Dance Lexie Dance

Dance Lexie Dance
Directed by Tim Loane
Produced by Pearse Moore
Written by Dave Duggan
Starring B. J. Hogg
Kimberley McConkey
Music by Jules Maxwell
Cinematography Eugene McVeigh
Edited by Declan Byrne
Distributed by Raw Nerve Productions
Release dates
1996
Running time
14 m
Country Northern Ireland

Dance Lexie Dance is a short film made in Northern Ireland, and released in 1996.[1] The two principal characters are a widower, Lexie, and his daughter, Laura, who live in Derry. Laura becomes keen on Irish stepdance and on joining Riverdance when she grows up. Traditional Irish dancing is practiced by Catholic families. Lexie and his daughter are Protestant, but Lexie relents and encourages his daughter. Self-taught, Laura enters a dance contest across the River Foyle in a Catholic district.[2] The film ends as Laura teaches her father the first steps of the dance.

Ruth Barton writes of the film's structure, "Symbolically, the film illustrates its theme of bridging divides – between father and daughter, Protestant and Catholic traditions, life and death – by the device of the boat Lexie (B. J. Hogg) pilots across the Foyle to and from his job, itself a mixed workplace. Finally, Laura performs in a Féis (dancing competition) in honour of which the boat is decked out in red, white, and blue bunting."[3]

Dance Lexie Dance was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category at the 70th Academy Awards.[4]

References

  1. Film credits available at "Dance Lexie Dance (1996)". Northern Ireland Screen.
  2. "Dave Duggan/ Dramatist and novelist". Londonderry City of Culture 2013. July 8, 2010.
  3. Barton, Ruth (2004). Irish National Cinema. Psychology Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-415-27894-2.
  4. AMPAS

Further reading