christian. They both laugh at the end. Sammy and Christian are roommates and are shown to have a great friendship. At one point in the story line, Sammy admits that he has feelings for Christian, who continues their friendship regardless of the fact that he does not have any romantic intrests in Sammy. Christian was meant to go jogging with Sammy, but chose to go and tell Tara that he loves her, even though Sammy advises Christian not to. On the jog that they were meant to go together, Sammy was hit by a car and dies on the way to hospital. Christian blames himself because of this..
Abigail and Sammy publicising their relationship
Christian and Sammy
Season 1, Christian and Sammy look for Dance Belts.
Abigail Armstrong
Abigail and Sammy have a long relationship history, which includes great friendship, enemies, and romance. During episode 4, Minefield, Sammy and Abigail are tied to each other as a pas de deux exercise causing them to discuse why Abigail sent a personal letter of Tara's to the rest of the school. After many scenes hinting that Sammy has a crush on the young girl he finally admits it to his girlfriend, Mia. Later, Kat and Tara guess that he has a crush on Abigail. As exams approach, Abigail begans to put pressure on herself and stops eating. Sammy attemps to help her during these times, and later feels responsable because she collapses during her exams. He than becomes closer to Abigail. Its during episode 17, A Midsummer Night's Dream, that thier relationship blossams. The two kiss, leading into a secret relationship. Sammy feels violated because Abigail won't go public to retain her reputation. Finally, after the dancers win a football match, Sammy kisses Abigail infront of the gang. The couple plan to take the next step in thier relationship after the dance, but Sammy backs down resulting in a crumpling relationship. After Sammy forgets about a picnic they were going to go on they both decide to break up. Season 2 begans with Abigail trying to get Sammy back. However after this they appear to be just friends. However, a few scenes suggest that Abigail may not be over Sammy, such as during Catch Me If I Fall, when Abigail admits to it hurting when Sammy said he was seeing Ollie, and during episode 6 when Abigail tells Ari several good things about his brother. In the later episodes Abigail helps out Sammy by pretending to be his girlfriend while he is dating Olie. After they break up, the two spend a lot of time together and create a very strong friendship. Sammy helps Abigail discover a world outside ballet and she creates a list for them to complete after third year. On the night before Sammys death he shows her his Prix de Fonteyn solo. Abigail and Sammy share a final kiss and are both clearly excited, but then say goodbye to each other nervously. After hearing of Sammy's death Kat and Tara find Abigail in the shower fully clothed and crying. Abigail than breaks down a second time during an audition where she dances the Pas De Deux dance she did with Sammy. She then asks why she was partnered with someone so good, and sobs about how terrible Sammy was as a Pas de deux partner, boyfriend, and person. Abigail starts dating a choreographer she met over summer after a while of holding her self back because of Sammy's death, realizing along with Ollie it was time to move on.
Ollie
Sammy kisses Ollie realizing he has feelings for him
Ollie comforts Sammy on issue with his Dad
When Sammy and Ollie first meet, Sammy needs a tutor for his exams. Miss Raine chooses Ollie, considering he topped his Second Year class. Ollie has to do this as he is on probation after "giving his opinion" on the Third Year tour. Ollie does not help Sammy very much at the start, but when Sammy reprimands him, Ollie sees that he has been a "douchebag" and a "tool" to Sammy. Ollie then begins to help Sammy take his ballet from "embarrassing" to "competent." When Sammy passes his tests, he is allowed to go up the coast, and participate in another Regional competition for the Prix. Ollie takes him and Christian, as this town is where Christian's dad lives. Sammy and Ollie discover on this trip that they have feelings for each other after denying it for a while. Sammy asks Ollie to assist the Second Years in a hip-hop battle against the First Years by being the judge and giving pointers, stating that Ollie is the best hip-hop dancer at the academy and apologizes to Christian. Later on, Sammy surprise kisses Ollie before the battle after coming to the conclusion he loves him. Ollie without permission of Sammy begins to tell people about their "hidden" relationship, much to Sammy's annoyance. Sammy and Ollie have an on and off rocky relationship, often getting into many disagreements and arguments. Ollie helps Sammy cope by joking, making Sammy let all of his anger out, or having days only to Sammy. A couple days before the day of the Prix De Fonteyn (day Sammy dies), Sammy breaks up with Ollie because Ollie didn't treat them like equals, always wanting to be much better than Sammy. After the death of Sammy, Ollie is heartbroken. He, along with Abigail, especially feel torn the night of Sammy's memoriam on the beach when Christian reads Sammy's list of things he wants to do in life from 50 to 1, number 3 being "fall in love so my heart takes over from my head". Ollie and Christian meet up to talk about what they could've each done to prevent Sammy's death. During the Prix De Fonteyn, Ollie, alongside Ben, Tara, Kat, Christian, Ethan, Zach, and Miss Raine dance Sammy's Prix De Fonteyn dance that he was unable to do due to his untimely death. When movie star Rhys O'Leary comes to town and starts to fall for Ollie, Ollie comes to the conclusion that he can't hold himself back anymore because of Sammy's death and that it is time to move on.
