Strictly Ballroom (1992)

Baz Luhrmann’s directorial debut, Strictly Ballroom (1992), is an Australian romantic comedy. The film follows Scott Hastings, the son of a family of ballroom dancers who has been training since he was six years old. His mother Shirley teaches ballroom dancing, while his father Doug takes care of maintenance tasks at the studio and secretly watches footage of his own past dance competitions and Scott’s in a back room. Scott struggles to find his own unique style as he competes in the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Dancing Championship. However, his flashy and crowd-pleasing moves are deemed unacceptable by the Australian Dancing Federation’s leader Barry Fife, who considers them not ‘strictly ballroom’. This leads to Scott and his partner Liz Holt losing the Southern Districts Waratah Championships when Scott dances his own steps.

In the aftermath, Liz leaves him to team up with Ken Railings, who had recently won the Waratah Championships with his partner Pam Short before she suffered a car accident that left her with two broken legs. With only three weeks left before the championships, Shirley, Scott’s co-instructor at the studio, joins forces with his coach Les Kendall to find a new partner for him. Little do they know, Scott is approached by Fran, a ‘beginner’ dancer who has been overlooked at the studio. Intrigued by her willingness to dance ‘his way’, he agrees to partner with her. However, their partnership faces an unexpected challenge when Fife intervenes and arranges for Scott to dance with established champion Tina Sparkle. When Shirley and Les hear this news, they are elated. Unfortunately, Fran happens to overhear them celebrating and misunderstands, thinking they have discovered that she and Scott are now partners.