#strictly ballroom

I remember renting this on VHS multiple times.  It has camp, which as a kid I had no clue of but was certainly drawn towards (see my fixation with Hairspray and John Waters in general).  Sometimes we can’t determine why we think certain things are amazing, and I couldn’t have told you with this, but I sure knew between this movie and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert I had some pretty interesting ideas about life in Australia by the time I was in middle school.

There was something absolutely surreal about all these grown ass adults freaking out about a dance competition (the Pan Pacific Grand Prix!) and it appealed to my tween heart because everything in a tween’s life is life and death sometimes particularly because it’s trivial.  The love story was a great breath of fresh air because they both had things to overcome (him being shallow and her lacking confidence) and it wasn’t just beautiful people falling all over themselves.

Emotionally, the arcs in this are super satisfying and the character growth on all quarters is a step above compared to the standard romance fare.  I also have to thank this movie for giving me a fantastic soundtrack.   Os Quindins De Ya Ya is a favorite, and any kid who watched the (not so politically correct) Disney film Three Caballeros will remember it well.   Doris Day’s Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps is also a solid win.