Milwaukee Feis 2014 Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

milThe 25th Annual Milwaukee Feis was held on August 9, 2014 at the Student Union at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The feis was run back to back with the McMenamin Feis, and so some aspects of this review apply to the review for the Sunday feis as well.

This is the 3rd year we have attended this feis, and we have always found it to be a pleasant experience. This year was no different, and we anticipate returning again next year as well.

Venue

The student union makes a nice home for a feis, with separate rooms for each stage, plenty of seating and areas to spread out away from the stages. There is ample practice room, plenty of accessible bathrooms, and lots of food options for hungry dancers (and their families).

Street parking was available (we had to walk 2-3 blocks to be sure we were not in a restricted area on Saturday – Sunday we were able to park closer), and there was also parking available at the student union for a small fee (I believe under $10 for the day).

Registration and awards were on the first floor of the building as you walked in. Volunteers got my dancer registered & on her way quickly & even gave her a quarter for good luck!

The feis had 6 stages this year, plus a room for music competitions. 2 stages were PC/OC and 4 stages were grades. The stages were spread between the 2nd and 3rd floors, so there was a minimum of one flight of stairs to walk up & if you had more than one dancer, you might have been running up & down the stairs a lot during the day. I am sure elevators were available, but I never bothered looking, to be honest.

Vendors and used dress racks were in the hallway on the 2nd floor, with the exception of the t-shirt vendor who was on the 1st floor next to awards. We don’t spend a whole lot of time at the vendor tables (although we did purchase an Irish-themed t-shirt for the dancer’s brother as a reward for not complaining too much about the noise from all the hard shoes!), but the vendors seemed adequate. Balinvilla was there, as was A Touch of Ireland, and Photography By Harrington, among others.

Camping was available, but in areas away from the stages. We found camping locations both days with no problem, but did have a bit of a walk from our camp location to the stage.

Plenty of seating was available at all stages (including lots of comfy chairs at my dancer’s stage, where even the dancer’s brother was able to make himself comfortable to enjoy the treble reel!), but as is unfortunately typical, there was a fair amount of feis shaming going on.

Overall Venue Score: 9/10.

Judges

My dancer danced 6 times and was only seen by 2 judges, and one of those judges saw her for 4 dances. This is the one area I think this feis could improve on – I think more judge rotation is needed. Because this feis is run by age & by dance, I realize that dances are close together, but I still think another rotation of judges could have been accommodated.

Judge Score: 7/10

Music

Our musician was fantastic! I never even noticed her take a bathroom break! The setup of this feis, with one stage to a room really helps eliminate the “bleed” that you get from other stages at some feiseanna & makes it easy for the dancers to hear the music.

Music Score: 10/10

Food

The 2nd floor of the student union is home to a food court. Over the 2 days, our family dined on sub sandwiches, Burger King burgers, Chinese, Taco Bell, and more. Options were plentiful, and prices were not horrible. Healthy options (including smoothies, wraps, salads, etc.) were available, and ice cream (whether for celebration or consolation) was also an option. I did not see any kind of prohibition on bringing your own food into this venue, either, as is often the case at Mid America feiseanna, which was a nice change.

Food Score: 10/10

Results/Awards

Results were lightning fast and were also posted on Feisworx real time. We wait until our dancer is done with all her dances before checking any results, so I don’t know how long individual dances were taking to come out, but my dancer’s results were all complete & posted 5 minutes after she finished her last dance.

As the parent of a young Open dancer (where, as you all know, the competition is tough, and placement sometimes seems arbitrary, and it’s very easy for a child to go home without so much as a single ribbon as a reminder of their hard work & effort), I really appreciate feiseanna who provide generous placements/awards. So we really love that the Milwaukee Feis places a minimum of 50% in every competition. Medals were awarded for 1st-3rd place, and ribbons after that. The medals were on the smaller side, but were nice quality, and the ribbons seemed well made too. Like most Mid-America feiseanna, medals came without ribbons, but that would be my only complaint.

