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

Muggivan Feis Grades Review 2016

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Muggivan The Inaugural Muggivan Feis took place on October 23, 2016, hosted by the Muggivan School of Irish Dance-Virginia on the grounds of the Central Virginia Celtic Festival and Highland Games in Richmond, VA. The Muggivan Feis is a casual dress feis, with all dancers wearing the event t-shirt and dark bottoms. The t-shirt design was beautifully done on front and back of a white short sleeve t-shirt. There was a feis rate available at the host hotel for those needing hotel rooms.

Venue/Attractions/Food

The Central Virginia Celtic Festival and Highland Games take place on the grounds of the Richmond Raceway, in a grassy area outside of the racetrack. There was ample parking available and plenty of space within the festival grounds to accommodate all attendees. There was also a Highland dance competition happening on the same day, so plenty of dancers and dance families around if anything was needed! Only 1 dance vendor was present at this event, but there were plenty of Scottish and Irish vendors throughout the festival for an eclectic shopping experience. This festival also had a large selection of food vendors for breakfast, lunch, and dinner fare. This event did serve alcohol (arm band required).

Stages

As an outdoor event, the stage was located under a tent. Three stages were indicated on the syllabus, but on feis day this manifested as one large (approximately 36 x 12) rectangle that was divided by white tape into 3 (approximately 12 x 12) sections. The stage was elevated at the nearest end approximately 1 foot from the ground and approximately 3 feet from the ground on the far end in order to keep the stage surface level. The stage was covered with Marley/shower pan type sheeting. The festival grounds were quite dusty and the tent had no sides so breaks were taken to sweep the dust from the stage. These individual sections of the larger stage were cramped to say the least with ALL ages of grades dancers dancing 3 at a time. Ceili dances were danced 1 group at a time.

Judges

There was a judge assigned to each stage and dancers/judges rotated so that each dancer had 2-3 judges. Judges were attentive, helpful, and left comments.

Musician

Carolyn Bartley was the single musician for this feis and she played from 0930-1930 with very few breaks. Ms.Bartley did an excellent job and even festival goers gave compliments to her playing.

Flow

As with any first feis, there are going to be some bugs and I think the overall flow of the feis is where any bugs were seen most prominently. The feis began at 0930 with Champs only, utilizing all 3 judges and the full size of the stage. The schedule got ahead before lunch and shortened the lunch break but ceilis remained on time with a 4pm start. It was announced that 2 of the 3 judges had flights to catch and had to leave the venue at 6pm, so grades were run at a break-neck speed and it was also announced that no dance would be held for missing dancers. The communication between stage and check in volunteers began to suffer due to this ultra-fast pace. Trad sets and other special dances completed at 1915 with car headlights illuminating the stage for the remaining judge.

Results

Results were posted in a very small, hard to access area being staffed by 1 volunteer. Results went up in no particular order and got slower and slower as the day progressed. By the end of the day this poor volunteer was swamped with parents, dancers, and TCs looking for results. Beginner through Novice dancers were awarded customized medals with two colored neck ribbons. Whoever worked on the design and execution of the medals did an excellent job! Prizewinner and champs received large trophies, also well designed and very attractive!

Other

The schedule was released a week in advance and the host hotel would not allow grades parents to cancel reservations that were no longer needed due to such a late grades start. The feis has no control over the hotel of course, but I think this contributed to the overall level of unhappiness (long day, school night, etc) witnessed at the event. I hope that the feis committee keeps all of the great things that they accomplished at this feis and just improve on the 1 or 2 issues and it will definitely be a successful Virginia feis!

Rhythm of Ireland Feis 2016 – Grades Review

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Booster LogoThe Rhythm of Ireland hosted their annual feis the weekend of October 15-16, 2016 in Williamsburg, VA. This review covers the Ceili/Grades competition on Sunday.

What The Feis Editors Note: Thanks to new contributor DD Feis Mom for this review. The review is the opinion of the reviewer, and does not necessarily reflect those of What The Feis, especially since I was not there.

Venue

The Rhythm of Ireland (ROI) feis is hosted at the Doubletree by Hilton in Williamsburg,VA. The ballrooms were spacious and organized around 2 central hallways on the opposite side of the hotel from the occupant rooms. A feis rate was offered at the host hotel for those attending this feis.

