Baltimore Feis 2014, Grades Review

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Actually received two reviews for Baltimore within about an hour of each other so posting them both. Be sure to also see Mom O’Three’s review.

The 27th Annual Baltimore Feis, sponsored by The Kevin Broesler Parents Association was held on Saturday, September 20, 2014 with a start time of 8:45 am. It was held at the Chesapeake Arts Center / Brooklyn Park Middle School located at 194 Hammonds Lane in Brooklyn Park, Maryland. A cap of 850 was set and met.

Venue

Located about 6 miles from BWI airport, the location of the Feis is easy to find and plenty of hotels are within a 10-15 minute drive. For those traveling and needing an overnight stay, The Broesler school suggested 2 hotels on their syllabus: the Holiday Inn in Linthicum Heights and the Embassy Suites at BWI airport, however only the Holiday Inn had a Feis rate ($109.00) With the Feis being held near the airport there are plenty of hotel choices, therefore you can shop around for best rates. The Holiday Inn is where our family stayed- the hotel was clean, updated, and close to various restaurants. We felt it was worth the money and we would stay there again.

At the middle school where the feis is held, parking isn’t exactly ample but there are areas near the venue you can park if you cannot get a spot right at the school. The school was air conditioned, had multiple restrooms, but the hallways were somewhat crowded due to camping and vendors. A dress rack was located at the very end of the hallway near the area of Stage 6 where open champs danced.

Score 7

Stages and Seating

Grades danced in the Cafeteria (stages 1 and 2) and Gymnasium (stages 3 and 4). Stages were raised wood and fairly large although I don’t understand why anyone older than 12 has to dance three at a time on the smaller sized stages. I watched a group of U13 dance their reel 3 at a time and the stage was too small forcing dancers to maneuver around each other without losing their concentration. Stage 2 danced up on the schools’ stage (think area of school chorus/recitals). I can tell you my dancer loved the idea of being on a “big stage” and having the judge looking up at her. In the cafeteria, spectators had to stand when watching the comps, while in the gymnasium there were 2-3 rows of folding chairs set up for spectators, but mostly people stood.

Score 8

Judges

Dancers rotated throughout all 4 stages and thus were judged by four different judges (providing they danced all “core” dances). Judges seemed happy to be there and attentive.

Score 8

Musicians

Each stage had their own musician and each musician was fabulous! Acoustics were good, and mostly there were no issues hearing the music. (at one point the gym got very noisy due to loud talking parents and I couldn’t hear the music too well, but my dancer did not complain).

Score 10

Food

Food was available on the lower level, away from the comps. Prices were average and portions were large (chicken tenders were huge). Typical fast food fare, except for mashed potatoes!! Yes, they offered mashed potatoes! We try to bring food when I can organize myself well enough so I didn’t experience firsthand the food this time around. In the upstairs area they sold ice cream (generic dippin dots) and also had a table with baked goods, chips, water and gatorade. I didn’t see fresh fruit, yogurt or nuts so the score I gave reflects that, however if someone bought these at the feis please include that in a comment!

Score 7

Vendors

Good variety. Both Fayes and Rutherfords were there along with Head for the World (wig/hair accessories vendor), Goin Feisin, and a tshirt vendor offering Baltimore Feis T Shirts/etc.

Score 10

Camping

The front lawn of the school was a nice place to camp due to the shade from the trees. Many people camped outside and thankfully the weather cooperated. The lawn had been freshly cut (but the grass clippings were not bagged). Inside, people camped in the hallway leading into the cafeteria and inside the cafeteria, which was spacious enough to camp. The gym wasn’t a good area to camp as there were 3 stages (2 grades and Prelim). A rainy day might change the score drastically but for this year they earn the score.

Score 8

Feis Flow

The feis began on time (8:45) startin with ceilis which ended around 9:15 am. The feis ended (for grades) at approx 3:15 pm. The schedule was unique ( for novice/pw) in that set was danced after Reel, then they had a (planned) break for lunch. Immediately after lunch ( lunch was from 11:30-12:15) they danced the charity Treble reel, Light jig, slip jig, hop jig, treble jig and finally hornpipe. A lot of shoe changing went on but not having to rush from stage to stage earns the feis flow a decent score.

Score 8

Results and Awards

DfC_Re1XEGqhyLrvZoe8nugksBDInYn4voOzURzV8W2nN92Z4xLhuFfDsWOpR2EORZ3qQIfkmYpH3SIl-8MgG68D1aw=s2048The 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 40-50% of their group. Medals were awarded for Beginner/Ad Beginner while Novice/PW received trophies for first-third place; any placement above third earned the dancer a decent quality custom medal with the Broesler School logo and ribbon to wear around your neck.

nt6gxnn-cKU9UBAbOdG7b9z_YhgVaLGrdk0yBrcskd0jdiyQ2P3Q6aLw9Gq_zWg-YgKOyN4xsIN9XUJ8zO6s0yO5ENg=s2048The trophies were nice- there is a music note on the top of the trophy along with the words “Baltimore Feis”, “x” place written on the base .

Score 8.5

Misc

It was nice that the volunteers took advantage of the overhead intercom for announcements, however, continually announcing that lunch was available was distracting because it occurred while the dancers were dancing.

Social Media

Twitter handle @Baltimorefeis notified users the Champ awards time and also posted pictures of the winners and the results.

This was the first time we attended the Baltimore Feis. When asking other families their opinion of this feis the feedback was varied. Some liked it and some only went because of the location. Our experience was positive and it was a worthwhile feis to attend. Scanning the competitior list there seemed to be a mix of regions/dance schools represented at this feis. Thus, the competition was strong which is perfect for this time of year as many dancers prepare for their Oireachtas.

