Strictly Ballroom

Strictly Ballroom to me has a interesting take on telling a story, Some of the expressions and communications of the characters were transmitted to the audience via dance. The facial expression, the movements and pacing of the dance all express how they feel or how the setting of the certain moment is for the scene. Like in the Beginning, Scott Hastings danced with Liz in a competition which they lost, Scott tried very hard to establish his own steps, that eventually brought controversy in the dancing community. His own style of dancing showed, ambition and his resilience under criticism and the controversy around him. It actually showed his emotions and his intentions. As a psychology student, I asked myself how did he convey that piece of information before he announced it by words.

It then hit me, it was body language. According to Hartley and Karinch (2014), their book showed that body language is communication not just used by humans but also other animals without verbal communications. Body language is also a blend of both art and science, the science behind body language includes physiology, psychology to social science and so on. While the art parts are movement, culture, pacing and so on. As human has a higher functioning cognitive capability, we are more advance in both science and art compared to other organisms. Hence, our body language can be complex and the ways of convey them varies so much more than other organisms. Dance is one of them. For example, Scott's father Doug Hastings danced in a couple of scenes alone that was hilarious but it also showed a side of loneliness and regrets. Some of the Audience will only know that Doug regretted no dancing with his wife with their own steps back in the past towards the end of the movie. However, some audience could make a good guess on how the real intentions of Doug. How? It was the body language, his lonely and hilarious dance showed it all. It is amazing how non-verbal communication and micro-body language showed such deep meaning. It is no surprised before movies with sound, silent movies were popular like Charlie Chaplin with his movies showed lots of body language and facial expressions to convey their message to the audience.