A light-hearted look at the politics and intrigue of competitive ballroom dancing, the storyline focuses on Scott Hastings, who, his ambitious mother Shirley believes, will become champion with his current partner Liz. When Scott tries to introduce his own steps into their routine (against Pan-Pacific Championship rules), Liz leaves him for a rival partner. Without a partner, Scott eventually agrees to dance with Fran, a shy student at the academy run by his mother. When he meets her father and grandmother, Scott leans how to put passion into his movements, especially through the paso doble. In a last ditch effort to see her son become the Pan-Pacific Champion, Shirley convinces him to partner Tina Sparkle, which he reluctantly does. When he finally realises what he has done, he implores Fran to partner him. When they are disqualified from the competition, the audience (led by Scott's father, Barry) gives them a standing ovation and Scott and Fran go on to perform their version of the paso doble.
[Source: Australian Screen]
Strictly Ballroom
Germany
:
Bastei Lübbe
,
1992
Z922671
1992
single work
novel
humour
Strictly Ballroom
Sydney
:
Budget Books
Pan Macmillan Australia
,
1992
Z1341050
1992
single work
novel
humour
A Student's Guide to Strictly Ballroom
Ballarat
:
Wizard Books
,
2001
Z1612221
2001
single work
criticism
Source: Studies in Australasian Cinema 1.1 (2007): 61. (Sighted 01/09/2009).
'Strictly Ballroom'
Perth
:
Centre for Research in Culture and Communication (Murdoch University)
,
2004
Z1668022
2004
single work
criticism
Research undertaken by a student of the Centre for Culture and Communication (Murdoch University) into Strictly Ballroom (1992). Includes aspects relating to the production phase, critical reception, principal performers and production crew, references and a synopsis.
Behind the Red Curtain
Baz Luhrmann
,
( dir. Baz Luhrmann
)
Sydney
:
Bazmark Films
,
2002
Z1668190
2002
single work
film/TV
An interactive 'behind the scenes' documentary, Behind the Red Curtain, gives director Baz Luhrmann an opportunity to provide insight into the making of Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom. Included is a tour of the unique space where he and his team work. One featurette, "Toulouse Tonight" is hosted by John Leguizamo (as Toulouse). In another, "Dubsy's Dirt" is presented by Luhrmann's personal assistant. The final scripts for all three films can be accessed, as are other Bazmark productions - a performance of "The Sunscreen Song" (by Lee Perry), and the music video clip "Now Until the Break of Day." The DVD also includes weblinks.
'This article seeks to analyze the ways in which immigrants experienced Australia in the years following World War II, when the makeup of Australian society changed. In The Voyage of Their Life: The Story of the SS Derna and Its Passengers, Diane Armstrong – a child immigrant to Australia – writes, “Homogenous, conservative and almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in its origin, Australians were about to awake from there illusion of perfection” (274). Focusing on memoir, poetry and short stories, this article analyzes Andra Kins’ memoir Coming and Going: A Family Quest; Serge Liberman’s short stories “Home,” “Greetings, Australia! To You I Have Come,” “The Fortress” and “Two Years in Exile;” Peter Skrzynecki’s The Sparrow Garden; Lily Brett’s poetry; and Susan Varga’s memoir Heddy and Me. Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland, Latvia, Hungary and Ukriane struggled with trying to build new lives in a new land in the face of prejudice and “anti-refo” feeling. Measures were introduced to limit severely the number of Jewish refugees allowed to travel to Australia. Despite these obstacles, Australia was transformed. According to Mark Wyman, “Eventually, 182,159 DPs emigrated to Australia, led by 60,000 Poles and 36,000 Balts. Enough of an Eastern European mixture was admitted through Australian gates to constitute a small revolution in the nation’s much-publicized homogeneity. The long tradition of allowing only British stock down under was broken. By 1966 almost one in five Australians was a postwar immigrant or the child of one, and 60 percent of this group had non-British ethnic backgrounds” (191).' (Publication abstract)