Grace Whitney
Grace and Sammy are Pas de Deux partners. Grace doesn't really show much emotion to Sammy and is actually quite indifferent to him. She didn't shed a single tear upon Sammy's death. Though she was seen in one of the final episodes, where Tara, Kat, Christian, Ben, and the rest of the gang were celebrating their memorial to Sammy, she did look a little sad, but then walked away. After that, she didn't show any emotions at all towards anyone. In the whole time she was on the show, Grace was really portrayed as an emotionless person. In the season finale of dance academy, Grace said that she would dedicate her solo to Sammy, but was only saying this to make herself look sympathetic.
Prix De Fonteyn
In the episode "Ladder Theory," the auditions for the Prix De Fonteyn begin. Sammy's father and brother come to watch him perform (though only seeing his contemporary solo). Sammy doesn't do too well in the Classical round, only scoring 6.9 while others score around 7 and while Miss Raine informs them that there might have been some bias in the judging (one boy, Michael Slade, getting an 8.9 compared to the others, ranging from 6.9 to 7.9). Sammy still doesn't feel too happy about this. When his father and brother surprise him, Sammy tries to keep it a secret until Ollie accidentally reveals this. His father unexpectedly takes this very well. During the contemporary round, Slade (who was a snobby character and often said "The Slade has spoken") decided to sabotage Sammy's performance. During Sammy's contemporary piece, Slade pulls the plug on the music secretly, leaving Sammy, the judges, his father and brother and the audience confused. Fortunately, Christian and Ben catch on to the act and lock Slade away in a closet. Sammy tells the audience to imagine the music and restarts his solo, silently. Tara manages to plug the music back in just as Sammy reaches the peak of the solo. The results are announced, with Tara winning in the girls section and Grace coming in second , and Slade coming second (though he as unable to collect his medal, being still stuck in the closet) and Sammy winning in the boys section.
Death
In "The Prix De Fonteyn," it is shown on the day of the Prix. Sammy, who is nervous and excited at the same time, is banned from dancing two days before the Prix alongside Tara, in order to rest for the competition. To ease his nerves, Kat takes both Tara and Sammy out to Sydney Tower Climb. Sammy asks Christian to go jogging with him, but Christian declines. Later, during the competition in the class section, Tara notes that Sammy is missing and asks Slade to call him saying she wants him there. Slade agrees and goes to do so however he cannot get through to him through the phone. At t
Christian telling Tara about Sammy's death
he same time, Miss Raine walks into the Peter Pan class at the Academy where Ben and Kat are performing Peter Pan with Abigail in the class as well and tells Zach she is sorry but she has to interrupt, she appears saddened as she tells the students that she has an important announcement to make. Christian is seen with a "good luck" card while an ambulance siren can be heard in the background. He is then seen running to the Opera House to see Tara to tell her he loves her, but on the way, he walks past a man in a chicken suit who is getting questioned by police (this man was also seen handing Sammy a paper flyer). He does not think much of it, but when h
Sammy showing Abigail his Prix De Fonteyn solo, a day before his accident.
