Raleigh Feis 2015, Grades Review/1 Comment/in , , /by

raleighThe Raleigh Feis was held February 6 and 7, 2015. Even though it is called the Raleigh Feis, it was held in the Durham Convention Center, in downtown Durham, North Carolina. This feis put the Ish in Irish. Registration began at 6ish on Friday evening. The competitions began at 8ish on Saturday. The stages were handled in a professional-ish manner. After all, enough is as good as a feast, isn’t it? This was the first feis, in a long time, where we have not heard Quiet in the Hall. So this was also a quiet-ish feis. The feis had something for all ages and abilities. The feis offered competitions in Celtic instrumental music and vocals. They also offered Celtic Art and Baking competitions. The main feis competitions were supplemented by treble reels, traditional and non traditional sets specials, and the Maureen Harling-Welty charity reel specials.

Venue: 6 out of 10

This was advertised as a convention center feis. As this was our first experience, we went on the advertised information. Our mistake. This is a glorified hotel convention center feis. Think crowded ballrooms, low lighting, and cramped hallways. With the stages on the floor, it caused most spectators to stand. Only the first four rows could see the dancers fully. From the fifth row on to the back, you saw bobbing heads and bouncing curls. The feis had previously announced a No Camping policy. It also announced that the venue would provide ample feis seating. Ample feis seating is a relative term. This could be seen by the numbers of people standing or kneeling in the aisles. Personally, I learned that posting an irritating tween next to empty seats for your family is as effective as a pile of gear. The more people who ask if the seats are taken, the more irritated the tween becomes. I think one family kept nearly half a row empty with this method. Of course, I pity those in the immediate vicinity of said tween. But, a method to remember, none the less.

Parking: 10 out of 10

For a feis, parking was plentiful. Some intrepid feis goers found free parking, on the street. Others could park at the municipal garage for $3 a day. Hotel parking ranged from $9 to $12, for overnight guests. So, all things considered, parking was an A+ for this feis.

Food: 6 out of 10

$2 for a bag of chips. $1.50 for a piece of fruit. The outside food and drink rule was sporadically enforced. Many feis supporters were seen carrying hotel coffee cups into the venue. (Yours truly, included.). The way in which the venue was constructed made it easy to leave for a bite to eat. The hotel provided coffee in the lobby, for those who knew where to look. Ash Wilkes was much more pleasant, after having his pre-feis and mid-feis cups of coffee. The feis provided 2 different food stands. Feis vendors also sold snacks. (Genuine Cadbury, anyone?)

Music: 5 out of 10

One little darling had a blessed accordionist for their stages. Said accordionist also had to repair their instrument during the morning competition. It caused confusion and delay. Our older three darlings had a fiddler for accompniament. Even in the best of circumstances, a violin is difficult to hear over hard shoe competitions. This proved to be no exception. We saw several dancers experience music related problems. Speaker volume and instrument connectivity were also a problem.

Judging: 4 out of 10

Two of our darlings had the same judge for all of their competitions. Our other two darlings had two judges for their competitions. This worked out favorably for all but one of our darlings. As I have said before, at a perfect feis, they would have a different judge for each dance. The least they could have done was to send them to the opposite stage in the same room. Then, there would have been some attempt at rotation. Sadly, for two of our darlings, all of their competitions were on the same stage…for the same judge. This feis did something we have not seen previously. They listed their art, music, and baking judges separately. The Art and Baking judges gave written comments. It was a nice touch and was an appreciated surprise by several recipients. The music judge gave verbal comments with the awards ceremony. Again, a nice touch.

Results: 6 out of 10

The results came out in a timely manner, in the morning. The room for the results was very well chosen. An L shaped location, with large easels. Brilliant solution, Raleigh Feis! It allowed for traffic flow, simple locating, and easy results reading. Champ results, with podium, were announced in a separate location. Again, brilliant move for the Raleigh Feis.

Awards: 6 out of 10

This would have been higher, if they had not advertised special awards for their art and baking competitions. Those competitors received standard medals. Which is fine, except when the feis advertising suggested otherwise. Prizewinner and above received feis emblazoned trophies. We saw several smiling dancers carrying them. Also, the top three champ placements received sashes. Wide satin sashes, with the feis name on them. This feis also offers a charity reel special, in memory of Maureen Harling-Welty. Each participating dancer received a commemorative card, long stemmed rose, and a Twizzler. This set of special was popular with all ages, from beginner to championship dancers. The new medals this feis rolled out were interesting. A clear, etched, plastic oval with the feis name and location. Instead of using gold, silver and bronze to differentiate placements, day glow medal neck ribbons were the identifier. The only draw back to these medals are the noise they make. Plastic clunking into plastic. Now, what else makes that noise? LEGOS. It is the same sound they make, as they are being dumped out of a box. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but that sound makes me cringe. One little darling had their medals taken from in the car, on the ride home. Even Mellie Wilkes can only take so much.

Social Media: 5 out of 10

The feis utilized social media in the weeks leading up to the feis. They also began using social media to announce champ award times. Sadly, this happened after the lunch break. Social media would have been helpful with the reasons behind slow grade stages and the bumping up of charity specials in the schedule.

Overall Score: 6

All things considered, this was an enjoyable feis for the Wilkes family. Even though it was a bit of a drive, we plan to attend next year. The Raleigh Feis volunteers put in a lot of work. It resulted in a successful feis.

So what did you think?

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Pittsburgh Winter Feis 2014 Review, Grades Level/1 Comment/in , , /by

Feis Info

This review is for Saturday’s Grades competitions and this is the 4th year we have attended. The Pittsburgh Winter Feis is held at the Hyatt Pittsburgh Airport- the hotel is literally right at the airport. This feis is run by Jim G. and his great crew of volunteers (they also do the West Virginia Feis, Celtic Fling, Pittsburgh Halloween Feis and the new, Tessie Burke Feis). They had a bit of a challenge this year with a wedding reception occurring on Saturday evening, which required some logistical organization to get the feis things taken down or moved out of sight for the reception, and then back up for Sunday’s comp. The hotel restaurant was also under construction (staff said they hope to have it open again February). But with all that was going on, things from our perspective ran smooth. There were about 650 competitors registered for between the two days of competition. Registration was thru eFeis.

