Jig (2011)

So much average

From my favorite movies..

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I first became aware of Irish Dance in the 1995 when Michael Flatley of Chicago was featured as the lead dancer in "Riverdance." The documentary at hand, "JIG", covers select competitors, plus the overall results, at the 40th World Irish Dance Championships in Glasgow, Scotland n 2010.One website makes this statement, "Glasgow was the location when an unknown 17-year-old called Michael Flatley from Chicago made his incredible first impression on the world stage in 1975 and Irish dancing has never looked back since." As this film starts the first amazing thing is the degree of dedication Irish Dancers have, their families make great sacrifices of time and money, and the hard-core competitors are looking to being World Champion, nothing less.The documentary is done in a good style, with a good mix of family scenes, dance class scenes, travel, and actual competition. The last and most dramatic scene is of the results of the girls 10 and 11 competition where the two favorites, both superb dancers, were running close all the way as points for all three dances were tallied. The film featured close-ups of each girl as results were tabulated. The second place girl sought out the winner, gave her a hug of congratulations, but you can see the sadness on her face, coming so close after so much work.On Netflix streaming movies, about 90 minutes, highly recommended for anyone who appreciates dance.

This movie was simply amazing! If you're an Irish dancer, a parent of a dancer or someone who is considering joining the lot, you would really enjoy the insight this documentary has to offer.Jig is realistic and shows both the ups and downs of this kind of lifestyle. It accurately portrays how the parents invest so much time, expense and emotion into their children. And we see how much genuine hard work and determination is delivered by the dancers day after day through classes, sacrifice, rigorous practice at home and traveling to compete. Many even dance with injuries! The latter part of the movie takes place at the 2010 World Championships in Glasgow. This is where the dancers are given only a few minutes to display - on stage - the steps they've perfected throughout the year. Out of thousands of competitors, only 50 are recalled to do a set dance for final judging. No matter who you are rooting for, it is tense.I also loved how this documentary showed that Irish dancing isn't only for the Irish, but that it is enjoyed by people from multiple countries, ethnicities, ages, and by both genders. And above the dazzle and excitement, they are truly doing this because of their love for it.