King O Sullivan Winterfeis 2018 – Grades Review

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King O Sullivan Winterfeis was held January 26-27, 2018 at the Marriot Evergreen Resort within Stone Mountain Park, Georgia. Instrumental music and vocal competitions were held Friday evening. Grades, championships, figures, specials, art, and baking competitions were held Saturday. New this year were the additional Second Chance competitions for Novice, Prizewinner, and Championship dancers. This feis is the traditional start of the new feis season for Atlanta area dancers. Sadly, due largely to the severe flu going around, attendance was lower than usual.

VENUE: 8 out of 10

The venue is a hit with families. Heated indoor and outdoor pools, giant chess/checker boards, fitness center, coffee shop, many guest rooms with balconies, access to all of the Stone Mountain Park grounds, and a large wing of the building for events. Bathrooms are stripped of regular resort frills on the day of the feis. They were kept clean and stocked. But, they did get crowded. 2 of the 3 ballrooms had plenty of the space and seating. 1 was a cramped sardine can of a room, with dancers waiting in the hallway to line up. This caused confusion and delay, shown in the smaller room running behind schedule of the larger rooms. We have also heard that this confusion caused problems for dancers. 2 dancers, which we know of, were put on stage by the stage managers for the wrong competition. Both found out later that they had been disqualified. Either by the judge or by tabulations. We only heard about that happening in the smaller room. Stages were all raised, which made viewing easier. Especially from the back of the sardine can.

PARKING: 10 out of 10

Why so high? The feis committee took care of the usual park entry fee. A total savings of $15 per car, provided they remembered to tell the attendant on duty that they were there for the feis. Also, parking was a breeze for us. There was plenty of covered drive for unloading and loading. Finding a parking space was also not a problem for my darling Ash. We did arrive on Friday evening and left Saturday afternoon.

FEIS FOOD: 6 out of 10

The resort had a snack food and coffee station set up in the event wing of the hotel. The java was better in the lobby café, according Ash Wilkes. As his feis coffee is my usual barometer for the feis food, the score reflects his opinion. Of course, we appreciated having options. It is just nicer to have better ones. The food selection was limited and expensive. Of course, those in the know could walk over to Ms. Sam in the vendor room.

FEIS FLOW: 9 out of 10

Why so high? The grades were finished, with treble reels danced, before the lunch break. Why not 10 out of 10? The one point deduction is for those families whose dancers were disqualified for stage manager errors. A little more care and a little less haste could have prevented these unfortunate circumstances. All in all, this feis ran like a well-oiled machine. Schedules were adhered to and stages were kept moving. The side stage boards were easy to see and to follow.

MUSIC: 10 out of 10

Accordions! Blessed accordions! Oh, how sweet it was to hear your wonderful music in both the grades rooms. Of course, they were played by talented musicians. Words cannot express how pleased I am to have attended a feis with all grades dancers being accompanied by accordionists.

RESULTS: 8 out of 10

Paper posted results were in a room all their own. This kept the hallways clear and the dancers reactions to their results contained. Both good things. There were a few snags in postings. For the most part, it was about 20 minutes from dancing to posting. Some took longer than others, as the feis abyss seems to take up residence wherever tabulations room are set up. Over all, quick and smooth.

VENDORS: 10 out of 10

Why so high? One word.

SMARTIES! (WTF EDITORS NOTE: She is right, I do love Smarties)

Ms. Sam, from the Queen’s Pantry, was one of the vendors for this feis. She brought a case of Smarties. If money was no object, I would have bought the entire box. (And been the envy of Mr. WTF, I am sure.) As Ash would not permit, we bought a few of them. We saw that a few families were in the know and had placed orders. There were some happily stuffed purple bags walking around the feis. Now, we all know for next time. www.thequeenspantry.com. Also, there were feis t shirt vendors, dance shoes/socks, and wigs. If you needed it, you could buy it at this feis. On Saturday, there were massage therapy students offering free chair massages and a stretching table for all feis attendees.

JUDGING: 5 out of 10

As a rule, a perfect score in this category requires that my little darlings dance for a different judge each dance. This feis had soft shoe danced for the same judge and hard shoe danced for a different judge. So, better than all dances for the same judge. But, not the ideal feis judging situation.

AWARDS: 10 out of 10

The feis committee really went all out this year. Novice and above all received trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. There were lots of smiling dancers, leaving the awards room with an arm load of shiny, happy rewards for their dancing. Awards were down the hall from results, in their own room. As with the results room, this kept the hall ways clear. At least 3 people were able to hand out awards at a time, from computer check in stations, so crowding within the room was kept to a minimum. Championships were announced on stage, complete with podium and sashes.