Venue

The competitions are held in a large ballroom (3 stages) and a smaller meeting room with one stage. Vendors are set up in the halls and there was a small room for camping (usually 2 rooms but one was being used as a temporary location for the hotel restaurant that was being remodeled). It seemed that that people were camping fairly light. It is worth staying at the hotel for the sake of ultimate convenience, you can zip down for the competition with minimal gear.

DD stages was covered with marley, I think, new for this feis I believe, and not sure if all stages had the marley. We saw no falls. The smaller room with one stage was tight- the stage was set in the center of the room which was much longer than it was wide. Chairs to observe available but many were also standing with a view from behind the stage as well. The competitor seating was behind the stage so the spectators were back a bit from the actual stage. It was a little loud from people talking in the room. Temperature was decent. We were in this room so I have no comment on how the larger room was for comfort as we only had one competition there late in the day and it had cleared out.

They give you a free parking pass with your dancer card. If you stay a second night and are not dancing on Sunday, you can get a $5 parking pass. I believe the daily rate was $13.

 Score: 9/10

Judges

Different judge for all dances and she received comments from all.  2 judges sharing table and they seemed to take turns with the competitions. Our judges seemed really engaged and enjoying the dancing.

Score: 10/10

Musicians

There was one musician per stage and DD good here it well.  I did talk to another parent who said their daughter was having trouble hearing the music on her stage because she could hear the music from the other stages, she was dancing on the stage in the middle of the room. She said she wished the walls were pulled out more to help with the sound but then that would probably sacrifice seating.

Score: 10/10

Food

We did not eat but there seemed to be the usual junk feis food, such as soft pretzels, chicken strips. I did notice some fresh fruit. They didn’t seem to have as much this time perhaps because of the space constraints happening because of the restaurant remodel. Also, the mini-Starbucks coffee bar was also really scaled back. They had brewed coffee, which may have been Starbucks, but did not have the sissy coffee drinks that they usually have available. Again, that will reopen again after the remodel. You can also venture over to the aiport but selections in my opinion are so-so. I have gotten a big ceasar salad at a deli there. My advice, bring your own.

Score: 4/10

Vendors

I really didn’t venture into the vendors much this year. We did see the spray paint t-shirt guy and Rutherford. They were positioned down at the end of the hall, further down because of the wedding. Harrington Photography was also there. The vendors met our needs.

Score: 8/10

Results

Our results were up very quickly. Posted on eFeis Sunday afternoon, after the champ comps, and personal results emailed around the same time.

Score: 10/10

Feis Flow

The flow was good. They started on time. They did break around noon for a ½ lunch. Our stage monitor gave everyone the heads up when they were going to break and for how long. They stuck to the schedule and were back at it in a half hour. Jim was moving comps off of our stage onto other open stages to keep it flowing. I think they were on a mission to get done timely so they could give the hotel staff ample time to turn things over for the wedding.

Score: 10/10

Scoring

I give the feis an overall score of 9/10. The food was the only sour point and maybe the committee will work with facility to improve that next year.

Rating

Overall 8.5/10

Local Attraction

I know a few people were saying that it was “out in the middle of nowhere”, but it really isn’t. It seems that way because of the airport roads and expansiveness of the airport property. There are other restaurants and hotels nearby either by Robert Morris University, or head toward Pittsburgh. There is a huge shopping complex called Robinson Town Center which has numerous restaurants. Downtown Pittsburgh is a quick drive, 20-25 minutes without traffic. If you have a car, venture out – there is nothing like driving through the tunnel and seeing the city of Pittsburgh on the other side.

What Did You Think?

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Feis ATL 2014 Review/2 Comments/in , , /by

feisATLFeis ATL was held November 14th and 15th of 2014, at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. This was a Drake feis, which means fun, fabulous, chaotic, and crowded. The feis offered competitions in musical instruments, vocals, Celtic art work, baking, traditional and non traditional sets, treble reels, and a Dancer of the Day award, in addition to the regular feis competition schedule.

In the tradition of fun and fabulous, this feis offered some unexpected surprises. Friday night, there was a casual Irish music session in the registration hall. On Saturday, the FROZEN princesses made appearances and lead a pre awards show sing-a-long. On Saturday night, they held a post feis luau at the hotel pool for feis attendees.

Venue

This was a hotel feis. As most readers know, I am not a fan of the hotel feis. This location is no exception to that dislike. Although the building did receive the vomitus mass of people attending the feis, it did nothing to organize them. The hotel is currently undergoing renovations. So, it was challenging to attend. From parking to conference room location, the construction chaos only added to the usual feis chaos. The hotel did have helpful staff, when you could find them. The bathrooms were kept clean and were not overcrowded. The hallways were large and spacious throughout. This allowed for movement between stages, even with any available wall space being crowded with bags, personal items, small siblings, etc. Camping, as it is known in the Mid America and other regions, does not take place in the majority of Southern Region feisanna. The feis did an excellent job marking the awards room and decorating the registration booth. At least those spaces were the easiest for us to find.

5 out of 10

Parking

Welcome to downtown Atlanta! Parking is plentiful and expensive. If you did not mind a chilly 6 block walk, you could park for $3 a day. To park at the feis, it was $12 a day. The feis did offer attendees a special parking rate. If you forgot to mention you were there for the feis, it was a whopping $28 per day. Also, the parking deck at the hotel filled quickly. Some people were upset to learn of there being no elevator to the highest deck level. Can you imagine lugging all that gear down the steps to the nearest elevator for a luggage cart? We can’t either. So, we suggest an earlier arrival next year, for a prime parking deck location. In a perfect world, out of town arrival to Atlanta should take place between 10 am and 2:30pm EST. Also, avoid the 75/85 merge at all costs.

