"I can identify with Ginger Rogers as a dancer. I read a quote of hers once. It was in response to people saying how brilliant Fred Astaire was. 'Yes', she replied, 'but he doesn't have to do it backwards and in high heels'."
One of the many new talents introduced to the screen in Strictly Ballroom, Tara Morice has long been part of director Baz Luhrmann's team. In 1988 she first played the part of Fran in the stage production at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney.
"It was a fantastic experience to develop a character on stage, watch it grow over two years, and finally see it up on the screen."
Fran is the clumsy beginner who can't find a dance partner--the ugly duckling who blossoms into a champion dancer in tandem with the hero, Scott Hastings. Fran's Spanish background gives her the secret to rhythm and movement, the secret that takes her and Scott to success. Like the whole film the character of Fran owes much to Hollywood movies of the 1940s. In Tara's words:
"Many of the female characters in '40s movies--like Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby and Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey--were very strong-willed, goofy and courageous, and these are the qualities that I love about Fran. She has obstacles to
overcome, but she attacks them with ferocious energy. Like women in the "screwball" comedies of the '30s and '40s, she is a character with her own journey, and is a positive driving force in her own right. She doesn't give up or sit quietly in a corner, and that's why she was such a fantastic character to play."
Fran is a character with whom Tara could identify: "As a child I moved around a lot, and was constantly the new kid at school. Fran is an outsider, and I can relate easily to feeling on the outer; shy and nervous when it comes to making friends."
Although Tara's talents as an actor and dancer are equal, she prefers to consider herself an actor first and foremost. In 1987, she graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art and garnered an impressive list of stage credits in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane, including productions of the Venetian Twins and Rome Trembles. She also found roles in television series including Play School and Rescue.
In addition to acting, she danced and sang in the original stage production of Strictly Ballroom, appeared with the group the Madrigirls, and toured with the '40s dance band Pardon Me Boys, culminating in the 1990 Coca-Cola Bottlers' Dance Hall for the Festival of Sydney. Her ability as a singer is also evident in the film of Strictly Ballroom in her performance of the hit song Time After Time.
"It was a fantastic experience to develop a character on stage, watch it grow over two years, and finally see it up on the screen."
Fran is the clumsy beginner who can't find a dance partner--the ugly duckling who blossoms into a champion dancer in tandem with the hero, Scott Hastings. Fran's Spanish background gives her the secret to rhythm and movement, the secret that takes her and Scott to success. Like the whole film the character of Fran owes much to Hollywood movies of the 1940s. In Tara's words:
"Many of the female characters in '40s movies--like Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby and Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey--were very strong-willed, goofy and courageous, and these are the qualities that I love about Fran. She has obstacles to
overcome, but she attacks them with ferocious energy. Like women in the "screwball" comedies of the '30s and '40s, she is a character with her own journey, and is a positive driving force in her own right. She doesn't give up or sit quietly in a corner, and that's why she was such a fantastic character to play."
Fran is a character with whom Tara could identify: "As a child I moved around a lot, and was constantly the new kid at school. Fran is an outsider, and I can relate easily to feeling on the outer; shy and nervous when it comes to making friends."
Although Tara's talents as an actor and dancer are equal, she prefers to consider herself an actor first and foremost. In 1987, she graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art and garnered an impressive list of stage credits in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane, including productions of the Venetian Twins and Rome Trembles. She also found roles in television series including Play School and Rescue.
In addition to acting, she danced and sang in the original stage production of Strictly Ballroom, appeared with the group the Madrigirls, and toured with the '40s dance band Pardon Me Boys, culminating in the 1990 Coca-Cola Bottlers' Dance Hall for the Festival of Sydney. Her ability as a singer is also evident in the film of Strictly Ballroom in her performance of the hit song Time After Time.