SOCIAL MEDIA: 5 out of 10

There really isn’t much social media presence for the feis. The school has a facebook page and a website. The feis registration website has the information listed, as does the NAFC schedule site. As side from that, there isn’t anything else. So, if you had questions, they would need to be emailed to the feis chair, from the feis registration website. This can be a challenge, especially when many are used to posting a question on social media and receiving a quick response.

OVERALL TOTAL: 8 out of 10

Feis ATL 2017 – Grades Review

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Feis ATL was held November 18, 2017, at the Renaissance Waverly Marriott, in Atlanta, GA. This feis is hosted by the Drake School of Irish Dance. Usually, this means fun, fabulous, crowded, and chaotic. Thankfully, this new venue handled the crowds and chaos beautifully. See also Venue.

VENUE: 10 out of 10

The Renaissance Waverly Marriott was a new experience for the Wilkes family. Hotel feisanna are not my favorite. This hotel convention center was a surprise. The ballrooms were large enough to handle the crowds. Music carry over was not an issue. Bathrooms were kept cleaned and stocked. Ash had a couple of options for his feis coffee, which made the feis more pleasant for the entire family. For younger siblings, there were a few entertaining options. Besides the escalators in the lobby, Feis ATL used a rented ballroom to show How to Train Your Dragon. Those staying in the hotel also had the option of a heated indoor pool.

PARKING: 8 out of 10

Plenty of hotel parking, at $10 a day hotel rate. The parking lot flow was confusing and poorly marked. This led to problems in navigating the lots. We encountered this upon leaving, not entering. Otherwise, it was a welcome change from the usual challenges of Atlanta parking.

FOOD: 7 out of 10

Great feis specific menu with reasonable prices. Personal pan pizzas for $5, which is the same as our local pizza spot. They also had sandwich plates, fresh fruit, and snack bags at the feis. The down side? Long service wait time, if you ordered at the bar or restaurant.

MUSIC: 7 out of 10

Pianist, violinist, accordianist. Thankfully, the violinist had a beat box hooked up the speaker system. Which was neccesary, considering he was covering music for 3 stages. There was no music carry over, that we noticed. One of our little darlings danced only with the violinist. Another one danced twice on the stages with an accordianist. Champ dancers were largely in a separate ballroom, accompanied by a pianist. Personally, I think they should have moved the violinist to cover a single stage, moved the accordionist to cover the 3 stage room, and put the pianist in the room covering two stages.

JUDGING: 7 out of 10

At a perfectly judged feis, in my opinion, each dance would have a different judge. This feis came close. Close, but no cigar. Two of our darlings danced for 3 different judges. One of our darlings danced for 2 different judges.

RESULTS: 7 out of 10

IFeis kept results coming out in a timely manner. This is the first iFeis feis we have attended that we have not encountered an issue with results, or of using the website at the feis. Their including information sheets with competition numbers probably had something to do with our personal success. Results were posted in a timely manner. They did not award top 50% in most competitions, which was confusing to us. Especially considering that a majority of the competitions contained 15 or more dancers. For example, in a traditional set competition with 10 dancers, only the top 4 were placed.

AWARDS: 8 out of 10

The awards of Drake competitions are usually fun and fabulous. This feis was no exception. Georgia Renaissance fair representatives assisted in giving out the championship awards. Some vendors sponsored championship awards. Top three were given CHAMPION scarves, sashes, and plaques. First place champions also received blankets. Grades received Feis ATL medals with green neck ribbons. Prizewinner, traditional set, and treble reel received Feis ATL star trophies.

VENDORS: 10 out of 10

  • Wigs
  • Irish dance supplies
  • Shoes
  • Dress resale rack
  • Just about anything an Irish dancer might need, or want, was available for purchase.
  • Two vendors carried genuine Cadbury chocolate, so I have decided to give the vendors my highest score. Any time I can buy genuine Cadbury, Is a good time.

FEIS FLOW: 7 out of 10

This would have been higher, if the feis program book had arrived on time. Program books were available for pre order on iFeis.net. All of the details of the feis extras were contained within the feis program books. It told about the music and vocal competitions. It also gave the schedule for the movie showing, the evening Renaissance themed cocktail party, and themed events for the Sunday Hotlanta feis. These would have been very helpful, if they had arrived on time for registration Friday evening. We were not given one until Saturday afternoon.
Stages were run smoothly, which often happens with tablet check ins available with iFeis. Adjudication seemed to be done with relaxed manner on one of the grades stages, as we saw a young dancer approach and speak with an adjudicator on more than one occasion.