5 out of 10

Music

Why so high? The accordion, that’s why. Every stage, we watched, had a blessed, talented, accordionist playing accompaniment. Was there music carry over? Very little. The stages were so spaced out, you only heard the other stages music if you were close to a doorway.

10 out of 10

Feis Food

The hotel cafe was close to $4 for a cup of coffee. When the feis had the hotel set up coffee in the vendor hall, it was $2 a cup. Any feis where Ash Wilkes can get his feis coffee is a good one. Of course, the remainder of the hotel cafe options were Disney FROZEN expensive. $5 for a parfait. $3.50 for a frozen pizza sized slice of pizza. $9 for chicken fingers and fries. It was a very chilly walk for anyone to find outside options. A sub shop was close by. Many families sent Feis Dads out on sub runs.

4 out of 10

Vendors

The feis had a good selection of vendors. The down side was that they did not stay open through the conclusion of the feis. So, if you wanted to buy a t-shirt or sock glue after the awards ceremony, too bad. They had closed up shop hours before hand. Also, no Cadbury bars. Sniff. Sniff.

  • Züca sales
  • Wigs
  • Shoes/socks
  • Feis shirts
  • Jewelry
  • Irish, Celtic, and Feis themed items
  • Photo crystal dancers gifts/Speakers

6 out of 10

Results

Heard of being on Southern time? This feis ran on Southern Irish Feis Time. So. Hope everyone was able to find the punch in the lobby, because you had a wait on your hands. From the time of competition to the time of results posting was an hour or more in most cases. The average we worked out was 45 minutes. The results were quick to post at the start of the day, but really lagged as the day went on. We saw dancers camped under their results papers for them to post, so that they could go home. See also Feis Flow.

3 out of 10

Awards

This was a Drake feis, remember? The fabulous part certainly comes in at the awards. No dinky trinkets here. Medals, with neck ribbons were awarded to all grades with a posted result. So, even if your little prince or princess won 5th out of 15, they went home with a medal around their neck. Prizewinner, and above, received trophies. The star with the Feis ATL logo decorated most of them. Again, even with a 5th place out of 15 in traditional set, the dancer went home with a trophy. Championship competitions had recalls posted. Their awards were given at a ceremony, after the feis competitions ended. Everyone on stage received a trophy. First place Open Champs recived a sash, Olaf stuffie, trophy, and a CHAMPION emblazoned scarf. Some second and third place winners were also given the CHAMPION scarves. Only Open Champs received the sashes for first place. The awards ceremony was a great lead up to the Southern Region Oireachtas. Sound system, projection screen, podium with five placements, music, ambient lighting, and pre show FROZEN sing along. (Alright, so the last part was at least fun for the kids who were waiting…now, let it go.) of course, the awards ceremony did not finish until 8pm. But, like I said, it was a great lead up to the Southern Region Oireachtas. Midnight award ceremony conclusions, anyone?

10 out of 10

Judging

This is one area of the feis where many people were displeased. Three of our four little darlings had ZERO judge rotation. That’s right. The same judge for every. single. dance. In one case, it worked to their advantage. In the other two cases, it did not. Our youngest darling had some judge rotation. One judge for two dances, then a different judge/different stage for the other two dances. At a perfect feis, there would be a different judge for each dance. The opposite was true at this feis. With over 850 competitors, there was an enormous push for speed on the stages. They did everything but add a conveyor belt to the stage floor. See also Feis Flow.

3 out of 10

Feis Flow

They billed this feis as the FROZEN feis. Considering the weather, and the open exterior doors in the vendors area, we think they succeeded in making everyone FROZEN on Friday night. Thankfully, they also had a warm Irish music session occurring away from the open exterior doors by registration. With more than 850 competitors, along with their various friends and relations, the body heat generated helped to warm the competition halls on Saturday. Keeping the exterior doors closed helped, too.

The feis volunteers were working hard from 7am until 9pm on feis day. That being said, it appeared to be the same 20 or so people the entire day. Stages were only marked by the stage side podium. That information was not up until almost 8am. Of course, if you bought the unadvertised on eFeis $5 feis book, a map was included. The stages were also at one end of cavernous conference halls. Most of them were set up long ways, so that there were plenty of chairs. But only the first ten rows of people could see anything. Also, some of the stage rooms were extremely crowded. The preliminary championship stage was overrun with dancers, friends, and relations until after 2pm. The stages that ran quickly were “rewarded” by having more competitions shifted over to them. This movement created flow mayhem, as dancers and their entourage were scrambling to find the new stage location and seats for the competitions. The awards ceremony for the championship dancers occurred after the final competition ended for the day. The ceremony was a bit chaotic, as many of the later competition recall lists were posted in the middle of the ceremony.

When the feis completed on Saturday night, there was a luau for feis attendees at the hotel pool. Snacks, finger foods, and a cash bar made for an excellent end to a busy feis day.

5 out of 10

Overall Score: 6 out of 10

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Chicago Autumn Feis 2014 Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

chicago_autumn_feis_2014The 12th Annual Chicago Autumn Feis was held on Sunday, November 9, 2014 at North Central College in Naperville IL .

I can’t speak to PC/OC level, nor did our school have any at that level here due to Oirachtas practice.

Venue

Aside from streets being blocked due to a marathon, it was easy enough to get to the field house at North Central College. The parking was limited, but there was a shuttle that was much appreciated to take us from the lot to the field house. Unfortunately, the shuttle stopped transporting before my Prizewinner dancer finished dancing. The facility was clean initially, and restrooms seemed to be kept up. I didn’t see any cleaning of the floors throughout the day, possibly because there was no floor space open because of the crowding. Camping was supposed to be done on the balcony level, but few people did this and it was not enforced. The competition area was very crowded and it was difficult to move from one stage to another to watch other dancers on their respective stages. There was ample seating set up, however, dancers had strewn their belongings in seats and across bleachers, taking away from the available seating. Maybe not the best venue for 1,200 dancers and their families.