e gets a
phone call from Zach, he realizes something is wrong as Zach asks him to come back to the Academy. Christian, however, insists that Zach tell him on the phone what is wrong. When Tara finishes the class section, Christian greets her and sadly informs her that while Sammy was out jogging, he was accidentally hit by a car. At first, Tara just asks if he broke any bones and if he will be able to dance, but Christian is quiet for a while and Tara realizes something is wrong. Christian then says that Sammy died from his injuries on the way to the hospital. A scene is then shown of Tara walking into the lounge room of the academy with all the students around including Ollie and Kat who is crying to Miss Raine that, "We are his family!" Tara acknowledges Ben and Christian however goes to Kat and the two cry in each others arms before realizing Abigail is not there. The two of them go and find her fully clothed in the shower with the water running crying. They pull her out of the shower hugging her. One of the final scenes is of the group and Ollie all sleeping in Sammy and Chrisitan's room even though this is not normally allowed, the teachers allowed it because of the circumstance. The news greatly affected all students, especially his friends and teachers. Tara is then seeing going to a nearby park, alone, during the middle of the night to listen to the voice message Sammy sent to her moments before his untimely death. The group of friends hold a memorial for Sammy at the beach. Christian reads out Sammy's list of 50 things he wanted to do. The number one thing on his list being "make a group of friends I'll know for the rest of my life" which he definitley accomplished. Ben takes Sammy's place in the The Prix De Fonteyn and performs Sammy's solo, even though he is being disqualified. During his performance he calls his friends on stage to dance with him because it is what Sammy wanted. The friends finish by hugging while ballons rain down on them. Even though Ben gets disqualified the teachers all feel happy about what they did.
In Season 3, we learn that the driver of the car that hit Sammy was Nick Hesk.
Friend's Reaction To Death
Trivia
- Sammy is afraid of heights.
- He is considered to be "soft".
- He likes to use code words to express his feelings.
- He was picked as the number one male to represent Australia in the Prix de Fonteyn. From this, it can be assumed that he was one of, if not the best, ballet dancers of his age in Australia.
- The song Sammy danced to in his last solo performance before his death is 'Easy to Love' by The Jezabels
- Sammy made a list of 50 things he would do in his life, the first is to have a group of friends who would have until the day he died, the second to enter the academy and third falling in love while his heart would take over from his head.
- Sammy wore contacts and glasses.
- Sammy was born into a Jewish Australian family.
- Dr. Lieberman didn't want Sammy to be a dancer out of fear that he'd get hurt.
- Ollie was his first and only boyfriend after realizing he was bisexual.
- Sammy coincidentally dated Abigail and Ollie who share many of the same characteristics.
- When Sammy's grades slipped in Season 1 Dr. Lieberman decided to pull him out of the Academy so he could focus on school. After seeing how well he dances Dr. Lieberman allowed Sammy to stay at the Academy. Sammy was of course grounded until his grades improved.
Quotes
- "That's a fairly life-defining moment, Christian."
- "Miss Webster. Can you believe that this momentous day has finally arrived? It's just you and me. Prix de Fonteyn, baby. Look I think Christian's on his way to see you, but, um, ignore him, OK? This is your day, T. Don't get distracted. I was just thinking, remember last year, when we were at the bottom? Now here we are, conquering the world. I'll see you out there."
- "Every dancer knows that being technically perfect isn't good enough. We need to know why we dance. For me, it's to be connected. I'm inspired by my friends."
- "No you won't, because you're going to be the glue. You'll miss me because I'm awesome, but you'll be okay."
- "Yes you can, T. Here."
- "Help yourself T."
- "You're meant to be dancing."
- "I keep on getting these muffins and I'm afraid that it means I'm a labrador and you're mouse ears. I think I like you. No that's a lie. I know I like you"
- "Make a group of friend's I'll remember for the rest of my life."
- "I don't really have friends. I have acquaintances of convenience. Maybe you and I could be mates?"
- "You don't own the barre, Armstrong."
- "We were, I was, I was just helping Abigail."
- “Why won’t you admit that you like me? Am I that embarrassing?”
“Yup, are we going public now?”
“Do you know what overheating does to a man’s sperm count?”
- "You and Tara being so full-on. Needs a bit of adjusting to. It's gross, obviously, but yeah, it's great."
- But, ugh, she just drives me crazy. And the heart just goes where it goes."
- "I'm in the Nationals of the Prix de Fonteyn. Book a ticket"