Take more chances, dance more dances!

It’s been 30 years since Baz Luhrmann’s Australian masterpiece Strictly Ballroom first hit the big screen. Debuting on 10 May, 1992, and reaching US on shores 12 February, 1993, this iconic film was digitally restored last year by the National Film and Sound Archive for a special screening at the 75th Cannes Film Festival.

We spoke to our very own ‘strictly ballroom’ couple this month, Jim and Sue Thorpe from Living Gems Caboolture Riverfront, about the magic of dance.

Jim and Sue have been dancing together for over 55 years and cannot ever imagine stopping.

“We’ve been married 52 years. We actually met 55 years ago at a dance in Ballarat, so we’ve been dancing since…” Sue pauses.

“Since the 28th of September 1968 to be exact,” Jim finishes for her.

“We do what is called social ballroom, old time and new vogue dancing, or sequence dancing, and go to lots of theme nights at our dance club throughout the year,” Jim tells us.

“We have a ball on at times where we get all tizzied-up on special occasions like Christmas, Easter, and recently Australia Day. Sometimes we even have what is called bad-taste nights which are a lot of fun, but still formal, and they do a lot of different themes,” says Sue.

The couple dance at many clubs around the area and even hit the resort’s Country Club dancefloor.

“Most of the halls in the area have a dance on from time to time. Wednesday night we go to the over-40s dance club which is in Redcliffe – that’s been operating for over 40 years,” Sue says.

“We get to dance to a regular live band and have about four or five bands that rotate over the month, so we mostly dance to live music and are very lucky to be able to do that because most parts of Australia dance to pre-recorded music,
and it’s not the same,” says Jim passionately.

They did slow down a bit while raising their children, but were straight back into regular dancing up to four times a week once the kids left home.

“Once the last one moved out in 1995, we decided to really get back into dancing again. We’ve lived in Port Headland, WA, Autumn, VIC and Orange, NSW, and were in dance clubs in all of those. Now we are here and dance at every club we can,” Jim says proudly.

“We dance in places like the Glass House Mountains, Upper Caboolture, Kilcoy, Sunshine Coast, Bribie Island – the list goes on. The tempo we dance to is the waltz, foxtrot and quickstep, and Latin dancing like the salsa. It depends on what the band plays, but we dance sets to a sequence with strict time, so for 29 bars we dance in a sequence that finishes on a sequence.”

“It’s much like Strictly Ballroom, as you do a routine and might have to do that routine five to seven times for example, so it keeps you very fit.”

Fitness is something the couple love to share. Even their doctor cannot argue with this kind of busy dancing regime.

“We really embraced the health benefits of dancing. It’s fantastic for our balance, and our doctor keeps telling us that all the time. We are both very fit, and socially it’s fabulous because you can’t think about anything else while you are dancing. You’re just having a really good time with lots of friends,” says Sue.

And what was their favourite dance in the original film?

“We watched it together 30 years ago and loved it all, especially the ‘paso doble’ dance,” she said.

“We, of course, don’t fling our arms up all over the place like that though.

If we did, we’d injure people,” Jim added with a laugh.

They both describe what it feels like when they’re dancing.

“Dancing makes me feel invigorated and happy. I tell people to absolutely go for it because it’s fantastic for your fitness,” Sue says.

“I’m in my dance world, which is another place on this planet, and there is simply nothing better to do than move in time with good music,” Jim adds.

“You’ve got to remember to dance like no one is watching,” Jim and Sue end this sentence in perfect sync.