I give it a 7.

Judges

There were 12 judges and 8 stages. Judges seemed to rotate about every hour. I noticed on the score board that beginner levels were placing up to 7th or 8th place, and many of the novice and Prizewinner often only placed 1st through 3rd. This seemed unusual.

Score: 8

Musicians

My dancers didn’t say they couldn’t hear the music well enough and all sets seemed to be played at the right speeds.

Score:10

Food

There were few choices for food by one vendor. The $5 hotdogs and snack sized chip bags I found to be pricey. They had a fruit bowl available and maybe two other choices of meal deals and plenty of junk food. There was no mention of not being allowed to bring in outside food and drink.

Score: 8

Vendors

There was a large selection and variety of vendors. Some that were not the usuals.

Score: 10

Results

Here’s where it goes downhill. I was told morning results were posted within 45 minutes. One of my dancers waited an hour and a half for her results. Results were typed but in a font that was difficult to read from the other side of the results tables and included dancer name and number. There were no online results available, in fact, they will not be available until “sometime the week after the Feis”. They ran out of 3rd place medals and offered smaller medals that they were giving to 4-8th place. You could also opt to have them mail a silver medal when they get more made.

Score: 4

Feis Flow

On the stage schedule it stated that Novice dances would start approximately 9:30. It was around 10:45. The Prizewinner dances were scheduled to start at 1:00. Beginner levels typically had 1 dance in between dances. Novice and PW dancers had 2-3 dances in between dances. Soft shoe competitions were first. Lunch break was 1/2 hour and the judges and musicians were great about getting started on time after lunch, and was staggered a little so there wasn’t a mad rush at the food vendor.While one stage did, the others still had up to as many as two complete dances left to get through, with sections of A and B and boys or mixed. This was truly the Feis that never ended! At 5:00 they finally did the last treble reel, and they still had non-traditional sets going after this was completed. All said, it didn’t flow quickly and made for a miserable afternoon/evening for many dancers and their families. I heard many complaints from tired dancers and irritated parents, while I waited at the results table with my dancer.

Score: 4

Local Amenities

I can’t speak for the Feis hotel or hotels in the area, but Naperville seemed like a quaint little town with several options for restaurants.

EDITORS NOTE: She is right, it is and does. Here are a few places I found when I was there last year: https://whatthefeis.com/naperville-il-eats/

Judge, music, results and flow average: 6.5

Overall: 7.29

What did you think?

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Cincinnati Feis 2014 Grades, A Second Opinion…/2 Comments/in , , /by

Kelly took the time to capture her insight in a review, and even though we already had a Cinci Grades review, I feel all inputs could provide something valuable to our readers, so without further ado, The Cinci Feis, A Second Opinion.

Cincinnati-Feis-LogoFullFeis Info

The 31st annual Cincinnati Feis was held at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center on November 2nd, 2014.  This feis was broken up on 2 floors with food, most vendors, camping, and champ comps on the first floor.  The 2nd floor hosted grade comps, grades results/ awards, tshirts, used dresses, and a really sweet little spot for selfies and photos.

Administration/Communication – 7

The feis committee did a good job with communication and pre-feis administration.  They were good about announcing the opening and closing of registration on facebook, twitter, as well as their website (www. http://cincinnatifeis.com/).  Communication was good regarding vendors, camping issues, parking, stage layout, etc.   Communication where the schedule was concerned was awesome! After the initial stage assignments were released, the committee decided to merge some of the groups so the competitions would count for advancement and sent out several messages about this to let people know right away stage assignments were going to change (and why).  This group also gets extra points from me for using QuickFeis. LOVE the printed judge comments. LOVE the live results on-line. LOVE that you get to see exactly where your dancer fell in the pack (instead of seeing either just a placement or “did not place”).    Knowing whether your dancer would dance before or after lunch was also very much appreciated. Hopefully one of these days, though, QuickFeis wall results will include either the dancer’s name or school name instead of just numbers. It’s hard to check on the results of your friends when all you have access to are numbers, but that’s QuickFeis and beyond the control of the committee.

There was a lot of confusion regarding what was or was not allowed to be near the grade level stages regarding zucas, dress bags, etc.  Facebook communication stated there was to be NO camping in the ballroom upstairs due to the venue fire code.  However, there was a lot of discrepancy as to what could or could not be brought upstairs, whether items were allowed outside of the ballroom, if the issue was just what was allowed on the escalator, etc.   Some facility workers were very strict, others were not…It was confusing and hopefully will be worked out by next year. It would also have been fantastic if social media had been used to inform competitors of when stages were resuming after lunch.  Having all food and camping downstairs led to a lot of unnecessary stress and rumors that stages were starting ahead of schedule…simple announcements like “Stage 5 competition resuming in 10 minutes” via facebook and twitter would be a fantastic idea for next year.

Venue – 8

The venue itself was gorgeous. It was already all decked out for Christmas (which some hated, but my dancer and I loved it!). There was even a sweet little podium set up in front of the Christmas tree display on the 2nd floor for photos.  Nice touch!  Anyway, upon entering the venue you were greeted by the vendors and registration was just inside the main doors. My dancer was scheduled to dance after lunch, so we arrived around 11. Registration was smooth and painless.  We set-up camp in the designated area which, if the stages were downstairs, was actually a really nice place to set-up camp.  The space was near bathrooms and away from all the noise and intensity of the competition; it was just a nice, quiet place to eat, think, chill with friends, regroup, etc.  However, having all camping items downstairs was definitely inconvenient, especially for dancers who were injured while dancing (and due to the poor stage conditions, there were many of those. More on that later….).

