Strictly Ballroom: A Post-Modern Dance Cult Classic

1. A popular culture icon – and a post modernist text – requiring the audience to be both committed and ironical. Its family tree comes from the post modern text, Strictly Ballroom, and frequently pastiched Come Dancing most recently presented by Terry Wogan, who has cornered the market in tongue in cheek compering, as in the Eurovision Song Competition. Strictly Ballroom – kitsch/cult movie – Australian – feel good ending as lumpy working class girl achieves grace and elegance. Classic TVCome Dancing(1949-1998)We remember the long-running ballroom dancing extravaganza - the tears, the taffeta, the sequins, the satin.

2. Music – tracks are from other movies, or well known popular classics • Love Is In The Air (Ballroom Mix) • Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps • La Cumparsita/Tango Please (Medley) • Tequila/Sinful Samba (Medley) • Rhumba de Burros • Doug's Tearful Waltz/First Kiss • Time After Time • Standing in the Rain/Scott's Sinful Solo (Medley • Yesterday's HeroThe Blue Danube • Scott & Fran's Paso Doble Strictly Ballroom – kitsch/cult movie – Australian – feel good ending as lumpy working class girl achieves grace and elegance, and ambitious and original dancer proves he’s right. Scott Hastings is a champion calibre ballroom dancer, but much to the chagrin of the Australian ballroom dance community, Scott believes in dancing "his own steps". Fran is a beginning dancer and a bit of an ugly duckling who has the audacity to ask to be Scott's partner after his unorthodox style causes his regular partner to dance out of his life. Together, these two misfits try to win the Australian Pan Pacific Championships and show the Ballroom Confederation that they are wrong when they say, "there are no new steps!"

3. Come Dancing originated from a working class format, ballroom dancing competitions, broadcast on a Saturday night in the family viewing slot , and regularly featuring reference to the doting mothers who had stitched the sequins onto the dresses. From the BBC website Come Dancing was created by Eric Morley to teach the public all about the joy of dancing. In its early years Come Dancing was broadcast from amateur dance events held around the country. Professional dancers Syd Perkins and Edna Duffield taught the moves to viewers. It wasn’t until 1953 that the show concentrated on the competition element, with couples from all over the UK competing for the coveted Come Dancing trophy. Throughout the fifties the presenters were McDonald Hobley, Peter Dimmock, Sylvia Peters, Peter West, Brian Johnston and Peter Haigh. But the real stars of the show were the dancers and the amazing costumes. Sequins and feathers were where it was at.

4. The talent show has deep roots in working class culture coming from holiday camps, and providing many ‘national treasures’ of prime time Saturday night viewing such as: Famous faces launched at Butlins Butlins holiday camps celebrate their 70th birthday this year. A vacation destination for millions of people over the years, the ranks of red coat entertainers have also launched the careers of some of British entertainment's most familiar stars. DES O'CONNOR Holiday camp:Ayr, 1950s Des O'Connor's career has spanned TV, stage and music over five decades. Before finding fame, he was a Butlins red coat, a holiday camp entertainer who wears the designated jacket. The red coats organise games and provide all the camp's entertainment, particularly when the British summer rain limits outside activities. SIR CLIFF RICHARD Holiday camp: Clacton-on-Sea, 1950s Sir Cliff Richard's red coat days saw the birth of his rock and roll career, performing with a backing group called The Drifters for £25 a week. The singer, whose camp show repertoire was heavily influenced by Elvis Presley, scored his first chart success, number two hit Move It, shortly after leaving his Butlins engagement in 1958. He is now regarded as a national treasure - a singer whose long-running career has seen more than 35 Top 10 albums and seven number ones.

5. Guest singers on SCD included ‘Andre’ a tenor who sang an aria. • Reference here to Pavarotti and the World Cup song Nessun Dorma – a massive popular cultural hit from 1991. • Andre’s aria was applauded more or less throughout – particularly as he approached a high note. A quite uncomfortable and edgy moment as two cultures collided Cross cultural popular culture references – culture and sport – or the discomfort of high culture More cross cultural divide Strictly Come dancing website Strictly Come Dancing star Gethin Jones has found more than his dancing feet on the dance show - it's also where he found the courage to ask opera diva Katherine Jenkins out, and now the two are dating. The Welsh pair have been secretly dating since Katherine - who calls herself "The opera Madonna", sang on the show back in October. More popular cultural reference from sport – the Welsh in union has been strongly associated with World Cup Rugby Welsh in union: Strictly Come Dancing star Gethin Jones and opera diva Katherine Jenkins, both from Wales are dating after he found his dancing feet on the show - and the courage to ask out the singer

6. Strictly Come Dancing also fits into a series of popular culture talent shows covering a range of cultural and popular culltural areas: • Maestro –presented by the culturally up market Clive Anderson – who also presented the last night of the Proms • Operatunity • How do we solve a problem like Maria • X Factor • Last Choir Standing • The Restaurant

7. And finally…Accessibility, post modernism and cultural/textual poaching In SCD and many other of these texts we are required to remove any qualitative judgements and to embrace popular culture as it selects aspects of many of the stalwarts of high culture: choral singing, opera, haute cuisine, and classical music and to place them on a par with ballroom dancing and pop music. The format for most talent shows is the same, involving the layman in having a vote and judging as well as a panel of ‘experts’. Everyone is welcome to be involved at all levels with these shows. Strictly Come Dancing can be accessed in the following formats: All of these web links will take you to further interactive activities • Tess' Take • Tess Daly shares all her gossip from behind the scenes at Saturday's show. • It Takes Two • Find out who Claudia is catching up with weekdays at 6.30pm on BBC Two. • Latest news • Get all the latest reports and gossip from the show. • Get dancing • Inspired to dance? Find a local group with the Strictly Come Dancing class finder. • Strictly on your mobile • Get news updates, contestant profiles and wallpapers when you're on the move. • The dances • Learn more about the dances that our couples are attempting to master Textual Poaching it has become the subject of cultural endeavour on You Tube – watch the home videos, with in-studio film, back stage footage, and the dances edited to modern punk music