Bourne first proposed the film to BBC Scotlandcommissioning editor Ewan Angus in 2009 after hearing that the 40th World Championships were to be held in Glasgow. After realising further funding would be required, Bourne negotiated a deal with Creative Scotland and the BBC which secured a short theatrical release for the project followed by reversion of the TV rights to BBC2. Bourne approached An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha in late 2009. Her proposal to film a documentary was met with skepticism, largely because the Commission does not permit filming of competitions in order to protect the original choreography of the dances. A meeting of the Commission's 100 members eventually agreed to the project on the grounds of Bourne's previous work and the potential publicity benefits of the film. Filming began in January 2010 with a crew of three, but Bourne used a crew of 20 during the nine days of the Championships themselves. In order to ensure copyright compliance, Bourne commissioned a suite of dance music from two Irish musicians, which was specially licensed for use in the film's rehearsal scenes. The film was subject to an 18-week edit which tailored Bourne's television style to cinematic release. The film was released in 50 UK cinemas on 6 May 2011 by distributor Arrow Films.
Synopsis
The film follows eight dancers from across the world as they prepare for and compete at Oireachtas Rince Na Cruinne, held in Glasgow in 2010 by An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha. One dancer, Julia O'Rourke, wins her first world title in the course of the documentary.
Soundtrack
The score for Jig was written by Academy Award-nominated Scottish composer Patrick Doyle. The soundtrack was released through Varèse Sarabande12 July 2011.
The film received a mixed reception from critics. It currently holds a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 53/100 based on fourteen reviews on Metacritic. Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times praised the film for capturing "the unique physical, emotional and financial aspects of diving into competitive Irish dance", calling Bourne's documentary "superbly crafted" and giving it four stars out of five. Mark Feeney, for the Boston Globe, wrote that the "involving, if at times overly slick" film deserved praise for its presentation of the dancing without "editing trickery". Benji Wilson, in The Telegraph, compared Jig to successful sport and hobby documentaries Spellbound and Hoop Dreams for its attention to detail. However, many reviewers criticised the film's use of tension, such as Jeanette Catsoulis of the New York Times, who wrote that the "programmatic" documentary quickly became "leaden", despite the quality of its cinematography. Kyle Smith, writing for the New York Post, suggested that the film was largely meaningless to the "untrained observer", and Empire's Anna Smith wrote that the film was probably most interesting to "dance fans".