There were plenty of bathrooms, an elevator, and an escalator.  Results and awards were also very convenient to the stages on the 2nd floor.  It was quite nice.

Stages – 3

The condition of the stages, in my opinion, was unacceptable.  While very generous in size, they were like ice (even in soft shoes) and quite bouncy.  I could not count the number of slips and falls I witnessed on every. single. stage.  This was a problem before and after lunch, and stages were only cleaned during the lunch break . That was it. With so many slips and falls, I feel it was irresponsible of the team running this feis to not ensure someone would mop the stages at least between judges.  I observed a sweet mom taping her child’s hard shoes then demanding that one of her competitors also let her tape that dancer’s shoes so she wouldn’t fall.  Another mom was seen tapping each and every hardshoe of dancers sitting in chairs and waiting to compete.  I did love seeing all this motherly affection poured out on these dancers, but it also made me a bit angry that it was necessary. On stage 7, a dancer fell during her slip jig.  The mother immediately spoke with the stage monitors (who seemed unaware and, sadly, unconcerned).  She was told the stages were mopped during the lunch break and the dancers should know to wet their shoes. ??????  They did put down a damp cloth for the dancers to walk on before taking the stage after speaking with that mom, but it did not make a difference.   I really hope they invest in new stages next year as this was a big damper on an otherwise fantastic feis.

Judges and Musician – 7

There was only 1 shared musician on stages 5 & 6, which was nice.  I’m not a fan of the shared musician as it always seems to slow competitions and generally causes stage conflicts, but we were not on these stages so I don’t know how well this one worked.  We had a fiddle on our stage and there was an accordion on the others, but there was little music bleeding and the dancers seemed to be able to hear just fine.  My dancer saw only 1 judge for all of her light shoes which was kind of disappointing.  She had different judges for both of her hard shoe dances.  Judge rotation could’ve been a bit better.

Vendors – 8 

There were some cool vendors at this feis.  There was a vendor who made darling Irish dance wear for 18” dolls and a great vendor selling Celtic gifts and jewelry along with the standard shoes, wigs, feis shirts, and dance swag.

 Food – N/A

We did not purchase anything beyond Starbucks at this feis, so I can’t speak to anything regarding food.  My dancer and I did, however, REALLY appreciate having a Starbucks right there.  J

Results – 9

The speed of result posting was close to the speed of light. Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but they were incredibly quick.  My dancer’s TJ results were pretty slow (around 30 minutes), but that was an exception.  Well done!

Feis Flow – 9

Again, I think the rate of the flow was something akin to the speed of sound. However, I majored in English, not science, so my estimation could be a little off. 😉  My dancer started dancing around 1. She danced 3 soft shoe dances and 2 hard shoe dances and was finished, with results, by 3:30.  LOVED the efficiency, but I would’ve been willing to have the feis run a little slower due to frequent stage cleaning.  I would’ve traded speed for safety in a New York minute.

The stage schedule was very nice as it was broken up by feis age and not by grade level.  There were only a few merges between ages, so there seemed to be very few stage conflicts. Few stage conflicts always, always, always makes for a more enjoyable feis experience.  Sticking to the plan to end the comps of dancers up to U11 before lunch and keeping U13 and older after lunch also made for an anxiety-free flow and I didn’t observe anyone miss a dance due to a stage conflict.

Overall Rating – 8

See you next year, Cincinnati Feis!

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Feis Culkin 2014 Grades Review/1 Comment/in , , /by

Corabelle has done a few grades reviews for us and I am sad to report she will no longer be doing them, BECAUSE HER GC MOVED UP TO PC!!! CONGRATS CC’s GC! Looking forward to your PC reviews!

logo_triskele_gobo_400x400Feis Culkin was held on Sunday, November 2, 2014 beginning at 8:30 am. The feis is held at the Maryland Discovery Sports Center in Boyds, Maryland. Boyds is located about 30 miles northwest of DC. For those traveling and in need of a hotel, towns to stay in include Germantown, Gaithersburg and Fredericksburg. This year the feis fell the day after Daylight Savings Time ended and I think the dancers and parents were happy for an extra hour of sleep (or getting ready!) before a feis

Venue

The Discovery Center is a huge indoor sporting complex nestled in a park with at least 20 soccer fields. Due to soccer games going on, parking can be somewhat challenging but not to worry, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a space if you don’t mind a short walk. The venue itself is huge with plenty of room to accommodate 7 stages,one practice stage, approximately 8 vendor tables, and an awards area. Plus there is plenty of camping space (bring your chairs!). The restrooms were plentiful and close enough to the stages. There were signs indicating where additional restroom were. A large area for dresses is reserved and seems to be a popular feis to sell a dress at.

Score 10

Stages and Seating

Grades danced on stages 4-7. The stages were smaller is size but the folks at Culkin had dancers dancing 2 at a time so there was no issue of overcrowding on the stage. The stages were not slippery and offered a nice spring. There is SRO (standing room only) for spectators.

Score 9

Judges

Dancers in grades rotated throughout all 4 stages and so it was possible for them to be judged by each of the adjudicators. They seemed happy to be there and attentive.

Score 9

Musicians

Each stage had their own musician but due to the close proximity of the stages, the music sometimes could not be heard at the optimal decibel. Most dancers didn’t seem troubled by this but it was something they talked about.

Score 7

Food

Food was available in 2 areas of the venue. The first is the indoor concession stand. The lines were long as most stages broke for lunch around the same time.. The outdoor food stand, most likely meant for the soccer game at the adjacent field was bombarded with hungry feis goers and couldn’t keep up. People waited in line for a long time and once they ordered and paid for their food, they waited up to 20 minutes for it to be cooked. They could fix this issue by cooking the burgers, chicken and any other grilled food ahead of time and keeping them in a warming tray.

