Australian film and stage director Baz Luhrmann has launched his Strictly Ballroom musical by staging a huge dance event in Sydney.
Luhrmann marked the project's launch by overseeing a specially choreographed dance event in front of the Sydney Opera House on Sunday.
About 1,200 professional dancers and members of the public joined together to learn a routine, with Luhrmann shouting instructions using a megaphone.
"Most people know Strictly Ballroom as a movie but it began as a piece of theatre and now it is an all-singing, all-dancing, live, stage musical. But it is more than that. As a show it reaches out not only to the audience but also to the community to become involved," Luhrmann said at the event.
"That's what dancing does. It allows everybody to participate so it seemed like a fun and a fitting idea for us all to meet on the forecourt of the Opera House and create a scene together from Strictly Ballroom."
Strictly Ballroom The Musical opens in Sydney on March 25.
