The 16-year-old from the Newcastle Dance Academy has been on the Sydney harbour set this week playing, not surprisingly, a dancer on the series.

Ostermann filmed a hip-hop scene and cafe scene on Monday with the series lead actors including Xenia Goodwin, who plays Tara, and Tom Green, who plays Sammy.

Dance Academy is about a young dancer named Tara who is trying to make it in the cutthroat world of ballet by studying at an elite school known as the National Academy of Dance.

Ostermann tried out for a larger speaking role on the series but said she needed more acting training to go with her dance experience.

Dancing since the age of three, Ostermann developed an interest in ballet and contemporary dance by tagging along to classes taught by her mother.

Her mum, Tracy Caldwell, is a former international ballerina as well as a part-owner of Newcastle Dance Company.

‘‘Mum had finished dancing overseas by the time I was born and had begun teaching here,’’ Ostermann said.

The second series of Dance Academy, which is due to air next year, will introduce two new characters, including a former Royal Ballet School of London student who stirs trouble, played by So You Think You Can Dance’s Issi Durant.

Ostermann will juggle regular days on set, until filming finishes in August, with studying full-time at the Newcastle Dance Academy.