Prices were average and the portions were hearty. The burgers tasted delicious but the long wait left many people unhappy. According to the outdoor menu board, additional offerings included mac and cheese, collard greens, hush puppies, Jambalaya, fried catfish and quesadilla. Inside carrots and fruit were sold along with sno-cones. No coolers or outside food was allowed and purchased food could only be eaten in designated areas away from the floor.

Score 4 – More efficient service and better preparedness next year and the score easily jumps to an 8.

Vendors

Nice variety and plenty of room for them to set up.Vendors were: Fayes, Feis Fayre, Head for the World, Ishop Irish, Fireball designs, Celtic Treasures and newcomer Glam Stand (hair and makeup).

Score 9 – Before Oireachtas it would be nice to see Rutherford shoes there.

Camping

As mentioned earlier there were plenty of camping spots. The day was sunny but cold and windy. If nice outside, there are areas to sit as well.

Score 8

Feis Flow

The feis began at 8:30 with figures. With Oireachtas coming up, there were a lot of teams competing which pushed the start time for solos later than “usual”. While it made for a long day for some, I don’t think there are many changes that could be made and so that won’t affect my scoring. Though stages had their own musicians the flow was efficient with grades stages rarely being held up. The comps were projected onto the wall and this made knowing where you needed to be very easy. This (efficient) system is appreciated by parents and dancers.

Score 9

Results and Awards

The results were computed by Feisweb and as usual the waiting time for results was very short! Placements were given to the competitors in the top 45-50% of their group. Medals were awarded for Beginner/Ad Beginner and Novice while PW received trophies for first-third place. Quality of the medals and trophies is good. Hersey bars were given (along with trophies) for charity treble reel winners.

Score 10

Social Media

Twitter handle @Feis Culkin 2014, Instagram @feisculkin and a Facebook page demonstrates their proficiency of utilizing social media. Pictures and scores were posted all day long. Prior to the event, the feis committee used social media to keep everyone up to speed with the release of stage schedule, comp splits, etc.

Score 10

The Feis capped by 2pm on the day it opened which tells you it is well attended and popular. We have attended this feis before and will continue to. It’s a good prep for those preparing for Oireachtas and it’s a well run feis. Yes, the day was long for some but that can be overlooked by so many positive areas. I hope that the food issue improves next year but that is the only area I can be critical of.

A final thank you to the volunteers who work hard and devote countless hours of their time to put on an event of this size and quality.

Overall Score 9

Let me know what you thought of the feis this year!

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Cincinnati Feis 2014 Grades Review/3 Comments/in , , /by

Cincinnati-Feis-LogoFullThe 31st Annual Cincinnati Feis was held on November 2, 2014 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, KY. This is the 1st time we have attended this feis, and overall, we had a pleasant experience. This review is mainly aimed at the Grades experience at this feis. As this feis divided grades by age (with younger dancers in the morning session & older dancers in the afternoon), we attended only the morning grades session, so this review covers only that piece of things.

Venue

The feis was held at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. The venue is connected to the Cincinnati Riverwalk Marriott, and the feis secured a relatively reasonable rate for attendees.

Parking was available in the Marriott’s garage, as well as in an open lot across the street. Since we drove in from about 5 hours away, we stayed overnight & parked in the Marriott’s garage. I felt that the $10 we paid for parking from 5:00 PM Saturday until 1:30 PM Sunday was quite reasonable, but other options may have been less expensive.

Registration was right inside the entryway. There was a bit of a line to check in, but the volunteers kept things moving & my dancer was checked in fairly quickly and easily.

We did not spend much time checking out the vendors, but as list of vendors can be seen at http://cincinnatifeis.com/general/vendors/.

Restrooms were convenient, clean & well stocked. I never had to wait in line in the ladies room, which was nice.

Grades stages were located on the 2nd floor of the building, while PC/OC stages were on the 1st floor. The one negative was that Zucas were not allowed on the escalator that took people from the 1st floor to the 2nd, and this being a convention center, it was more than just 1 regular flight of stairs between floors, so I definitely got my exercise that morning!

There was no camping on the second floor (at least not that I saw), but there was sufficient room for everyone’s gear at the stages. There were chairs at all the stages & people generally seemed polite & respectful of space – I didn’t see a lot of gear left on chairs that people could have been sitting on.

There was some space for practicing, but not a whole lot of it. The younger dancers were able to make sufficient room to run through dancers, but the older dancers attending in the afternoon might have had more trouble.

Overall Venue Score: 8/10.

Stages

After this feis, I felt that stages really needed their own category in my reviews, as in some cases, they can make or break a feis.

The feis had 7 stages this year – 4 for grades & 3 for PC/OC. The PC/OC stages (1-3, were on the 1st floor in what appeared to be a large ballroom, while the grades stages (4-7) were on the 2nd floor in another large room. Stage 4 was in a corner by itself, and stage 7 was in another corner by itself. Stages 5-6 were together near the center of the room, and shared a musician. The setup worked well – there was no music bleed over & there was plenty of room to move around in the room.

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.

Overall Stage Score: 0/10.

Judges

My dancer danced 5 times and was seen by 4 judges. I thought that was excellent rotation, particularly for a feis that moved as quickly as this one did. My dancer’s judges seemed attentive, but unfortunately didn’t provide many comments.

Judge Score: 8/10

Music

The musicians did a nice job playing consistently. There was very little bleed over from stage to stage & I didn’t notice excessive breaks or timing issues or anything like that. The musician on stage 4 played some lesser known songs, which did throw some of the dancers for a bit of a loop, but as a parent, I appreciated the change of pace from the standard songs that are stuck in my head for 3 days post-feis.

Music Score: 9/10

Food

We did not partake in any of the food offered by the feis, but options/prices looked to be standard convention fare. A full list of food offerings & prices can be seen at http://cincinnatifeis.com/general/food/.

