BBC’s A Season of Arts includes short film from NI creatives, Jennifer Rooney and Ciarán Haggerty
7th February, 2022
Don’t miss Flight, a short dance film about that universal desire to fly, led by Northern Ireland choreographer/Co-Director, Jennifer Rooney and Co-Director, Ciarán Haggerty, co-commissioned by BBC Arts and One Dance UK for Dance Passion - a landmark celebration of the world-class dance that happens across the UK, shining a light on the country’s unique creativity and innovative approach to choreography and performance.
Funded by BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme, alongside thirteen other short films as part of Dance Passion,Flight is available to view on TV, Tuesday 8 February 2022 at 11:05pm on BBC One, part of the BBC series A Season of Arts, and available after this broadcast on BBC iPlayer. The short film will also be on BBC Four on Sunday 20 February as part of the Dance Passion Highlights programme at 8pm.
With music by Northern Irish composer, Garth McConaghie and featuring Bangor dancer, Jemima Brown, Flight is a celebration of dance from Northern Ireland. This short dance film steps back in time to the playful world of childhood, where a young hero in the making, through the power of imagination, attempts to defy gravity. Spring-boarding from the early memories of the film’s creators, Rooney and Haggerty, the film explores that most universal theme - a child’s desire to fly.
Combining choreography and a 1990s aesthetic, Flight transports us to a place flooded by the sights and sounds we once knew from childhood, set in a period when actions were uninhibited, possibilities seemed endless, and everything was both fresh and fascinating. This beautiful film was the result of a submission from Jennifer Rooney and Ciarán Haggerty to Dance Passion, but this week, it’s now being aired as part of BBC’s A Season of Arts series.
Caoileann Curry-Thompson, Acting Head of Drama and Dance, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said,
“We at the Arts Council are delighted that Jennifer Rooney and Ciarán Haggerty’s commission is being aired on BBC One. I’m so excited that TV audiences get the opportunity to experience Jennifer’s choreography. She is a highly regarded artist within the dance scene in NI, and her artistic dexterity and accomplishments are a shining example of the sheer quality of dance here. Jennifer’s career spans so many areas of movement and dance: from choreographing mainstage shows and opera, to teaching young people, to West End shows and everyone’s TV favourite, Derry Girls. It’s thrilling that she works here with the superb (or rather ‘superlative’, as The Guardian’s dance critic Lyndsey Winship rightly termed her) Belfast-born dance artist Jemima Brown. Flight is a wonderful opportunity for audiences, hopefully some new to dance, to dip their toe into the inventive, charming, exhilarating and transporting world of contemporary dance from NI. Congratulations to Jennifer, Ciarán and the whole creative team.”
You can watch Flight this Tuesday at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014fqd
Flight is part of BBC’s A Season of Arts, a specially commissioned programme series showcasing some of Northern Ireland’s best-loved local artists who have delighted audiences through the years. Catch up on the full series at BBC - A Season of Arts