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 8

So, What Did You Think?

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Michigan (Muskegon) Feis 2014 Review, Champs/0 Comments/in , , /by

The 2014 Michigan Feis was held on September 13, 2014 at Muskegon Central Catholic High School in Muskegon, MI. This is the 4th time the WTF famila has attended this feis, and honestly, it is one of our faves. Jeanette did an awesome job for the over all feis review so I will just be adding notes for some things she did not cover from a champs perspective or other items. I do suggest reading Jeanette’s review along with this one for the big picture.

One thing I do not think she mentioned is that each dancer gets a free ticket into the Michigan Irish Music Festival which is a savings of $15 to $20 if you are going to it, which I highly suggest.

Venue

We were at the other end of the school on Stage 1, in the far gym, the one Jeanette did not get too. The stage was very large, over 30 x 30 but the gym was very warm. One large fan at the front door was not cutting it keeping the room cool. NOTE: I am not the large fan that was trying to be cool.

Stage condition was great and I only saw one near slip, by TGC actually, and that was because of trying to avoid a collision with the other dancer.

Everything else Jeanette says is spot on, except, although George the Shoe Guy’s company was well represented by Betsy, his daughter, George is still recuperating from his surgery, and according to Betsy is doing well.

Judges

Typical for Champs, three judges, all attentive, no special comments.

Music

For stage 1 there was the ‘standing fiddle player’ I have mentioned in the past. There was some issues with sound before TGC danced but they got it all worked out and things went smoothly the rest of the time we were there. The stage is so far away from the others that music bleedover in literally impossible at normal volume levels.

Food

We took advantage of the coffee and morning items. All reasonable and the coffee wasn’t terrible.

Results/Awards

I have to concur with my co-reviewer, things move pretty quickly awards wise, so fast in fact TGC needed to do a quick change back into her dress as we got back to the gym right when her comp announcements were about to start. I would say it was less than 30 minutes from the completion of her dances to the presentation of awards. Admittedly, this was one of the smaller comps she has competed with in a while, but that was still really fast.

Regarding the Champ awards, they received medals if they placed top three in their dances, and then a nice gift for overall placement. I saw crystal and china items, not sure what else was handed out. A negative, they only gave sashes for 1st.

Since this feis runs in conjunction with the Michigan Irish Music Festival, top finishers get to participate in the Parade of Champions at the festival, AND one parent gets a free ticket. Sure we had to scalp our ticket at the gate since we bought in advance, but hey, it worked out great 🙂

Feis Flow

Pretty good, but it took a lot longer for TGC to dance then we assumed based on the number of comps and dancers that went before her. For champs, they took 2 – 3 age groups and rotated through the dances for them before moving to the next age groups. When she started however, start to finish was less than 30 minutes (remember, small comp but the comp that was running with hers had 15ish dancers).

Scoring

I am with Jeanette on this one, a few little nits like the temperature in the gym and only giving sahes for 1st, but this feis is easily a 9.

What did you think?

Want to rate the feis or have an opinion? Please visit the Grades Review page and use the poll at the bottom of the page. Thanks!

Michigan (Muskegon) Feis 2014 Review, Grades/0 Comments/in , , /by

The 2014 Michigan Feis was held on September 13, 2014 at Muskegon Central Catholic High School in Muskegon, MI. This is the 2nd time we have attended this feis, and we have had a very pleasant experience here both times. This review is mainly aimed at the Grades experience at this feis.

Venue

The feis was held at Muskegon Central Catholic High School.

Parking was free, plentiful & close – which was a nice change from many other feiseanna we have attended recently!

Because this feis is associated with the Michigan Irish Music Festival, there was an admission fee for adults at the door (I believe it was $8/person), but dancers were admitted free. There was a bit of a bottleneck getting into the school because people were paying the admission fee, but those who checked in the night before at the feis hotel & got their admission wristbands paid for then were able to walk right in. We had not prepaid, but still waited less than 5 minutes to get in, which is quick compared to other feiseanna we’ve been to with a similar setup.

Registration and awards were right inside the entryway, and my dancer was checked in quickly and easily.
The feis had 4 stages this year – 3 for grades & 2 for PC/OC. The PC/OC stage was off on its own (and I never ventured over to see it, to be honest). Stage 2 was housed in the school’s auditorium, which made for a nice experience for the dancers on it – quiet, calm & out of the way. My dancer was on this stage when we attended in 2013 and really enjoyed it. The other 2 stages were in the gym, separated by a decent distance. All stages were of a reasonable size & the quality seemed great – I don’t think I saw a single fall on the 2 stages in the gym all day.

I really liked this setup, as I didn’t feel like I was crammed into a room with 1,000 of my closest friends (as I often do at feiseanna), but if you had dancers on multiple stages, it might have been difficult & tiring to run back & forth between them.

I did not check out the vendors, but I understand that George the shoe guy was there, along with a t-shirt vendor & a wig/bling vendor.

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

There was no camping, but there was sufficient room for everyone’s gear at the stages. The auditorium was large enough to hold people & bags in the chairs provided, and the bleachers were adequate for everyone & everything in the gym.

Practice space was pretty much non-existent. There were signs up all over the place asking that dancers not dance on school floors. Dancers in the auditorium had some carpeted space at the back of the room that they could practice on, but the dancers in the gym were limited to a small corner.

Overall Venue Score: 8/10.

Judges

My dancer danced 6 times and was seen by 2 judges. That’s not overly great rotation in my opinion, but it is relatively typical for a feis run by level. My dancer’s judges seemed attentive & provided detailed & helpful comments, which we appreciate, as that doesn’t always happen.