Food Score: 7/10

Results/Awards

This was a Quickfeis feis, so results were fast & simple. Results were posted on a wall, but you could also simply hand your number card to a volunteer at the awards table, who looks you up in the computer, prints out all your results (including comments & exact placements!) and hands you your awards.

We don’t check results until our dancer is finished with all her dances, so I don’t know how fast results were posted during the day, but she got in line to pick up awards within 10 minutes of finishing her dances & was able to get all her results immediately.

This year, the feis was also posting results online. I believe they were updated every 30 minutes or so, so it was probably faster to simply walk over to the awards table, but it did allow folks who weren’t able to attend the feis to see how friends had placed.

Placements appeared to be generous – I am not sure of the exact formula, but it appeared to me that the feis placed either through 5th place or half the dancers, depending on level & the size of the group. I doubt many dancers went home empty handed, which I like – it’s nice to see the dancers have a little something to show for their hard work, in my opinion.

Medals were awarded for all grades placements, and trophies were given out for 1st place in Open Prizewinner. The medals were very nice quality & best of all, they came with the ribbons already attached (other feiseanna, please take note – parents LOVE this!!!). The trophies were also nice quality – small, but well made.

Results/Awards Score: 10/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was run by dance, but was divided by age, with younger dancers in the morning & older dancers in the afternoon, which meant people were in & out fairly quickly. My dancer started dancing around 9:15, and was done around 11:15, so things moved very quickly.

Feis Flow Score: 10/10

Overall Score: 7/10

A solid score overall, but this feis was definitely hampered by the poor quality stages. We are unlikely to attend again next year because of that issue, and I heard several others make similar comments.

What did you think?

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Rince Na h’Eireann Charlotte Feis 2014 Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

3948211The RNE Charlotte Feis was held on October 25th, 2014 at the Hilton Hotel in the UNC Charlotte are and was held in memory of Brian Quinlivan and what a great memorial it was to him. This is always a favorite feis because of the venue, the draw of the competitors from the region and the awards.

Venue and Food

This feis took place at the Hilton Hotel in the UNC Charlotte area. Since this venue is in the middle of a retail complex, there was plenty of parking for the number of people attending as well as plenty of restaurants within walking distance so you weren’t locked into the typical hotel food.

There were signs posted in the hall ways letting people know it was unacceptable to ‘camp’ and there was a security guard who made sure the rule was enforced. This allowed people to easily get between rooms without having to navigate around stuff scattered on the floor. I don’t know if the organizer planned this or the hotel but it was MUCH appreciated.

My only complaint were the costs for snacks sold by the venue which I thought were overpriced which is probably par for the course and the length of time it took to get through the Starbuck’s line. With only 4 people ahead of me, each ordering 2 drinks a piece, it still took about 20 minutes at 7am!

Stages/Music

There were a total of 5 stages. According to the schedule, Stages 1-3 were in the main ballroom and were host to Figures and grade levels. They were slightly raised (inches) and covered in marlee. Tape divided the 3 stages which were all serviced by the same accordion player.

Stage 4 was the Champion Stage and was a beautiful raised stage covered in marlee as well. PC & OCs were all supposed to dance on this stage but unfortunately, the U15 and higher PCs were moved to stages 1 & 2. This caused a lot of confusion since families were arriving in the afternoon and were hearing conflicting stories as to the schedule change.

Stage 5 was plywood and used for the Prizewinner/PC non traditional sets.

Judges/Competition

I commend the feis coordinators for splitting the competitions in the PC & OC levels so that the dancers could compete against other dancers in their same draw and age. This does require extra awards and time but it is nice to see how competitive the dancers are in relation to their age group this close to Oireachtas. The one thing that I think disappointed some dancers and parents is when the U15 and above PC levels were still dancing 3 at a time versus 2 at a time. I am assuming this was more because of how late it was in the day.

It was nice to see comments from all of the judges which were emailed out that same evening.

Vendors

The vendors were the typical ones and could get everything from socks to wigs to shoes including the make your own t-shirt vendor.

Awards

The results for the grades and the recall lists were posted VERY fast! I think within 20 minutes of the completion of the competition which I attribute to the number of volunteers the organizers probably had in the tabulations room. I think this helped with the crowd control so that people could dance, see the results and leave when they were finished versus having to hang around and wait.
Gorgeous perpetual trophies were given out to the winner of Traditional Sets as well as PC and OC winners. It was nice to see the Traditional Sets held in such high regard by presenting such beautiful trophies since it is the basis for modern Irish Dance.

The OCs dancers who made it to the podium received beautiful platters and the coveted embroidered pink and green sash. PC dancers on the podium received imprinted sashes. Prizes for individual rounds were also given which is nice for some of the dancers to receive who didn’t make the recall list.

Volunteers

It is so nice to get to a feis and encounter volunteers who were happy to be there. I think they were the contributing factor to the success of the overall event. They should all be congratulated.

Social Media

There was no social media effort for this feis which is unfortunate. There is a lot of great communication that can be pushed out through Facebook and Twitter that can solve some confusion when competitions get moved around on stages or what competitions are being run concurrently as well as when awards are going to be announced. It can also help promote the event to boost attendance. My recommendation would be for the feis organizers to look into a social media plan for next year but start to build a presence months before the actual event.

Summary

Well run feis! To quote a family who travels there every year by plane, ‘it is one of our favorites and we wouldn’t miss it!’ I, myself, will definitely return.

Score 9.5

What did you think?

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Harvest Time Feis 2014 PC/OC Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Harvest Time Feis was held at Burlington High School in Burlington, Massachusetts on October 26, 2014.

Venue

Burlington High school- we got there a bit earlier this time around 11. Parking was a zoo, it is a huge lot and if you didn’t plan on a long walk and extra time this could be stressful. Again, I am not used to this size feis, which was bigger then Saturday, so maybe the natives would take it in stride.

