Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Scott alone in a studio performing his individual style of dancing in front of the mirror, unaware that Fran, a shy dance student, is secretly watching him. Scott uses every part of this private space to practise, accompanied by an upbeat rhythmic soundtrack. His free-form choreography contrasts markedly with the ‘strictly ballroom’ rules of the dancing world. Fran approaches Scott with an ambitious plan to partner with him at the Pan Pacific championships, and to dance ‘his way’. Scott is incredulous.

Educational value points

• This clip shows an important turning point in the film when Scott (Paul Mercurio) reveals that he wants to free himself from the strictures of ballroom dancing and explore the artistry of his own dance form. His free-form choreography contrasts markedly with the ‘strictly ballroom’ rules that he secretly wants to challenge. Fran (Tara Morice) watches his performance and suggests her longed-for dance partnership with him.

• In keeping with the fairytale trope, or theme, Fran is presented in this clip as the ‘ugly duckling’. Plain-looking and awkward, she is enthralled by Scott, who is presented as the ‘swan’ – graceful, poised and self-assured on the dance floor. Luhrmann sets the scene for Fran’s transformation when Fran declares her desire to partner Scott at the Pan Pacific Grand Prix, creating the opportunity for change.

• This clip features a typical Luhrmann theme, a couple struggling against the odds. Scott is determined to challenge the rules he has been warned to abide by and Fran shows her belief in him when she says ‘I want to dance with you, your way’. Fran has to overcome her lack of dance experience and her ungraceful manner to partner Scott and to win the respect of the ballroom-dancing world at the Pan Pacific championships.

• Scott and Fran are depicted as opposites in this clip, on the verge of forming an unlikely dance partnership. The enormous physicality and adventurousness of Scott’s dancing and his smooth looks contrast with Fran, who appears shy and gawky, and whose dancing, it could be assumed, is clumsy and awkward also. Fran appears courageous, even foolhardy, in telling Scott that she wants to dance creatively with him in the competition.

• Various film techniques are used to create the drama of Strictly Ballroom, and some of the techniques are seen in this clip. Close-up and wide-angled shots focus on Scott as the dancer, alone in his world, viewed from and towards the perspective of the mirror. The light flooding the studio illuminates the dancer and his energy. The editing shows Fran as the voyeur gradually emerging from the opening in the doorway into the expanse of Scott’s private world.