SOCIAL MEDIA: 6 out of 10

There is a public Facebook group for Feis ATL and Hotlanta. There is also a feis website. Both of these are updated periodically. They are also quick to respond to questions posted by potential attendees. Unfortunately, it was not utilized during the feis, to announce changes or the themed schedule. IFeis kept the feis stages updated on their website. This was easier to use, and loaded faster, than we have experienced previously. The lateness of the feis schedule posting certainly brought out comments on Facebook and other forums.

TOTAL: 8 out of 10

Celtic Rose Feis 2017 – Grades Review

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Celtic Rose Feis 2017 was held October 21, 2017, at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center, near Emory University. The Celtic trilogy feiseanna are all hosted by the Rowena Ryan Irish Dance Academy. This feis offered several specials and cultural competitions, in addition to the regular ones. These included Gaelic spoken word, parent/child, Celtic art, soda bread, soft shoe, and hard shoe specials. This was the first feis, in a two feis weekend.

VENUE 7 out of 10

Hotel feis. Not my personal favorite. Crowded, chaotic. A Fire Marshall nightmare. It was also quite a challenge to reach. That being said, the Wilkes family did stay in the hotel. It was well appointed, clean, and the staff we encountered were friendly. Except when they were dealing with ballroom access bathroom problems. Or when the Georgia Tech football team event and the feis couldn’t seem to work out hallway traffic difficulties. They did get chairs out of the back closets for grandparents waiting in the confusion, which was kind of them. It also appeared to be strongly encouraged by the Georgia Tech football team staff. Velvet ropes were put into use in a couple of areas. But, otherwise, the staff was friendly. Several feis attendees were seen posing for photos with the football players.

PARKING 8 out of 10

Hotel parking was not a problem for us. We arrived the evening before. Ash was able to secure a spot with little trouble. I cannot speak to parking on the day of the feis, since we did not experience it. Also, since we waited quite awhile for dances to post, leaving the parking area was also not difficult. Getting a bell cart, and luggage assistance was a challenge. Ash ended up bringing out a cart himself, then going back inside to finish checking in.

MUSIC 10 out of 10

One musician for the grades stage. One for the championship stage. Thankfully, the grades stage musician was a talented accordianist. Which was a blessing, considering the crowded room and cramped staging area. He was exceptionally talented. He also dealt with cramped conditions and having his lunch pushed back until nearly 2pm with grace.

JUDGING 8 out of 10

Grades stages were rotated. All three of our little darlings danced for each of the three grades judges. Really, we could not have asked for better, given the cramped conditions of the ballroom. In a perfect world, though, each dance would have a different judge.

RESULTS 3 out of 10

The tabulation room was under staffed, and running behind. This impacted results. We experienced 30 minutes to an hour from dance to post. We noticed a couple of dances that were longer to post. A couple of families gave up waiting, and just went home. We stayed until all the dances that included our family were posted. For us, it was worth the wait. See also AWARDS. Adults from other local schools offered to help out in tabulation, which was happily accepted. This was an iFeis.net tabulated feis. We were not able to get the feis stage page to load. Apparently, we were in the minority, with a few other families. It was surprising to see a feis tabulated by this company run results posting so slowly. My only answer is the understaffed tabulation room.

AWARDS 8 out of 10

Red ribbon medals. Wooden long stem roses. Large, Ornate, gold and red trophies were given to those who placed in a soft shoe or hard shoe special. Treble reel and traditional set also received trophies. First place in prizewinner received crystal boxes. Each dancer who won an award received a wooden, long stemmed rose.

VENDORS 3 out of 10

We only noticed two vendors. Both were set up in the hallway, outside the championship room. It was so crowded and disorderly, that we did not venture further. This was disappointing, considering the far superior arrangement and assortment of vendors in the past.

FOOD 3 out of 10

Right. Food. Well, none at the feis. There was food available at the hotel. And a coffee shop. Always important for Ash Wilkes and his feis coffee. We ate elsewhere. Ash opted for in room coffee in the morning, due to long lines at the lobby shop. His mid feis coffee was from the lobby shop. He did not find much difference between the two cups.

FEIS FLOW 5 out of 10

Ish. The time which seems to drag out in waiting for a feis to begin. Or dances to be checked in. Stages to load. Then unload. And for the process to begin again. What time is it? Ish. Meaning they are taking all the time they want to run the feis. Don’t get me wrong, the volunteers were doing all they could, in the cramped space given them. We saw dancers struggle to get through to the front on several occasions. The volunteers did work to finish the grades dances before the lunch break. Which meant that the lunch break happened after 1:30pm.

SOCIAL MEDIA 6 out of 10

The feis sported a Facebook page and website linked from the school page. It was also run by iFeis.net, which ups their score. The Facebook page was updated regularly, in the days coming up to the feis. It was not, to our notice, used for updates during the feis. The website was up to date.

TOTAL 6 out of 10