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"Strictly
Ballroom " Dance Movie Review
Article written by : Pele Lim of RpMerleon, 30 November 1996 |
Have been fascinated and
will forever be fascinated with this movie, truly the first movie about ballroom
dancing. First watched it on a LD (laser disk, no longer available as this technology
is now obsolete) when Robin was trying to chase after me by inviting my group
of social dancing freaks to a home theater movie show. Well, it worked wonders
and now we are husband and wife dance movie freaks!
This Australian movie was the country's 1992 screen hits. It employs a narrative
method to tell the story which gives a very refreshing feel. Do not pay too
much attention to the actors' execution of the dance techniques nor the fact
that Paso Doble is not an un-approved dance form in dance championships.
It starts with a big bang with Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio), all of 17-18
years old, competing with his long time partner, Liz (Gia Carides) in a very
prestigious championship dancing the Samba with vibrant music. He starts to
express his personal feelings and choreographs his own dance steps on the fly,
flipping his partner all over. Naturally his partner is shocked and the adjudicators
decide to disqualify them due to unapproved variations being used.
Scott is targeted for a number of championships but he decides to abandon the
Dance Federation's rigid steps and choreographs his own. A few rounds of cajoling
by his Mother, a former national ballroom dance champion and his fellow dance
studio mates, Scott decides to try again with Liz. But, his passion got the
upper hold and again he tries to choreograph dance steps that caused his partner
to burst into tears and swears never to compete with him ever again. Scott then
have a series of try-outs with many other lady partners but all ended up in
failure.
Another dance student of the studio of Mexican decent, Fran (Tara Morice), admires
Scott's dancing ability and secretly hopes to partner him. She unfortunately
belongs to the lower dance level categories and periodically partners fellow
students, dancing the guy's steps. She is considered plain and will not amount
to much in dance competitions.
It so happens that one night in the dance studio, Fran expresses her own feelings
through her own choreographed dance variations and Scott is impressed and dances
the Rumba with her. From then on, Fran has private lessons with Scott and she
improves by leaps and bounds but nobody in the studio knows about this. Fran's
Father is against her dancing and once when she is forbidden to go to the studio
to practice, Scott decides to pay her family a visit. Scott manages to convince
her father that they are sincere in dance and even managed to learn the passo
rhythm from the heart from Fran's grandmother and father for a period of time.
Fran's Grandmother chips in and manages to whip up a costume for Fran, formally
worn by Fran's mother.
Scott's Mother is in tears when she knows that Scott is intent on deviating
from the norm. She and the Adjudicator have no choice but to tell him the story
of the man captured in the old photo wearing Number Tag 100 competing with his
Mother. That man was Scott's Father whom Scott never thought could dance. It
seems that Scott's Father was a man ahead of his time and did exactly what Scott
did, choreographing his own steps that brought his downfall. He vowed never
to dance again so Scott's Mother partnered with the Adjudicator and became the
national ballroom champions.
Bowing to pressure in order to satisfy everyone's expectations, Scott decides
to team up with his former partner and aims for the champion positions in the
Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Ballroom Dancing Latin Competition. Heartbroken, Fran
turns back to dancing the guy's steps in low lever events in the championship.
After having a heart to heart talk with his Father, Scott decides on the spot
to partner his love, Fran instead for the last dance the Paso Doble.
What a transformation Fran makes! The ugly duckling becomes the swan and everyone
is wowed. Due to self-interest and to discourage such outright disobedience,
the chief adjudicator decides to disqualify them and stopped the music from
playing. This chairman of the Dance Federation also decides to perform an underhanded
decision by awarding the champion positions to the drunkered competitor &
his partner. But everyone can see that competitor is too drunk to dance properly.
What is going to happen? Go watch the movie!
All that glitter, shimmy costume, powerful and engaging story line carves a
very deep impression into my skull and can never be erased. Nevermind the lousy
ballroom hold and the chaotic latin footworks, it is still a very touching story
and would be well loved by many.
Last
updated: 30 Nov 96
