The Strictly Ballroom Story at the Powerhouse Museum

By Sas Lyon

It’s thirty years since Strictly Ballroom commenced its mission to set the world dancing. The Powerhouse is presenting Strictly Ballroom’s story across its incarnations starting as a series of experimental stage productions before the triumphant 1992 movie, now regarded as an Australian cinema classic.

The exhibition will coincide with Strictly Ballroom’s return to its theatrical roots with a new stage version opening at Sydney Lyric Theatre in April 2014.

The exhibition celebrates the sequinned splendour of the hit stage and screen musical and tells the Strictly Ballroom story through design drawings, cast and set photos, performance and rehearsal clips. A highlight is 40 dazzling original costumes created by four time Oscar winner Catherine Martin which played a critical role in creating the larger than life quality of the film.

In 1984 Strictly Ballroom began life as a group-devised student musical at NIDA, before a longer version was developed in 1986 for the International Festival of Theatre Academies in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (Slovakia). The young cast including Nell Schofield, Sonia Todd and Baz Luhrmann won the prize for best production at the Festival.

Two years later Strictly Ballroom returned to Sydney, via the Brisbane Expo, for a season at the Sydney Theatre Company, again as a stage musical with Glenn Keenan taking the lead role of Scott while Tara Morice made her debut as Fran. After years of reworking, research and spruiking for backers, the 1992 movie took Strictly Ballroom to the world. Now the show is returning to its theatrical roots, with the World Premiere taking place at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre.

Strictly Ballroom’s theme is Scott and Fran’s battle for individual expression against the old-school leaders of the dance competition world. As the blurb for the 1988 Wharf production put it: ‘Scott Hastings is trapped in a world where every dancer knows their place. In a world where no one dares to step on the toes of the Federation. In a world that is Strictly Ballroom’.

Learn more here.