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SYNOPSIS

JIG is the remarkable story of the fortieth Irish Dancing World Championships, held in March 2010 in Glasgow. Three thousand dancers, their families and teachers from around the globe descend upon Glasgow for one drama filled week. Clad in wigs, make up, fake tan, diamantes and dresses costing thousands of pounds they compete for the coveted world titles.

A year of incredibly hard work for just a few tense minutes on stage. This feature length documentary was given access for the very first time to the little known world of competitive Irish Dancing.

With financial backing from BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland award-winning filmmaker Sue Bourne went behind the normally closed doors of Irish Dancing and found a remarkable world. Wonderful characters of all ages from across the globe….Ireland, Holland, Britain, America and Russia. JIG discovers a world of dedication, hard work, obsession, passion. Success and failure.

And astonishing talents pushed to their limits in the quest for perfection.

LONG SYNOPSIS

A 90-minute feature documentary telling the compelling story of the 40th Irish Dancing World Championships.

Thousands of dancers, their families and teachers from around the globe descend on Glasgow, Scotland for a drama-filled seven days.

Wigs, make-up, tans, diamantes and dresses costing thousands of pounds combined with blood, sweat and tears. 364 days of incredibly hard work and practice for just a few tense minutes on stage. From little ten year olds upwards they're all competing to win a coveted World Title.

Millions know and love Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. But this is the first time the controlling body of international competitive Irish Dancing has allowed an outsiderto look behind these normally closed doors. And what award-winning filmmaker Sue Bourne found is a remarkable world.

Wonderful diverse characters of all ages converge from Ireland, the United States, Holland, England, Scotland and Russia. JIG discovers a hot bed of dedication, hard work, obsession and passion. Ecstatic success and tear- jerking defeat. Astonishing dancing talents pushed to the limit and beyond, in the quest for perfection.

Over the last decade Sue Bourne has carved out a reputation for producing films that people talk about and remember. Insightful, thought-provoking documentaries that open doors and throw a new light on subjects we thought we knew about.

Award winning, critically acclaimed and hugely popular with audiences and most recently listed in Broadcast Magazine's 100 - Top 12 directors to look out for, Bourne's style of documentary-making is now almost a brand - instantly recognizable and enjoyed by many all over the world. While the fifteen plus films she has produced over the past ten years capture the essence of life in contemporary society, in her gentle, thoughtful way Bourne has repeatedly managed to find the "extraordinary in the apparently ordinary" and bring her quirky, often humorous, vision to a rich variety of subjects. She is most known for – MY STREET, MUM AND ME, THE RED LION and Co-executive Produced the Emmy-nominated THE FALLING MAN.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT: SUE BOURNE

I didn't really know anything about Irish Dancing at the beginning of 2009. Like the rest of the world I was aware of Michael Flatley and the "Riverdance" phenomenon but that was about as far as my knowledge went. Then Julie Heekin, a freelance journalist in Glasgow, got in touch with me. Julie had seen my films and she had a story she thought would be right up my street. The 40th Irish Dancing World Championships were being held in Glasgow the following year – 6000 dancers from all round the world would descend on Scotland to compete for 22 coveted World Championship titles.

I may have known nothing Irish Dancing but I did know a good story when it landed on my desk. And as a film-maker, opening doors and going into a totally new and unknown world is one of the things you are always looking for. Even more interesting when the people in this world are driven, dedicated and ambitious and when it involves young children, teachers, parents and when the dancers wear weird ornate clothes, diamantes, make up, tans and dresses costing thousands. It's a world with tears, tensions and drama. Winners and Losers. Success and failure. It seemed to have all the ingredients for a fantastic film – and all the elements to make it appealing to commissioning editors. I could not wait to get in and get going.

I was editing another film so I sent Ruth Reid, my young associate producer, out to Philadelphia for the 2009 World Championships. She called me after a couple of days and said unequivocally there was a great film to be made. The only problem was we would not be allowed in by the governing body of Irish Dancing – An Comissiun – to make it. They had never allowed an outsider in. They were against cameras being allowed anywhere near the World Championships. They feared favouritism of chosen dancers and they feared the theft of the choreography of the dance steps. They also were wary of opening their doors to the outside world because they knew the wigs, the tans, the makeup, the whole "American Beauty Pageant" aura is now Irish Dancing, was likely to raise eyebrows. So from their perspective it was easier just to say no.