Judge Score: 7/10

Music

On the grades stage in the auditorium, the music was great. The musician was excellent & there were no sound/tempo issues that I noted. On the 2 stages in the gym, one had a violin & one had an accordion. My dancer danced on both stages & said she had no issues hearing either musician & really didn’t note much bleed over between the stages (and she is usually the first to complain about issues with hearing music), but sitting in the bleachers, I could only hear the accordion. I did see one dancer on one stage start her traditional set dance at the wrong time, because the song was being played on the other stage as well. At one point, one of the judges stopped the dancing on his stage & had a discussion with the accordion player & a feis volunteer & then rearranged speakers so he could hear the music better, so at least there was a willingness to adjust things as needed.
My suggestion in this area would be for the feis to take a cue from the Missouri State Championships and use a single musician for both stages. It might slow things down a little bit, but it would eliminate the bleed over issue altogether.

Music Score: 7/10

Food

The feis had a concession stand with hot dogs, chips & other similar items. Not much variety or much of anything healthy, but prices were quite reasonable. More importantly, unlike most other feiseanna we attend, there was no restriction on bringing in your own food, so we didn’t even need to visit the concession stand. Volunteers even smiled at us as we walked in with our cooler & asked if they could share the Jimmy Johns sandwiches we brought with us, which was a nice change of pace!

Food Score: 8/10

Results/Awards

This is where this feis really sets itself apart from others, in my opinion. Instead of crowding around a wall where results are posted (although I believe they are posted on a wall somewhere too), you 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. My dancer was thrilled to receive a congratulatory text from a friend at home who saw her results.

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 (if any) 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 & were unique – not your typical cookie cutter circle with a sticker slapped on. And 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 level, which meant people were in & out fairly quickly. My dancer had dances in novice & open/prizewinner both. She started dancing around 10:30, and we were done by 2:15, which included a fairly long lunch break.

One thing I found odd was that there was no timeframe given for the lunch break. When my dancer asked a stage monitor how long the break would be, the answer was “we’ll start again whenever the judge comes back”.

Volunteers did move dances from stage 3 to stage 4 (both in the gym) in order to keep the feis moving quickly. However, no announcement was made (at least not that I heard), and it was just luck that my dancer noticed that 2 of her dances had been moved. Clearer communication about that & about the length of the lunch break would have been nice.

Feis Flow Score: 8/10

Overall Score: 8/10 – Great job Michigan Feis!!!

This is one of our favorite feiseanna – we will definitely be back again next year!

What Did You Think?

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American Pride Feis 2014 Review, Grades/1 Comment/in , , /by

4-231x300The American Pride Feis was held September 12 and 13, in Nashville, TN. The feis was located inside the Convention Center of the lovely Gaylord Opryland Resort. This feis was sponsored by the Tennessee Irish Dance Organization. The school behind the feis is the Southern Academy of Irish Dance. The feis offered multiple competitions, including baking, art, instrumental music, Tir Na Nog, First Feis, and charity treble reel competitions. This year’s charity treble reel proceeds went to the Navy Seal Foundation. (Go Navy!) This year’s feis was very well organized and well run. It may well become one of the top Southern Region feisanna to attend, much like Nation’s Capital and Rhythm of Ireland.

Venue: 10

Some of you may remember that I am NOT a fan of hotel feisanna. Thankfully, the Gaylord Opryland is a Hotel, Resort, and Convention Center. So, this feis actually falls under convention center feisanna. The convention center rooms are much like those of Union Station in St. Louis. Large, plenty of seating, room for camping, and room for walking. The only bottle necks occurred in the Awards Room. Please see Awards for further remarks.

The venue makes this feis an experience, not just a competition. It is large enough to handle an enormous influx of people. It is also a treat to visit. For those staying in the resort overnight, there are a number of things to do. In addition to practicing steps on the stages, which the feis volunteers had ready for use by 6pm – well done, again, Recruits – there are the gardens, the fountain show, arcade, indoor riverboat, shopping, restaurants, several pools, spa, and 24 hour fitness center.

We did not have a problem finding seats at any of our stages. There was also room for camping inside the feis halls. The Southern Region is not known for feis camping, so the room available seemed more than adequate. There were 5 vendors at the feis. A local photographer, Eagle Sports Shirts, wigs and hair doodahs, dance shoes and poodle socks, and portable speakers. The hallway outside of the feis halls was situated very well for the feis vendors and feis traffic.

Parking: 7

Since it is a large venue, parking is designed for a large number of cars. Think theme park sized parking solutions. So, parking is not fun. But, it is not impossible or a pain. Just not fun. For those so inclined, you can park at the Opry Mills Mall, and one other lot, for FREE. Free is good. The walk to and from the car may be more cost than some would prefer. Self parking at the resort is $20 per day, plus tax. Which is quite the jump from FREE. Or, you can pay $35, including tip, for valet. The Wilkes family checked ahead and budgeted for the self parking at the resort. We found it to be a reasonable solution for our family. If we had not known ahead of time, and budgeted, it would have been quite a shock.

Feis Flow: 5

They get an A for effort. The Recruits certainly did all they could to keep the feis running on schedule. The feis started on time. 7:55am with the presentation of the flags and singing of the anthems. The feis ended about 4:15pm. They were tearing down stages by 5pm. Between that time, it was an adventure. Stages 3 and 4 were stalled for over an hour because of champs and judge rotations. Stages 1 and 2 experienced stage schedule changes, due to that unplanned break. See also Results.