Score: 9/10

Local Attractions

The Doubletree by Hilton is centrally located to all of the area’s many attractions. Busch Gardens has an entry point just outside of the hotel property, all of the historic attractions are within a 15-20 minute drive, and there are shopping options galore. A discounted rate was offered to all 3 of the historical sites—Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, and Yorktown Victory Center.

Stages

There were 6 stages, arranged 2 per ballroom with a piece of yellow tape demarcating the line between the stages. The stages were pressed wood about 1 ½ inch off of the floor covered in Marley. Ceili 4 hand teams dance 2 teams at a time. Due to the smaller size of these stages there were a few instances of teams having to squash their figures so as not to bump the other team. Grades dancers danced 2 at a time as well.

Score: 7/10

Judges

There was a judge assigned to each stage and judges rotated after the soft shoe dances. Most dancers danced for 2, sometimes 3 judges. Each judge on our stages were very attentive to the dancers and their safety. Most parents reported seeing the judges writing notes during the dances, however, at the time of writing, score sheets had not been distributed.

Score: 7/10 (if scores are received with comments I’d definitely change to 9/10!)

Musicians

Each set of 2 stages shared a musician. Our musician seemed poorly prepared for the types of music required for ceilis and grades dancers, however other parents had no issues with their musicians. I’m willing to strike it up to a bad day for our musician.

Score: 7/10

Feis Flow

This feis was unusual in regard to flow. Ceilis started 15-20 minutes late, and due to confusion of scheduling and what information was given to the musicians there were many “breaks” in between ceili competitions. Grades competitions started about 75 minutes late and the judges took a 5-10 minute “break” in between each type of dance ie dance reels, take a break, dance slip jig take a break, dance light jig, take a break, dance single jig, take a break, etc. There was also a break after all soft shoe dances to rotate judges between stages. This made for a very disjointed feis experience. I feel for any first timers who attended this feis.

Score: 4/10

Food

There were 2 on-site restaurants and a small Starbucks within the hotel. The Starbucks was clearly not used to such large crowds in short timespans (as feis goers tend to be) and there were significant wait times during peak periods. Many food options were available off site within a short drive for those feis goers with long breaks between dances.

Score: 7/10

Vendors

There were 4 vendors at ROI 2016. Two vendors for ID gear (hairpieces, wigs, socks, bling, etc), a custom T shirt vendor, and a photographer. These vendors were located in a central hallway between stages 1-4 and 5-6 with lots of room and easy access. If you needed a basic ID supply you could certainly find it here, but if looking for a more specialty piece this was not the feis for shopping.

Score: 6/10

Results

Results were posted in a separate, medium sized conference room. All of our dancers results were posted 20 minutes after the last dance was completed! Lightning speed! With the spacious hallways, good signage, and large space for postings it was very easy to find results. There was also a volunteer stationed in the room to help feis goers find what they needed. The champ podium was also stationed in this room if grades dancers wanted to do pictures with the podium, a nice touch on the feis’s behalf. Awards were in a separate, very spacious room just down the hallway. Medals were given for Beginner through Novice for 1st-3rd placements. Prizewinners received trophies for 1-3rd placements and a medal for 4th placements.

Score: 8/10

Other

The stage schedule and competitor lists came out less than 24 hours prior to this feis. This was attributed to a hurricane that had minor effect on this area about 10 days prior. After travelling to this area for the feis, and having experience with hurricanes in Florida, I saw no signs of hurricane damage. In the time since the feis, there has been poor communication through all means provided to reach the feis committee/dance school. We are 5 days post feis and a proper score card is not available, despite promises of being distributed. With a feis this close to Oirechtas it would be greatly appreciated to receive any comments the judges saw fit to give. The overall experience of this feis was such that I doubt I will give ROI a second chance, which is such a shame because many parents I spoke with who have attended for many years stated that “it used to be such a great feis”.

Cincinnati Feis 2015 PC/OC Review/4 Comments/in , , /by

Be sure to take a look at the previous posts. I am streamlining this one a bit so as not to get to repetitive.

Before I get to the review, I want to give props to the Cincinnati Feis Committee. Not only did they read and comment on last years review, but before the feis this year, when I commented on the What The Feis facebook page, a member of the Cincinnati Feis facebook page commented that they had addressed the concerns from last year. Way to be proactive!

 

Cincinnati-Feis-LogoFull

The 32nd Annual Cincinnati Feis was held on November 15, 2015 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, KY. We have attended this feis a number of time, and this is the first year at the Open Champion level.