We had a difficult task ahead of us if we wanted to make this documentary but it was potentially such a great film that we couldn't just give up at the first hurdle. Ruth came back from Philadelphia with a bag full of useful contacts. So we began our research – finding out what the objections to filming were and how best to overcome those objections. Luckily for us there was a growing body of opinion in Irish Dancing that the time had come to open their doors to the outside world. They wanted people to see what they did. And they wanted to attract a new generation of dancers. Eventually we were invited to fly to Dublin to submit our proposal to the governing body of An Comissiun. We handed out our proposal document to the eighty committee members. I stood up in front of them and made my pitch. They asked me all manner of difficult and demanding questions. We left to catch our plane while the documentary was discussed and put to the vote. As we were waiting for our taxi Sean McDonagh, the President, came out to the hotel foyer and told us the vote had been in our favour. We now had permission to make our documentary about the 40th World Championships in Glasgow the following year.

Then the real research work began. We had to scour the world for the best stories, the best characters. Stories and people who would give the film the variety and richness it needed to make a gripping 90 minute film. We had to reflect the global reach of Irish Dancing - the fact it is now being embraced in Russia, Europe, the Far East, South America, Africa - all manner or surprising countries as well as the United States, England, Scotland and Ireland. We spent months talking to people so we understood the world of competitive Irish Dancing. We were not making a film just about winners. We wanted stories that showed different aspects of life and dance. We knew that at this level everyone would be great dancers. And everyone would be working incredibly hard because they were dancing at the Worlds. But we were looking for something more than that. We wanted ten year olds who were going to dance at the Worlds for the first time. Older dancers who had been dancing and competing against each other all their lives. We wanted stories that surprised. Stories that were sad. Stories that were uplifting. Stories that took your breath away.

We reckoned we would need between 6 to 8 stories from around the world to make the film work. Once we had our shortlist of possible stories we recce'd them to narrow down the list to the stories we would include in the documentary. We went to Moscow, Austria, Holland, New York, Chicago and Detroit. Nearer to home we visited many different schools in England, Scotland and Ireland looking for the right people and the right stories for the film.

Eventually we had our key stories. We made a decision not to film any of the qualifying rounds because we wanted the focus to be on the Worlds themselves. By then we knew there was a risk of "dance competition fatigue" if we showed too much competition dancing. So we only began filming once everyone we wanted in the film had qualified for the Worlds.

We began filming in the first week of January. And filming was then more or less non-stop, all over the world, from then until the final day of the Worlds in early April. The schedule was grueling but it was fascinating to move from country to country and see Irish Dance in all the different locations with all these very different dancers.

The final ten days of filming were pretty horrendous. I think at the Worlds our team of twenty people, two filming crews, five high definition cameras, were working something like ten fifteen hour days. We had to get up early in the morning to film dancers getting ready in their hotel rooms then follow them through their nail-biting day of dancing. Then we would have to wait until the bitter end of the day to see if they had won their World title or not. But tiring as it was it was tremendous fun being in the thick of it all and being with people who by then we knew really well and being with them in their moment of glory or their moment of defeat or disappointment. It was a lesson to us all watching children as young as ten deal so graciously with defeat – one of the most memorable moments in the film for me.

I may not have been drawn in the first place to making JIG because of a love of dancing. But I certainly ended up being hugely impressed by the dance and the dancers, their families and teachers. Irish Dancing does seem to cast a spell over everyone who falls in love with it. And it is hard not to be impressed by what you see in JIG - the intricacy and speed of the steps - the complexity of the choreography, the grace and nimbleness.

What also is remarkable to see if the dedication of young children and teenagers putting in hour after hour after hour of practice. For just a few short moments on stage, those are the few short moments that could change their life.

JIG is a story about Irish Dancing - about getting to the very top and staying there. It's about the talent and hard work that goes into achieving success in a hugely competitive world.

But it's also a film about children and families - about joy and heartbreak and about parental love and sacrifice and teachers who devote their lives to dance and to their dancers.