Judging: 4

Everyone of our little darlings had very little judge rotatiion. Or, the judges were rotated, but the dancers were also rotated. So, they were dancing for the same judge on a different stage. The ideal is a different judge for each dance. It did not happen at this feis.

Results: 5

Part of this score comes from the Awards room itself. More than one dancer missed a special because their awards were being announced for a championship, while their special was being loaded on the stage. The results time also depended on the stages. 1 and 2 posted in about 30 minutes from the dancing, before lunch 3 and 4 were between 10 and 20, before lunch. After lunch, it was catch-as-catch-can. Average wait time was 20 minutes from dance to posting. The results did go online very quickly. You could almost check your phone as quickly as the room. Which was nice, if there was a large awards ceremony ongoing, when you came to the door. The paper replacement system on the wall worked well. With lunch being pushed back, the stages were pushed back, which pushed the results back. See also Flow, which affected Results.

Awards: 6

Overall, the awards were well done. Sashes for champs placing in the top 3. Stuffed cups, bowls, and china plates for awards, in addition to trophies. Champs were awarded in the results rooms, with a red, white, and blue podium. Prizewinner and Champs received distinctive trophies for top 3 placements. The medals were roughly the size of the bottom of water bottle. This feis also included the medal ribbons, which was certainly appreciated by the younger set of dancers. Many grades dancers enjoyed the sound of clinking medals, as they walked.

Several families were met with confusion and delay in the awards room. There appeared to not be clear communication about who was to receive what award and for what competition. My suggestion would be to have a list by each distribution volunteer. Or, to have each award on the table clearly labeled. This does NOT have to be complicated. Feis ATL used Post Its last year. Simple, but effective. Also, 3 of the treble reels were to have been awarded on stage. But, the awards never made it out to the stages. So, they were picked up. Also, a couple of the competitions were labeled Trophy Specials in the syllabus. When it came time to pick up awards for those competitions, dancers found out it meant a trophy for 1st place and medal for 2nd and 3rd. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved in time for next year.

The Awards room was the only crowd causing problem area. Thankfully, that room also had multiple doors. So, just by going down one door, you were able to enter the room. You did still have to wait to get to the walls, depending on when you were in the awards room. The grades results were on walls in a corner, which created obvious problems. Who wants to be put into a corner, anyway?

Music: 10

Let’s sing the Doxology! It had to be a miracle! Every stage had a wonderful accordianist. Such joy, to hear the melodious sounds of the accordion from every stage. Was there music carry over? Yes. But only when one musician stopped playing, while the musician in the next room continued. When the music was resumed on that stage, there was no carry over at all. I did not see any musician related timing errors on either of the grades stages.

In addition, a local Irish pub provided the soloists for the anthems. It was wonderful to see the room in which the anthems were held come to a respectful stillness and silence. It was awe inspiring to hear the other feis halls become silent when the alto soloist sang our National Anthem.

Feis Food: 8

The food options were tremendous. If you could not find something to suit your taste, it is your own fault. The Wilkes family ate at STAX. The burgers were HUGE. Our little dancers split a combo meal very happily, with left overs. That turns into $6 per dancer. Considering the location, we found it to be very reasonable. Especially when I think back to paying $3 for a PRETZEL at Queen City. So, $12 for a meal large enough to split between our two youngest dancers was a feis meal deal. Ash Wilkes also had multiple options for his feis coffee. There was a pay per cup machine just done the hall from the main feis area. It was a very short walk for a fancier cup of coffee. In 7 minutes, he was able to walk to several cafe options for his coffee. So, while not inexpensive, the venue offered many options at several price points.

Overall Score: 7 out of 10

Did you go, what did you think?

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Rock River Valley Feis 2014, Grades Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

downloadThe 2014 Rock River Valley Feis was held on September 6, 2014 at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL. This is the 2nd time we have attended this feis, although the venue was different when we attended 2 years ago.

Venue

The feis was held at the Megacenter right next to the resort.  It is a small building with an open ballroom type area.  There was a small food court area near the front of the room.

Parking was free, plentiful & close – which was a nice change from many other feiseanna we have attended recently!

Registration and awards were right inside the entryway, and my dancer was checked in quickly and easily.

The feis had 6 stages this year – 4 for grades & 2 for PC/OC.  Stages were definitely on the small side, and even dancing 2/time, I saw several collisions due to the tight quarters.

Stage quality was a HUGE issue this year. My dancer’s stage saw many slips and falls, including one dancer who had to be helped off the stage & couldn’t put weight on the foot/ankle she injured.  I never saw an attempt at mopping or otherwise treating the stage to make things less slippery.  I know there were slips/falls on at least one of the PC/OC stages as well.

The stages were also FAR too close to each other.  With 6 stages playing music all at once within such a small area, it was impossible for dancers to hear their music clearly.

Vendors were the usual suspects – George the shoe guy, a t-shirt vendor, 4Irish dancers (who thankfully sold me a card of bobby pins when I realized we had forgotten ours!), and another hair/bling vendor.

Restrooms were plentiful, but were not restocked well, and several dispensers were out of soap for a couple of hours mid- morning.  One of the paper towel dispensers had stopped working by lunchtime as well.

There was no camping at all whatsoever.  Zucas and dress bags were piled all over the place & there was a lot of feis shaming going on in the minimal seating provided.

The bottom line is that this venue was simply too small for the entry cap.  Either the cap needs to be reduced, or a new venue with more room needs to be secured.

Overall Venue Score:  3/10

Judges

My dancer danced 5 times and was seen by 4 judges.  That’s very good rotation, in my opinion, especially for a feis that runs by level.  My dancers judges also provided detailed & helpful comments, which we appreciate, as that doesn’t always happen.

