| Sammy Lieberman | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Full Name | Samuel Lieberman |
| Nickname(s) | Sammy |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of Birth | 22 May, 1994 |
| Eye Color | 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 (boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, boyfriend?) |
| School(s) | National Academy of Dance |
| Production | |
| First Episode | Learning to Fly, Part 1 |
| Last Episode | The Prix de Fonteyn |
| Reason | hit by a car, died on the way to the hospital |
| Portrayed By | Tom Green |
Samuel "Sammy" Lieberman comes from a conservative Jewish family. His parents expect that he will grow up to be a wealthy doctor, but Sammy had his mind set on dance. He wants prove to his family that he has made the right choice on his path towards a successful career. Even though Sammy has a self-depreciating sense of humor, he is good-minded. Dance may not be his main arena, and sometimes we get the jist that Sammy dances mostly to rebel against his family. At the academy, Tara and Kat are his best buddies. In the emotional last three episodes of Season 2, [SPOILER ALERT] 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
Sammy, Tara Webster, and Kat Karamakov are best buddies. 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 her the guy she's got her eye 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 "Our day is finally here, Prix de Fonteyn, just you and me baby!" and warns her not to listen to Christian, exclaiming "It's your day T, don't let anyone distract you."
Kat Karamakov
Sammy and Kat are best friends and have grown up together, going to the same school when they were little. Kat and Sammy are shown to have a very stronger bond than others. When Sammy first arrived at the academy he roomed with Kat. 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 Sammys death and is seen crying and stating "We are his family."
Christian Reed
Sammy and Christian are good friends, some would even say bestfriends. 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 acts like Christian. They both laugh at the end. Sammy and Christian are roommates and are shown to have a great friendship. Christian was ment to go jogging with Sammy but chose to go and tell Tara he loved her instead, even though Sammy said Christian did not have his blessing. On the jog that they were meant to go on together Sammy was hit by a car and died on the way to hospital.
Abigail and Sammy publicising their relationship
Christian and Sammy
Season 1, Christian and Sammy look for Dance Belts.
Abigail Armstrong
Abigail and Sammy used to hate each other. They had an assignment to be tied to each other for 2/4 hours, but Sammy read it as 24 hours. In a episode, Sammy was teaching a dance class for the elderly and Abigail came to dance as well. When Abigail came, Sammy said, "You came!" and Abigail said, "Shut up, I'm dancing!" in a sarcastic way of tone. In Episode 17, Abigail and Sammy went public and now are girlfriend and boyfriend. In another episode, Sammy forgets about the picnic Abigail and he were supposed to have. Abigail is furious and they break up. However during season 2 there frienship grows stronger and they spend a lot of time together. On the night before Sammy's death Abigail and Sammy share a kiss and are both clearly very excited and giddy but say goodbye to each other nervously. After hearing of Sammys death Abigail is found and comforted by Kat and Tara as she is sitting in the shower, fully clothed and crying.
Ollie
When Sammy and Ollie first meet, Sammy needs a tutor and Miss Raine makes Ollie be his tutor. Ollie has to do this as he is on probation after "giving his opinion" on the 3rd 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. Ollie confesses to being gay which makes Sammy uncomfortable as he is struggling with his emotions and being confused of his sexuality. Ollie tells him he doesn't like the "neurotic" ones, although he confesses after Sammy has finished his dance in the the other regional that this was in fact a lie. They grow to be good friends. {C}In Season 2, episode 17 Love and War, Ollie and Sammy begin dating as Sammy kisses him. They break up briefly in the next episode (18 Catch me if I fall) due to Sammy being afraid of being homosexual and that Ollie outed Sammy without his permission by telling his friends that Sammy was his boyfriend. At the end of the episode they reconcile and begin dating once again. Unfortunately, since Ollie is so self-obsessed during the Company tryouts, Sammy gets annoyed when Ollie says he's better than Sammy, so Sammy breaks up with him. When we see him next he's in rehearsals playing Peter for the end of year production. His reaction to Sammy's death is quite horrible due to how bad Ollie had treated Sammy at the end of their relationship. He is seem with his hands on his head crying and Miss Raine starts to comfort him by hugging him, he hugs back and starts crying even harder. He never got to reconcile with Sammy. That will probably be his biggest "what if".
Grace Whitney
Grace and Sammy are Paux de Deux partners. Grace does not know about Sammy's death yet and they were not seen together much outside the classroom.
Ben Tickle
Ben was one of Sammy's close friends. He looked really upset when Sammy died.
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. During the contemporary round, Slade (who was a snobby character and often said "The Slade has spoken") decides 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 Grace coming second and Tara winning in the girls section, and Slade coming second (though he as unable to collect him medal, being still stuck in the closet) and Sammy winning
Death
In the episode "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 the 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 aswell 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 realises 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 got into an accident where a car hit him Tara at first just asks if he broke any bones and if he will be able to dance, Christian is quiet for a second and Tara realises something is wrong Christian then announces that Sammy died on the way to 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 realising Abigail is not there and the two of them go and find her fully clothed in the bathroom crying, they pull her out of the shower hugging her. One of the finale scenes is of the group and Ollie all sleeping in Sammy and Chrisitans room even though this is not normally allowed. The teachers probably allowed it because of the circumstance. The news greatly affected all students, especially his friends and teachers.
Friend's Reaction To Death
Trivia
- Sammy is afraid of heights.
- He died on 19 April, 2012, when he was hit by a car while on a run. This happened on the morning of the Prix de Fonnteyn. Sammy died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
- Sammy is shown to be attracted to both males and females, having last had a boyfriend before his death, yet having kissed a girl on the night before his death. He never confirmed weather he was straight or gay and it is assumed he was bisexual.
- He is considered to be "soft".
- He was picked as the number one male to represent Australia in the Prix de Fonnteyn from this it can be assumed that he was one of if not the best ballet dancers of his age in Australia.
- Sammy grew up with Kat and Abigail and presumably Ethan as they all went to school together when they were younger, though Ethan was a year older.
- The song Sammy danced to in his last solo performance before his death is 'Easy to Love' by The Jezabels.
Quotes
- "I didn't say I was gay. I just said I had a boyfriend."
- "That's a fairly life-defining moment Christian."