I did do a few walk thoughs on the second floor where the grades were, but this review captures my thoughts on the Champ area. If anyone has thoughts or opinions on the Grades level, please let me know and I will be sure to get them added, anonymously is you wish.

Venue

The venue was the same as the few previous years, and I have always liked this venue. Last years comments are still appropriate for this year, so I will not repeat.

A few notes from this year:

  • Climate control seemed to be an issue, especially in the camping/dining area on the first floor. Warm in the morning, and cold, not cool, by the end of the day.
  • And speaking of the camping/dining area, and I know the feis committee has no control over this, but the greasy food smell was so overwhelming in that room, we actually moved TGCs dress out of the area so as not to take the smell home with us.
  • The Vendor setup between the camping area and the champs stage area was not optimal. There was a bottleneck where people could pass each other but one vendor table was set up where if anyone was browsing the table, the flow was restricted, and inevitably, people would browse, stop and chat, etc… and traffic to/from the champs area was stopped.
    • There were some vendors on the second level, and there was a ton of room in the side hall that was not being used, hint, hint 🙂

For more on the venue, please see last years review.

Stages

At the end of the stage review for last year it said:

The stages themselves appeared to be made of plywood (although my dancer insisted they did not feel like normal stages) & were a decent size. However, they were the slipperiest stages I have ever seen at a feis, and we’ve been at this game for almost 4 years now. I saw dancers at every age & level, in both soft shoe & hard shoe slip & fall all day long on all 4 grades stages. My own dancer slipped in 2 dances & took a full out fall in a 3rd (and we did douse the soles of her shoes in sprite to try & prevent slips/falls). The feis did put wet towels at the side of the stage for the dancers to rub their shoes in & I did see stages being mopped during the lunch break, but the sheer number of slips/falls we saw was completely unacceptable.

This alone would keep me from coming back to this feis next year – it is extremely disappointing to have driven 5 hours to a feis, only to find that the quality of the stages is this poor.

This is the exact point the Feis Committee addressed in their comments on my facebook page, and I quote:

you will be happy to know we painted all our stages this year and we have Sticky Mats that were used at the NAIDC to help prevent the slipperiness of the stages from the carpet fibers at the NKYCC! See you Sunday – thanks for your support

And I am pleased to report, it appeared to work!

I did not see any slips this year, and heard no complaints from other feis goers. I did see one dancer appear to trip over a stage seam, but that was really the only issue I saw.

The stage monitors appeared to be watching and picked up any foreign objects between dances.

Good job on the stages Cinci!

Judges

They ran the Champs area like it will be run at Oireachtas. Three dances, three different stages, three judges on each stage, so a dancer was judged by 9 judges. That is some pretty good judging. I think that is great exposure for the dancers and prep for the O.

A side note: As I watched the judges, as one dancer finished their set, one judge turned to another and shook their head, then put their hand up to their mouth and followed their gesture with some comment. Sorry, but that was completely unprofessional.

Music

The three stages had some pretty good separation, but the music bleed in the viewers area was terrible. It did not appear to affect the dancers however, at least not as far as I could tell, but it made it weird to watch.

Food

Sorry, but not a fan. The fact that you could not bring in outside food made your options what was available in the dining area. They had a large selection, but if you wanted anything warm it was a very slow process, and we hit the tables before the lunch rush, so I can’t imagine what it was like on the actual lunch break. The food was not horrible, but not worth the price, and they were charging $3 for a 12 oz soda.

Results/Awards

Cincinnati has a nice podium with 5 places for the PC/OC awards, lots of room for dancers and seats for viewers, and a great sound system so you can hear the announcements. They also have SASHES for the top 5 places, the ultimate prize for the champs! They also give glassware to the top 3 places and candy for all the placements.

That being said, I heard some grumblings as to why the Grades got medals and champs got Hershey Bars, and one mom actually said, and no it was not TGCs mom, ‘it’s like they fill the jars with leftover Halloween candy.’ Sorry Cinci, I gotta call it like I hear it. If it is any consolation, TGC really enjoyed the candy last year when she placed in the prelim level.

One other note, it seems like the committee holds results and does a few comps at a time. Though there is room, it would make it less congested to spread the awards out every 15 – 30 minutes if that is an option.

Feis Flow

It was an extremely long day. I am not sure exactly where the PCs ended and the OCs started compared to the lunch schedule, but lunch did not get done till 115ish. By 430, TGC had still not done set, and they were still going strong on all three stages. Needless to say, we were still waiting for awards at 6. If the feis committee wanted to make it like Oireachtas, they did a pretty good job.