Judge Score: 9/10

Music

I honestly could not hear the music from my dancer’s stage (and I was not THAT far back).  My dancer said she had trouble hearing the music meant for her stage over music coming from other stages & she said most of the judges seemed to be having trouble as well.

Music Score:  5/10

Food

The feis had a small food court with hot dogs, chips & other similar items.  Not much variety or much of anything healthy, but prices seemed relatively reasonable.

Food Score:  6/10

Results/Awards

The speed at which results were posted varied throughout the day and by stage.  One dancer from our school waited over an hour for results for 2 dances both danced in the morning.  My dancer’s results were up much faster, but she danced later in the day, so perhaps whatever issues plagued the tabulation room in the morning were resolved by the afternoon.

The feis only placed approximately 30% of the dancers, which is low even for Mid America feiseanna (which typically place around 40%).  I personally like to see a little more generous placement, particularly given that entry fees for this feis were higher than fees for other area feiseanna.  Especially for younger novice/open dances who can become easily discouraged, to only place 6 dancers in a group of 23 (which works out to only about 25%) just seems a little stingy to me.  I’m not one who believes every kid needs to go home with an award of some kind every time, but I think this feis could stand to loosen the purse strings on the awards a little bit.

Results/Awards Score: 4/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was run by level, which usually means most people are in & out fairly quickly, but the Rock N Reel (a soft shoe reel special danced to popular music) wreaked havoc on the flow.

For some reason, the Rock N Reel was scheduled to start at 9:30 (our prior experience with specials like this is that they typically run at lunch or at the end of the day), which appeared to be when the feis expected Beginner 2 dances to end & novice dances to start.  However, stages were not moving at an even pace, and some stages were ready for the RNR before that, and some weren’t ready until well after.

Because the RNR was simply grouped by level (& not by age), the fact that it ran at different times on different stages created stage conflicts for many dancers, which then slowed down all the grades stages considerably.  Additionally, the music was blasted & overpowered neighboring stages which were still running regular dances, making it virtually impossible for dancers to hear their music.

Some stages did stop altogether until the RNR dances were finished, but others continued to move dances through.  A consistent decision on how to handle this would have been helpful.

My dancer was one with a stage conflict due to the RNR & when I asked the volunteers how they would prefer we handle it, all I got was a shrug & a “do whatever you think is best”.  I assume they were just as frustrated with the lack of consistency as I was, but a pleasant response would have been nice.

There were inconsistencies in how many dancers at a time danced, which made some stages move faster than others, too.  On stage 6 I saw dancers dancing 3/time, but on stages 3 & 4, I only ever saw 2/time.

The feis did take only a 10 minute lunch break – they delivered lunch to the judges at the stages & allowed them a few minutes to eat & use the restroom & then things started right back up.  This was appreciated by everyone & is something other feiseanna could stand to try.

In the past, when my dancer has straddled 2 levels and we’ve attended a feis run by grade, we have  typically been in & out in 4 hours.  We were there for 8 hours this time, so double what is normal for a feis run in this manner.

Feis Flow Score: 3/10 (and it would have been lower had it not been for the quick lunch break)

Overall Score:  4/10

Sorry Rock River Valley, but the venue & the poor flow made it difficult to do any better than this.

What Did You Think?

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Great Lakes Feis 2014, Grades Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

image001The 12th Annual Great Lakes Feis was held August 17th, 2014 at the Lansing Center in Lansing, MI.

This was our first trip to the Great Lakes Feis and we really enjoyed it.

We did the Feis as a double Feis with Rose City. I was saddened to hear this feis was moving dates in 2015 to the last weekend in July. Several of our friends from our home studio wanted to try the double feis in August like we did. Not sure how July will work for our family.

I am adding the grade viewpoint to compliment the PC/OC review from WTF himself.

Venue

Stages and Seating

My dancer didn’t say anything about the Grade stage being slippery. She did say it didn’t have much spring to it and felt it the next day. I didn’t see anyone slipping on our stage.

Chairs seemed adequate; we actually gave up our seats and used our Zuca in the camping area. Plenty of space to watch our dancer each time.

Camping and Access

Lots of room to camp. We are bringing a blanket and chairs next time. Just having some bags and a Zuca made our spot prime crossing for everyone else. If you come, bring a blanket to claim your spot and limit others stepping close to your dress bag. Coming from a region with lots of small venue competitions, it was a treat to be able to spread out and not find other people piling on top of your bags.

It was easy to stand close to the chairs and watch each dance. The space works so that everyone can see their dancer.

Awards and Results

Medals for the Grade awards were nice. Bright, shiny and included ribbons. Yes, we have been to a Feis where you had to purchase a ribbon for your medals.

Results posted quickly but a few were skipped. My dancer discovered she could ask at the laptops so she skipped waiting for 1 or 2 to be written on the results wall. When we left, they still had not been written up on the wall. We like being able to get a printout of results and comments. My dancers poured over her comments on our drive home.

Parking

Arriving early, we were able to park on the street. Weekend free parking is great. Parking rates were typical but we were able to skip it and park on the street.

Judges

Judges rotated throughout the day. Even though my dancer stayed on 1 stage, she had 2 judges. Nice and helpful comments too. She received comments on everything except for Traditional Set. She entered the Art Competition and received handwritten comments. The Art Judge took him time and really judged each piece. She finished dancing before lunch break but waiting an hour or more after lunch break for the Art Competition to post. We always wait for something to post, we were amused that it was Art this time.

Music

Music was good. My dancer had no trouble hearing her music. The set up worked with each stage and very little bleed in music between them.

