I've always loved the old epics that tell a simple emotional story, whether it's the tumultuous relationship between Rhett and Scarlett or Lawrence of Arabia's passion to get lost in a faraway place.

All good, clean stories are melodrama, it's just the set of devices that determines how you show or hide it.

One of the great things about Sydney is that it has a great acceptance of everyone and everything. It's an incredibly tolerant city, a city with a huge multicultural basis.

The party is a true art form in Sydney and people practise it a great deal. You can really get quite lost in it.

Australia, to the rest of the world, is just far away, and Australia in the Thirties was the faraway of the faraway.

My father made sure that I had lots of levels of education – from ballroom-dancing to painting, commando training, theatre and magic.

I think dance in any culture, in any form, is a true leveler.