Concrete Playground

Spring has sprung, and to get into the swing of the new season, the Opera House wants to get Sydney dancing. To entice the more reluctant movers and shakers, Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet Company David McAllister has selected three of his favourite dance films to screen free in the Opera House forecourt over the weekend. The idea is that you rock up early for a dance class before settling in to revel in the art form on the big screen.

The superlative Powell and Pressburger classic The Red Shoes will open the event. Any film fan must see this beauty, which Kate Jinx raved about earlier this year (sentiments I heartily second). And if you won't take our word for it, listen to Martin Scorsese, who calls The Red Shoes "one of the true miracles of film history".

Next up is the Academy Award-winning Australian animation Happy Feet. The accents of Mumbles and his fellow penguins may be American, but this marvellous family film is the work of Aussie director George Miller (Mad Max) and the world-class animators at Animal Logic (soon to impress again with Zack Snyder's Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga’Hool, followed by Happy Feet 2).

Rounding out the programme is '80s classic (and a prevailing guilty pleasure) Footloose. The film that brought Kevin Bacon fame — before he became a parlour game — Footloose sees a rebellious teen's will to dance prevail over the censorship of a parochial town. The film’s title track is probably as famous as Bacon's iconic dance routine, and both are sure to tempt audiences to bust a move.