Food

We stopped at Tim Horton’s on the way in so didn’t try the food. Our friends tried the Nachos and said they were typical Feis food and happily munched away.

Vendors

Nice selection of Vendors. The t-shirt vendor added the touch of a shamrock to mark your dancer on the list of names. My dancer was thrilled with the little shamrock by her name.

Feis Flow

Feis flow on our stage was awesome. We were done by lunch since my dancer was Novice hardshoe and Prizewinner soft shoe. Even the hardshoe after lunch went quickly. One group of Prizewinner had to dance Hornpipe followed immediately by Treble Jig. The judge and stage monitors gave them a couple minute breather between dances.

Scoring

Scoring seemed reasonable. My dancer was happy with her results. Lots of places posted so plenty of medals to go around.

We will go back if this Feis fits into our schedule.

Where You There?

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Rose City Feis Review 2014, Grades Level/3 Comments/in , , , /by

RSCLOGOThe 19th Annual Rose City Feis was held August 16th, 2014 at the St. Clair College Sportplex in Windsor, Ont.

This was our first trip to a feis in Canada and we loved it. Everyone was very welcoming and made it a great out of region trip for our dancer – we’ll call her Alice. We were the only ones from our school and each one of us made friends from either the Midwest or Eastern Canada regions.

We did the Feis as a double Feis with Great Lake Feis. Now that Great Lakes is moving to July, we would pick Rose City if we were able to travel back to the area next summer.

I will be focused on the Grades (Novice and Prizewinner).

Venue

Before any specifics, the Venue itself needs some compliments. The Sportsplex is brand new. We stayed at the Waterfront Hotel and toured around Windsor Friday and Saturday evenings. Locals seemed excited to see us using the Sportplex for our competition. It lived up to everything they and the website advertised. The only problem we had was wishing we had printed out the driving directions. Not wanting to use International minutes on our smartphone, we hunted a while once we turned onto the St. Clair campus. Americans, print out the directions to the building – not just the campus.

Stages and Seating

Stages were a little slippery. Each stage had a tub with a wet towel. Lots of dancers that took advantage of it. Alice didn’t have any trouble but we saw some other dancers slip.

Downstairs was a little crowded but there were seats overlooking the stages. Our Feis Dad does not enjoy crowds. He enjoyed watching from above. I was able to leave Zuca, dress bag and everything else upstairs. Just carrying shoes and water made the crowds easy to navigate. There was always room stage side to see Alice compete.

Stage Monitors worked very well together. Lots of negotiating when dancers were split between stages. A stage would stop to wait on dancers every so often but Alice was still done with everything but Traditional Set before lunch. The Stage Monitor Teams made this work. It could have stacked up but everyone kept things moving. Not overly rushed but moving. We enjoyed seeing “Lunch” move up the board along with dances. Easy to see the lunch break coming on each stage. Nicely done!!

Camping and Access

We camped upstairs. There were camping areas downstairs too. Seemed to be plenty of room for everyone.

Everyone made room for anyone wanted to move in to watch a dance on our stages. Everyone was very polite, friendly and well mannered. Canadians know how to do Southern Hospitality.

Awards and Results

Coming from out of region, the medals were awesome. They were smallish but solid. Felt like a real medal. You could do some damage swinging it at someone. Alice has received little plastic medals before – this was a medal nirvana for her. Medals were engraved with no stickers. Very nice. I was told all Canadian medals are like this. Other regions should take note.

Results posted quickly. Alice’s Novice competitions were small so only the first 3 or 4 places were posted. There were ties so lots of medals to go around.

The times for the Traditional Set & Reel Trophy Specials were on a small easel near the entrance. During lunch break some of the families missed seeing it and were not present for awards. We almost missed it but another dancer told Alice it was time to go outside. The small easel got lost in the crowd flow going between food and checking results upstairs. I don’t think there was a 2nd times posting upstairs with the other results – that might help.

Specials

Rose City Feis had more opportunities in the Art Competitions that most competitions that include the Arts. You were able to enter the Art Competition separate from the dancing so there were opportunities for Parents, Siblings and anyone else to enter.

Tir na Nog was offered for U6. This was adorable to watch. There was no entry fee. I’ve seen First Feis offered before but this was even cuter. The older girls in the chairs had the biggest smiles watching these little dancers. The judge and stage monitor presented each little dancer with a stuffed animal after they all danced a short Reel.

Novice and Prizewinners were offered a Traditional Set and Reel Trophy Special. The awards were handled same as champs on the podium outside. This is competition practice for Novice and Prizewinner dancers in the Eastern Canada Region. The girls even made sure Alice knew when it was time to go out for the awards. They take it just as seriously as the Prelim and Champs.

Parking

Lots of parking. It was the weekend and the building is on the edge of campus. No parking fees.

Judges

Judges rotated throughout the day. One judge rotated with our dancers as they changed stages. On just one stage, Alice was judged by 4 different judges. I like the idea of rotating the judges instead of the dancers. Nice not to have to run back and forth between every dance. Fair amount of comments from each judge too.

Music

Our main stage shared a musician with another stage. He had his speaker turned a little low for softshoe. Alice had a hard time hearing her Slip Jig music. Evidently the judge did too since she was not marked down for getting off time. The champs stage bled into ours occasionally. The musician turned up the speaker for hardshoe so it wasn’t a problem once they switched shoes.

Food

We did not get food from the venue. I did see Aero Bars as a choice. That was a nice touch. We were full from our hotel breakfast and dinner in Winsor the night before. I’m glad we waiting until after the feis to try Poutine. Not sure Alice would have had any lift had we had it before the competition. No it was not sold at the venue (or if it was I didn’t see anyone with it.)

