Dance Lexie Dance is a 1996 short film (15 minutes) directed by Tim Loane.
Lexie is a blue-collar worker who works in a power plant in Northern Ireland. He is a doting single father to his daughter Laura, who looks like she might be about eight. One day Laura watches an Irish step dance (aka "Riverdance") on TV. Fascinated, Laura tells her dad that she wants to learn Irish step dance.
The problem is that Lexie and Laura are Irish Protestants, loyal citizens of the United Kingdom, and Irish dance is commonly seen as a Catholic and Irish Nationalist pastime. (And the film was made while The Troubles were still a going thing, two years before the Good Friday Accords brought peace to Northern Ireland.) Lexie tells his daughter directly, "We don't dance." But after seeing the disappointment in his daughter's face, Lexie decides to support her new interest.
Tropes:
- Daddy's Girl: Laura clearly adores her father.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: It has political implications! Lexie at first flatly refuses. Later, when his buddy at work hands him the instructional videotape, they pass it off like they're carrying a kilo of cocaine.
- Good Parents: Lexie is a loving single father who, after some initial reluctance, supports his daughter's interest in Irish step dance.
- Jump Cut: Some jump cuts after Lexie goes to bed, showing his unease as he thrashes around unable to sleep, having refused his daughter's request. He changes his mind.
- Missing Mom: Mom's not around, and the circumstances are unclear. When the woman at the dance competition asks Laura where her mom is, Laura says "My mum is dead." But later she tells her father "She's not coming back," hinting that her mother may have left the family.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Lexie and Laura walking away down the beach, after Laura teaches her dad a few dance steps.
- Riddle for the Ages: Did Laura win the dance contest? Of course, that's not the point of the movie.