The stages were spread out upstairs and down and finding a spot to put your things was a great challenge. I settled in a cleared out gym only to be told they were closing it and everyone had to leave in 10 min. Our backpack was then put behind a door near a trash can. It was very crowded but you could go outside, which people did. Felt a bit squished.

It was hot in the gym again but for Opens in the auditorium it was nicely air conditioned. Oh, the stages were rubber on a gym floor, this time splitting it into 6 stages in one room. It worked although there was only 1 check in spot in the back corner for all stages and that was confusing.

For the opens stage in the library the state was back to front with the audience behind the dancers.The only entrance was side stage.

Several falls in opens way too close to Oireachtas. Combined boys and girls. No idea what was happening in opens, and combined with ‘out of it volunteers’ or down right rude volunteers made it worse. I found the volunteers in prelim nice, but no one knew what was happening. One person only, went out of their way to get an answer for me to find out which show was dancing first. Everyone else, while nice to me, just said they didn’t know and walked off. That made it stressful for me and I would imagine worse for first time feisers.

I give it a 5

Judges

There were plenty of judges for all of the stages. I didn’t see a rotation after grade levels but I can’t be sure. They did figures in between, but because they were running so far behind they moved them into the gym that they previously closed. I still didn’t see a change of stations. I can’t rate this since I’m not sure again.

Music

Loved it again. Nice job it was clear and loud. Shared musicians for all but it worked.

I give it an 8

Food

I heard there was a cafeteria selling food but I had no idea where it was, and it was so crowded I didn’t go anywhere. There was a small table outside the gym selling candy for 1.00, but that’s it. Based on that I will rate it a 5, but I don’t know about food otherwise.

I give it an 5

Vendors

I can’t say that I saw a single vendor. Again, this was a big venue but I didn’t see any from my trip from the front of the school to the downstairs gym.

I give it a 0

Results

They were ok, no announcements again, so I had no idea when they were going to be held. No posting for recalls. We didn’t wait to long. The trophies were super cute, and I am all about theme! They had witches on the top, ghosts and pumpkins etc. Sashes were nice, with fringe, I think the opens had gems. Marks were given,

I give it an 8

Feis Flow

It was very choppy. My daughter’s comp ran 1.5 hours late. I was told it is usually a good running feis, so maybe it was an off year. They tried to move it along by moving the figures and glad they did, but ours ran late. Never fun. 2 dances start to finish was about 4 hours.

I give it a 6

Scoring – I give the feis an overall score of 7.

More room, better communication would help for sure. Like I mentioned previously, other locals told me this usually runs well, so we all have off years, maybe this was just a hiccup.

This was a nice experience overall. All the kids and parents were very sweet to myself and my daughter, esp since we have never competed there, so they were curious and that sprung into nice conversations and chats about the differences and similarities between regions. I liked the double feis, as I had to fly, so it made the pain of airfare a bit easier to swallow. I was impressed with the quality of the dancers in the New England region. So many lovely, sharp, and elegant dancers I can’t wait to go back next year.

Do You Feel the Same?

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Neponset Valley Feis 2014 PC/OC Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

logo4The 10th Annual Neponset Valley Feis was held at Walpole High School, Walpole, Massachusetts on October 25th, 2014.

This review is for Champ level comps. ( note: My daughter was in the prelim comp. and a friend who was traveling with me took notes on the Opens stages so those are included too)

Venue

This feis took place at Walpole high school. Parking was decent for the number of people attending. I can’t say whether grades were more crowded, my daughter danced at 3:15 so we got there post lunch. The prelim stages were 3 and were just one big rubber floor placed over the gym and separated by tape. On the wall were the numbers of the comps and they were taken down as each comp moved along. I didn’t hear any announcements to the next comp but the room was big so I may have missed it. bleacher seating no room for camping. We had a good amt of room to walk around, found a corner just outside the gym. could walk in and out of the building for air. the gym was super hot but outside was cool. it was uncomfortable for the dancers. The autorium was where opens were held and it was very hot also. They didn’t combine boys and girls in Opens.

I would give it a 7

Judges

I can’t really say that the judges moved around too much but I don’t know. She only danced 2 dances but I dont remember the judges changes seats before her comp. I won’t rate judge rotation since I can’t give it a fair shake

Music

Same musicians for all the stages but it worked well and they were wonderful. No mistakes no delays and no wandering off never to be found again.

I give it a 10

Food

Nice options. They sold food in the cafeteria with plenty of tables set up. Prices were good ranging from 1-3 dollars. They had pizza, nice turkey, ham. etc sandwiches, orange juice, water, soda, fruit and homemade cupcakes, chips, coffee( yay!).

I give it a 10.

Vendors

In the hallway just as you came in so a bit squishy but nice. I didn’t buy anything but it seems like nice things regular stuffs.

I give it an 8

Results

Not announced and went at super human speed ( Murphy’s Law exception- except for my daughters comp when we waited and waited. ha! always the way) They didn’t post recalls and didn’t make announcments as to when they will happen. This resulted in a friends daughter running up to the podium in shorts and a t shirt ( still nice to be there though) and another missing her daughter on the podium. This was way to fast in my book. Literally, people danced and came off stage and took their things to the cafeteria to get results. I think a breather would be nice and a better way to announce results. That is tricky in a feis I know.

I give it a 5

Feis Flow

Was a bit choppy, ran on time in open but late in prelim. again, we came late in the day but time between dances went fast then slow but nothing that stands out as poor. I give it a 7

Overall I give the feis an 8.

Both my friend and I agree the volunteers for the school were lovely and helpful. Parents and kids alike were warm and welcoming to out of towners! The halloween treble reel was cute and fun (I would have liked it at the end since kids wore costumes and it made a bit of a delay but still fun. I would go back and I recommend the feis. It was bigger then any feis I am used to but natives seemed to be used to that.

What Did You Think?

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