Vendors

Alice was a little disappointed there was not a t-shirt vendor. We were told that was typical of Eastern Canada competitions. She wears her feis t-shirts to school and dance. She wanted to have one to show she competed in Canada over the summer. We did enjoy shopping with Gold and Shamrock. Alice finally got to see a pair of Ryan & O’Donnell Diamond Gel Pumps. (Maybe I should have called her Dorothy instead.) One Christmas (or Oireachtas) gift purchased. We purchased some candies that we haven’t seen in our region. Some of the in-region parents said there were not a lot of vendor selection. It was a different selection for us so we really enjoyed it.

Feis Flow

There were some stops due to ages and levels split between stages. It seemed to be mainly when an age group was merged. The stage monitors worked together to work out stage conflicts and minimize changing shoes. We watched one stage monitor fetch the last competitor from the other stage for Alice’s Reel. Having seen this happen in other regions before, it was handled really well by the Rose City stage monitors.

Scoring

Scoring seemed reasonable and fair to us. Curiously Alice scored better than some of her recent competitions in our region. She danced better too so it was nice to see her work rewarded.

Post Feis

Downtown Windsor was hosting Ballonapalooza on Saturday and Sunday. We recommend staying downtown and walking around to check out all the large balloons. Alice even found a Cheshire Cat. You can find photos of the Balloons on their website. A nice way to unwind after the competition. Once we were tired of exploring, we found a park bench along the Detroit River and enjoyed our burgers and poutine. Dessert was some of the chocolate from Gold and Shamrock.

We hope to make it back and recommend this competition to anyone who is up near Windsor in August.

What Did You Guys Think Eh?

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Cowboy State Feis 2014, Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

The 3rd annual Cowboy State Feis, hosted by the Richens/Timm Academy of Irish dance in Wyoming, was held in Casper, Wyoming, August 22-23, 2014. This year, the feis was held at Cy Middle School, the 3rd different location in 3 years.

Venue

The school had ample parking beside the school. The entire competition (which typically has a small competitor pool,) was contained within two hallways and an outdoor courtyard. There were 2 stage areas: a Commons area that featured a built-in raised stage (used for championship dances,) and the gym down the side hall. The Commons area had plenty of seating for observers. The gym had a single dance floor divided by a tape line into 3 rather small stages. This was used for open dances and some of the Prelims. I saw no designated camping area in the facility. Access to the gym was sometimes affected by folks looking at the solo dresses for sale which was right inside the main entrance to the gym. A courtyard off the front hallway had the podium where championship awards were presented.

8/10

Judges

There was an adequate number of judges for the competition, and it appeared that they rotated sufficiently from stage to stage. Dancers being assigned to various stages helped rotation. 9/10

Musicians

2 very competent musicians, one for each staging area. No noise interference and sound systems were sufficient.

9/10

Food

Friday evening, there were some snacks at a booth in the gym. Saturday the vendor was at a larger space in the front hallway … had snacks, pop, coffee, water. I heard that there were slices of pizza during the lunch break. Coolers and outside food were not prohibited. The school had vending machines that had bottled water (only!)

5/10

Vendors

Where were they this year? In addition to the snack table, I remember seeing only one guy selling Irish knick-knacks. 2/10

Results

Posted on walls of hallway just past gym … convenient. Results were pretty quickly. Medals were given out at a separate nearby spot (No waiting for others to get their awards before your dancer could even see her results!) There was some serious confusion in announcing results for the specials in the gym. The volunteers did not let the dancers/families know just when the results would be awarded (during lunch? at end of lunch? after lunch?) When results were awarded, the volunteer did not use the sound system–Hard to hear.

7/10

Feis Flow

The schedule was well-planned, and flow at this feis is always excellent. (Having a small competitor pool truly helps this!) Started on time, stayed on time. With only one staging area for all of the open dances, it was easy to track what was going on.

10/10

Other Pluses

  • Feis volunteers all had shirts with “Ask Me” written on back … easy to identify.
  • Top 3 winners in each of the Special dances get designer cowboy hats. This year, they were dyed green. Fun. (Also fun that the judges in gym all sported the green hats on Saturday afternoon.)
  • Judges chairs (which looked really comfy) were roped off from audience. (It always concerns me when folks walking behind the judges are nearly bumping into them, often due to young dancers sitting watching the dancers on stage.)

Other Minuses

  • The area designated for selling solo dresses was woefully inadequate. In addition to being just inside the gym door, there was only one rack provided; additional dresses ended up being piled on a table, even after some were hung along the wall.

And I must include in this report our favorite Feistaurant in Casper: Sanford’s Grub N Pub, on Wyoming Blvd. Bring your camera to capture the 20 foot high Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck statues that are out front, as well as the old cars set as sculptures in rock gardens. An antique set of gas pumps out front leads you to the kitschy nostalgia diner décor inside. The bar menu is extensive, the dinner menu diverse. Prices are a bit steep, but the portions are huge. Service has been a bit slow at times. The kids won’t let us eat anyplace else on Friday night.

Overall, the Cowboy State Feis is a well-run competition, a treat to attend. Come a week early and drive to Mt Rushmore (5 hours east) or Yellowstone NP (6 hours west) and top it off with friendly feisin’ in Casper.

What Did Y’all Think?

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Southern Tier Feis 2014, Grades Level Review/1 Comment/in , , /by

Be sure to see the Local Attractions addon by Mom O’Treble at the very bottom of this review below the poll.

