The Clichéd Yet Starstruck Storytelling of Strictly Ballroom

Strictly Ballroom movie poster from movieposter.com

The music, the steps, the energy; you can feel it when you're watching Strictly Ballroom directed by Baz Luhrmann. I have to admit that the plot for this movie was really clichéd, **SPOILER ALERT!** two people meet each other through dance; one is a great dancer admired by many while the other is a dancer who has just started with her beginner classes, often looked down upon by people, and together they try to reach the goal of winning a prestigious dance competition but was faced with opposition and obstacles. Of course, sparks of romance flew along the way. Although the story line was cheesy and predictable to a certain extent, Strictly Ballroom was clichéd in a good way. In my opinion, what Baz Luhrmann was not didn't really focused on his plot, but he on the elements within his movie to keep the audience engaged to the film. An obvious element of this would be the music and the cinematography of the dancing scenes in the movie. Baz did an amazing job of bringing out the joy of dancing through the way he captures dance on his film; from the joy on the main character Scott Hastings' face as he twirled and flew everywhere around his residential dance studio dancing to his own steps, to his enjoyment in learning a new form of dance by the father and grandmother of Fran, his new dance partner. As a person who has learned dance before, it was interesting to see the contrast between the two types of dance in this movie as it encompasses two different styles of dancing. The ballroom dance that Scott has initially learned and mastered portrays the rigidity, technique, and finesse in every routine that is done, which is a stark contrast to the Paso Doble that Fran grew up with in her household, which is a Spanish dance style focusing on the rhythm and to dance your own steps according to the rhythm. Throughout the movie, it was really enjoyable to see Scott learning the Paso Doble in addition to the ballroom that he is familiar with, all because he is open to new ideas that allows him to dance his own steps. With every step that Scott and Fran (and occasionally Scott's dad, Doug) took as they danced to upbeat music and their own steps, especially towards the end of the movie, it was almost tempting to get up and dance the Paso Doble to the music, even after the last scene has ended and the song rolled along with the credits.

The transformation of a character from a 'zero to hero' perspective was also interesting to watch in this movie. It was great to watch Fran as she transformed from a seemingly beginner dance student at the dance studio Scott was in, to become one of the best elite dancers showcased on the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Dancing Championships. The movie showed how Fran achieved such a milestone in her dancing career, and it was not an overnight feat; the film showed how she trained with Scott every evening in the months leading up to the Championships. Fran was seen starting off as clumsy and forgetful of her steps at first. Her grit and determination for her love of dance was was sparked her philosophy of dancing her own steps, and that is why she was willing to confront Scott to learn to dance her own steps with another person who shares a similar view with her. This transformation from zero to hero reminded me of an anime called Naruto.

Naruto poster from Hulu

Set in a time of ninjas, Naruto Uzumaki (the yellow-haired boy in the orange jumpsuit in the poster) was a boy learning to become a ninja, to achieve his dream of becoming Hokage, or the Chief of his village. The Hokage is one of the best ninjas in his village. However, he is boy of no talent and is also clumsy and playful throughout his ninja training days, but over time, he pushed through hardship and disbelief from everyone that he can't achieve his dreams with the ability he has. Through his blood, sweat, and tears, he has finally achieved his dream of being Hokage after saving the whole ninja world from the forces of evil. This is why I think Naruto is a lot like Fran; both are clumsy and seemingly have no skills at first, but they achieve their goals and became successful through hard work and determination.

A third observation that I have made from watching Strictly Ballroom was the relentlessness and drastic measures that people are willing to take in order to ensure things will go as it is intended to go. In opposition to Scott's and Fran's climb to reach the Pan-Pacific Dance Championships, there were people who were against their dancing philosophy, which was to dance to their own steps. The people who were strongly against Scott's and Fran's partnership include Barry Fife, the President of the Australian Dance Federation, and even Scott's own mother, Shirley Hastings. Barry Fife was willing to use deceit and fraud to ensure that Scott will dance in the Championships like how Ballroom dancing has been danced traditionally, he has even brought up a manipulated story of the past on Scott's father's loss and embarrassment when he lost the Championships back then because of his own 'experimentation' with his own dance steps, all to make sure Scott dances 'appropriately'. When he failed to adhere to Barry's requests, Barry took to fraud by fixing that the Champion title goes to a certain pair, to ensure that Scott and Fran does not become Champions with their own steps. Scott's mother on the other hand, Shirley, did her best to stop Scott from dancing with Fran by saying discouraging words to Fran to make her go back home. Deceitful as they may be, I believe that both Barry and Shirley did what they did out of fear; a fear of the unpredictable outcome if Scott and Fran were to win the Championships with their unconventional steps. Evolutionary speaking, people feel a fear of the unknown because they are unable to anticipate what is coming towards them, which from a survival point of view, puts them at a disadvantageous position. Hence, people are more willing to conform to familiar methods to avoid the risk of being killed by predators or enemies. In the modern world, the fear of being killed is translated into the fear of failure. For Barry, he may have felt afraid on where the world of ballroom might head to if Scott and Fran were to win the Championships; people may feel inspired to follow the footsteps of Scott and Fran to dance their own steps, which to Barry may ultimately lead to the death of a dance form steeped in tradition. As for Shirley, Scott's and Fran's partnership in the Championships is frightful for her as she doesn't know how their partnership and their style of dancing may affect the reputation of her dance studio. She is afraid that Scott and Fran may humiliate the whole dance community with their wacky steps, and this might ruin the reputation of Shirley's dance studio as a home for crazy and lousy dancers. Hence, that is why I think Barry and Shirley took those desperate measures out of fear.

Speaking of fear, I guess this is why the quote that Fran told Scott in her native Spanish struck a chord within me:

Quote design by Audrey Torres

In English, it means "a life lived in fear is a life half-lived". I do feel that Barry's and Shirley's fears have consumed them over the rest of the second half of their lives, as most of their time was spent worrying what might happen in the future, so they did not truly enjoy their lives as professional dancers. At first, Scott was demotivated to join the Championships with his own steps until Fran confronted him, while Fran climbed over her fear to ask Scott to dance with her. Together, Scott and Fran was able to overcome obstacles by adhering to the quote that Fran inherited from her grandmother. I guess as a takeaway from this movie, we gain strength in numbers; if we can find like-minded who share the same values and determination in life as ourselves, we will be empowered to step out of our comfort zones and conquer our fear of the unknown, as the possibilities are endless.