I am afraid I have to say that there were lots of grumblings about the flow, from dancers, parents and even from some of the committee.

Sorry, I have no opinions on how to make it better, but faster would be good 🙂

Summary

As I read this, I think my grumpy old man card is showing. I like this feis, have always enjoyed it in the past, except for that stage thing last year, and think the committee is very dedicated to making this the very best feis they can. This year however, I think they fell a bit short in some areas.

What did you think?

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Where have all the feis reviews gone?

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In a recent comment, a Facebook reader mentioned that she liked it better when I was doing more feis reviews and less of the sarcasm and humor (I am paraphrasing). I have to say, I kind of agree, not with the sarcasm and humor part, that comes easy for me, but about the feis reviews.

I have done fewer reviews, mostly because I go to the same feiseanna over and over, and I felt like I was getting repetitive. Plus, they take time, sometimes a lot of time, and I have had less time to dedicate to them.

I did have help from some of you guys, writing reviews that were posted, but that has slowed down to. I appreciate all the submissions, and admittedly, I haven’t pressed for them.

So, as much as I would love to say the reviews will ramp up again, I can’t promise that. Our feising has slowed way down because we are at a level where we do not need to feis as much, and I refer back to the point about going to the same feiseanna, and being repetitive. I will keep the archive of past reviews and will see what I can do about adding to them.

That being said, if you would like to help, I would love to hear from you. See this page if you are interested in contributing a review and contact me. And don’t worry, I will continue with the sarcasm and humor, these days we all need that in our lives.

Thanks!

American Pride Feis 2015 PC/OC Review/4 Comments/in , , /by

4-231x300Feis Info

The 3rd Annual American Pride Feis was held Saturday, September 12th, 2015, at the Franklin Field House in Franklin, Tennessee. This review covers some of the general info, but is slated more for the PC/OC levels since that is where we spent most of our time.

Venue

Afraid I didn’t make it to this feis last year when it was held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Convention Center, but the grumbling in the crowd indicated to me that the Franklin Field House was not quite on the same par as the Gaylord.

There were 5 stages, 1 – 4 for the Grades (as far as I can tell, although it makes sense to me that some of the PCs/OCs ‘might’ also could have been on those stages). We were on 5 during our dances. The large venue was split into sections by sliding partitions so there was some separation between the stages, so to speak, and 2 of the stages were in an area, 2 in an adjoining area, and the PC/OC stage in a third area.

Stages 1 – 4 were plywood, and a reasonable size, looked to be about 20′ x 24′, BUT, they were attached along one side so really stages 1 & 2, and 3 & 4 were both just big stages cut in half with tape. Due to their proximity, the combined stages shared a single musician, so there were only 3 in the entire venue, more on that later. Please note, the 20 x 24 was the size of the stage after being cut in half by the tape.

Stage 5 was a pretty good size, about 32′ x 24′ and was textured. Not sure if it was paint (looked to be), but I heard no complaints about the stage from my, or any other dancers. In fact, this is the first feis I remember in a while where I saw no slips or falls. Not saying they did not happen, just that I did not see any. (now that that has come out of my mouth, it seems highly unlikely none happened).

SIDE NOTE: All stages, as in years past, were named after a branch of the armed forces. Why the PC/OC stage was not named after Navy is beyond me, and I will try not to let it affect my review.  😉

The practice stage, wait, the 6 individual pieces of plywood that served as the practice area, probably could have been handled better. At least they provided a hard surface for the dancers to practice, considering the remainder of the flooring was either like basketball flooring where no hard shoes were allowed, or artificial turf, not the best dance surface.

Results and awards, and the PC/OC podium was in yet another area, separated from the stage areas by a netting, you know, the kind that keeps soccer balls from being kicked into the spectator seats in an indoor arena, which this kind of was. Results were posted on the wall which was right next to where awards could be picked up, very convenient.

The size and layout of the venue allowed for adequate camping, and the Southern Region seems more tolerant of camping in spectator seats, although we never had an issue finding a place to sit.

The concessions and vendors were setup in another open area near the concession stand and front door.

The venue was really large, but easily navigated

Parking was plentiful but may have involved a bit of a walk depending on when you arrived. There was a way to pull right up to the front to drop off dancers and gear though. No charge for the parking, always nice.

The only issue I had with the venue was the climate. They really did not get a handle on that till closer to 10am, and it was VERY warm up until that point. Hopefully noted for next year.