This review coming from a “grades” perspective. This is the second time that we attended this feis. The Southern Tier Feis is held in Binghamton, NY on the campus of Broome County Community College. It was a smaller feis with a little less than 500 entrants. They used Feisworx, which I love for speed of results at the venue and personal results.

Venue

The Feis was held in an ice hockey arena, without the ice of course! Seating was in the stands with all of the stages facing the seats, which provided for good viewing as a spectator and the hockey glass was clean for ease of viewing. There was some true camping on one end of the floor but really no need to bring a whole camp set-up as there was ample seating in the seats. Probably a good secret and need to get there early – but if deciding to camp, I would choose the penalty boxes. There was not spectator seating at the stages, only chairs were for the dancers; this eliminated traffic completely as people just moved in out as their dancer danced. Parking was free and ample- maybe a little walk if you arrived late.

There were 5 stages total- there were 3 grades stages, 1 stage for PC and 1 stage for OC. The grades stages seemed small though dancing was 2 at a time. I am sure they were regulation size but probably the minimum size. Saw a few falls on the champ stage. Did not seeing any stage maintenance but I could have missed it throughout the day. They were plywood but the PC stage seemed to have either a marley or shower pan liner covering.

They had an unsupervised dress rack and people also hung the dresses around the railings in the seating area.

Tight area for champ awards presentation- right at the front door. This was really the only bottle neck area when awards were going on also because it was near the food service. Venue was clean, except bathrooms were a little trashed at the end of the day.

Score: 9/10

Judges

Daughter dance 5 dances and had 4 different judges. Received comments from half of the judges. Judges given a half hour lunch break and dancing started timely after the break. Nice of one judge to stop the dancing after some issue and permitted the two-some to go to the end of the line and have a do-over, that was in a PW dance.

Score: 10/10

Musicians

There was one musician per stage and DD good here it well. Stages were placed well apart and did not notice sound bleeding over from other stages.

Score: 10/10

Food

This is where things really fell down in satisfaction. My advice- bring your own and make trips to the car or go to one of the fast food restaurants close by and bring it back. The food service was thru a concession stand area at the time we were getting only fries at the lunch break, we waited almost 25 minutes with only about 10 people in front of us (I would not have waited but DD had a bit of an injury and needed something to cheer her up!). They had 2 people working and one had left the stand to get supplies, which left 1 person to take orders, make the food on the grill and run the register. Felt bad for the man but come on- plan accordingly and they run the food service for a living. Fry oil was dirty as the fries came out with black flecks on them- thought it was pepper but when ask, said “oh that is just from the oil”. Prices were not bad and selections were good you could make it through the line and get waited on.

Score: 0/10

Vendors

I only noticed 2 vendors but vendors well stocked with the necessities, Head for the World and Rutherford shoes.

Score: 8/10

Results

It was a Feisworx feis- what can I say except results were fast! Soon after posting at the venue, results were on Feisworx site shortly after posting at the venue. Results were computer print and with competitor name. They were posted on the glass of the rink in a corner were traffic flow did not seem to be a problem, but when scores go up quickly, you don’t have people just hanging around waiting causing crowd problems.

Grade level awards were nice. Good trophies for 1st-3rd, I think they were given to at least AB, Nov and PW (not sure about beginners), medals for the lower placements. The distribution of awards was thru a computer and were efficiently handed out.

Score: 10/10

Feis Flow

The overall flow of the day was good. They stage schedule indicated start times and they were spot on. Lunch was kept to ½ hour and dancing started promptly after lunch. Grades stages were wrapping up around 2pm.

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.

What Did You Think?

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Local Attractions

It seems that hotel choices are not anything to get excited about in this area. There is a Fairfield Inn and Comfort Inn very close. We stayed at the Comfort Inn which was an older building but decently maintained and you could not beat the proximity to the venue. Starbucks (which is always a must for me in the AM when at a feis to get me thru the day!) was right across the street- bonus. So this close proximity allowed for a little more sleeping in especially because the feis started at 9am. Easy travel in and out either on I-81 or from the Southern Tier Expressway.

Milwaukee Feis 2014, 2nd Opinion/0 Comments/in , , /by

Mom X2 also attended the Milwaukee Feis and sent in her review in her Good/Bad/Other format. It is always good to get varying opinions!

NOTE: The Milwaukee Poll is on the first Milwaukee 2014 Review I posted and can be found here.

The 25th Milwaukee Feis was held at the UWM Student Union on August 9th, 2014.

The Good

  • In celebration of the 25th feis, all dancers (or whomever made it to the registration tables) were given a quarter. When you get money (albeit $.25!!) back for dancing, it can’t be a bad day!
  • Venue is easy to get parking (garage or street). If you know the area, lots of great restaurants and things to do.
  • Stages are spread apart and have ample room. Some even had super comfy chairs that had desk surface attached, which was awesome.
  • Food court was reasonably priced and the variety was great.
  • Run back to back with McMennamin Feis, which gives many dancers fantastic competition.
  • Results were posted within MINUTES of competitions being done. It was the fastest posting ever.
  • Well run. After 25 years, they have it down.

The Bad

  • Stages were spread apart which was difficult when chasing multiple dancers. However, the committee posted progress of multiple stages in a central location and that was MOST helpful.
  • Stages ran wildly slow or fast….hard to pace with multiple dancers.
  • Crowded
  • The Union is a maze of hallways and staircases. A challenge with slower moving older folks.

The Unique

  • One of the Judges at Stage 6 took the time to congratulate the numerous dancers of one competition. She explained to the dancers (and then the audience and parents) how beautiful and tough the competition was. All danced beautifully, she explained, and were worthy of placing. It was perhaps the nicest thing I have seen a judge do and will forever remember how kind she was.