Judges

PC/OC  always has 3 judges monitoring the performance. The judges seemed attentive on our stage and took no breaks that I saw, and the same three were there for at least the first half of the day.

There were only seven judges invited, so with 3 at stage 5, and one each on 1 – 4, I am not sure how much rotation was done by judges on the grades level. You should know by now I am a big fan of grades level judge frequent rotation.

Music

Stage 5 had its own musician, Stages 1 & 2, and Stages 3 & 4 each shared a musician. Not a fan of that. It inevitably causes delays somewhere, and I did see some times when not all stages were active due to unbalanced stage assignments.

Food

Standard concession fare, pizza, pretzels, hotdogs, soda, granola bars, water etc…. I thought the prices were a little high, but not terrible.

Vendors

Tshirt people were there, and the standard accessories tables, but the vendors seemed VERY limited to me. No larger shoe vendors (that I recognized), no ‘fun’ Irish swag, and no Irish M&Ms…. 🙁

Results

Really cant speak to how the Grades level results went. Sorry.

PC/OC were fairly smooth however. The stage monitor announced when awards would be, and there was also a board over in the awards area that listed the time. For us, it showed up about 20 minutes before it happened, which was great. Sometimes a feis will post the notice only a few minutes before, and it is not enough time to find everyone, get the dress on, and get to the awards.

I have commented on other feiseanna that I would like to see them announce the top three in each round, instead of just 1st. At this feis, they did that one better, they announced the top half in each shoe and in the set.

Anyway, between the end of the dancing and the announcement was about 75 minutes, which is probably a bit better than average, so no complaints. We were pretty much done before lunch with everything, so really I had no complaints.

Feis Flow

The comp was medium sized, between 15 and 20, and they were done dancing all 3 rounds in just over an hour. The stage monitor kept things moving after the champ stage finally got moving. Casual observation showed they had a hard time getting the stage started and that stage did not start till after 9 a.m.

Scoring

Other than the building climate issue, and the late start, and the individual practice areas, none of which really seem to impact us very much, well there was some sweating, but I digress, I thought the feis was pretty good. I would give it a 8.25ish, not to shabby.

What Say You?

Take the poll below and if you have comments on what you thought about the feis, please add them below.

[poll id=”13″]

 

 

Glass City Inaugural Feis Review 2015

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final.gcf2015Feis Info

The Inaugural Glass City Feis was held Sunday July 26th at the Seagate Center in Toledo OH. It was held back to back with the Great Lakes Feis. This review is for grade comps only.

Venue

It was a typical convention center feis. Parking wasn’t bad (especially because it was Sunday); stages were a bit bouncing, but were mopped several times; the room for camping was REALLY SMALL and the traffic flow within the hall was cramped.

Score: 7

Judges

The judges were plentiful and rotated. My OPW dancer was seen by three judges in five dances.

Score: 9

Musicians

The musicians were assigned to each stage and were adequate. On one daughter’s stage, it was exceptionally hard to hear; another took a quick break after every 3rd or 4th dance.

Score: 7

Food

Food was available within the hall. However, didn’t purchase anything. Not having to leave the room was fabulous for those who purchased!

Score: N/A

Vendors

Typical selection of vendors (t-shirts; dance stuff; jewelry). Nothing that screamed “YES!” Location of used feis dresses was odd—outside the main hall in the middle (literally) of the results area.

Score: 6

Results

With the exception of one dance, there results were almost instaneous. Posted outside the main hall, easy to get into and out of.

Score: 8

Feis Flow

Things ran quite smoothly in the morning. My Novice dancer was done by Noon. My OPW dancer was delayed by the lunch break. The Lunch Break very nicely offered Mass, which was a first for this family. However, the lunch break lasted 90 + minutes, which is kind of unacceptable, especially if you didn’t go to Mass. Needs to be adjusted.

Score:7

Ratings

Feis Score: 7.75
Overall Rating: 7.33

What did you think?

[poll id=”12″]

Local Attractions

Located in downtown Toledo, within walking distance of the MudHens stadium and the Imagination Station, which was most helpful for the little brother.

Buckeye State Feis Review 2015 (CR)/2 Comments/in , , , /by

The Buckeye State Feis was held on April 25th, 2015 at the The Bricker Building at The Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, OH.

This is a Community Review with comments by the attendees. If you attended please add your thoughts below.

Please see the Community Review page for suggested comment subjects and a other posting suggestions if you are going to add your thoughts.

Thanks