Results/Awards Score: 9/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was run by age & dance, with U11 & younger in the morning and U12 & up in the afternoon. Our dancer started dancing around 9:45 and was done with her 6 dances by 12:15, which is excellent in my book. If you had dancers in both U11 & over 12, then your day would have been longer, however, so I could see that this would be a drawback for families with multiple dancers, but I & my lone dancer love this format!

Feis Flow Score: 9/10

Overall Score: 9/10

Great job, Milwaukee Feis!!

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McMenamin Academy Feis 2014 Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

mcMThe 4th Annual McMenamin Academy Feis was held on August 10, 2014 at the Student Union at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The feis was run back to back with the Milwaukee Feis, and so some sections of this review will refer to the Saturday feis review in order to avoid duplication.

This is the 2nd time we have attended this feis, and we have generally had a pleasant experience and would likely return again next year.

Venue

(See Milwaukee Feis Review for commentary)

Overall Venue Score: 9/10

Judges

My dancer danced 6 times and was seen by 4 judges, which is pretty darn good judge rotation in my book. My only complaint is that 2 of the 4 judges who saw her on Sunday had also judged her on Saturday. I know it would be difficult for the 2 feiseanna to coordinate completely new judges for grades dancers on Sunday, but it would be nice to see an attempt made.

Judge Score: 9/10

Music

Our musician had a few hiccups & missed notes, but overall was quite good. As mentioned in the review of the Milwaukee Feis, the acoustics of this venue are nice, with separate rooms for all stages, making it easy for the dancers to hear their music.

Music Score: 9/10

Food

(See Milwaukee Feis Review for commentary)

Food Score: 10/10

Results/Awards

Results were very fast and were also posted on Feisworx real time. We wait until our dancer is done with all her dances before checking any results, so I don’t know how long individual dances were taking to come out, but my dancer’s results were all complete & posted 10-15 minutes after she finished her last dance.

As the parent of a young Open dancer (where, as you all know, the competition is tough, and placement sometimes seems arbitrary, and it’s very easy for a child to go home without so much as a single ribbon as a reminder of their hard work & effort), I really appreciate feiseanna who provide generous placements/awards. So we really love that the McMenamin Feis places a minimum of 50% in every competition. Medals were awarded for 1st-5th place at a minimum, and I did see some dancers walking around with ribbons as well. The medals were on the smaller side, but were nice quality and quite heavy. Like most Mid-America feiseanna, medals came without ribbons, but that would be my only complaint.

Results/Awards Score: 9/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was by dance, which can make for a long day. My dancer started dancing around 9:15 and and was not done until almost 3:30, which is pretty standard for a feis run in this format. The feis did a good job curtailing the lunch break to a reasonable 30 minutes, which was much appreciated. I know some people really prefer this format, as it allows for plenty of practice time & more judge rotation, but with a younger dancer, I find that this format is just plain exhausting. It probably didn’t help that the stage with the youngest dancers had the most kids on it & was the last to finish – some reallocation of dances/age groups would be welcomed next year.

Feis Flow Score: 6/10

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Great job, McMenamin Academy Feis!!

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

The 2014 Chicago Feis was held on May 25-26, 2014 at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest, IL. It is part of Chicago Gaelic Park’s annual Irish Fest, which is a 4 day festival. This is the 3rd year we have attended this feis, and it definitely has a different feel than many other feiseanna in our region.

Venue

Chicago Gaelic Park appears to be mainly a banquet facility. It is a smaller building that does not have a lot of room for people & seating, never mind zucas, dress bags, etc. It is an older building with limited bathroom facilities and questionable air conditioning.

On the bright side, there is a bar in one of the rooms …

Parking was free, but was in a grass lot near the facility. Unless you arrived early, you had a fairly long walk through dirt/mud in the parking lot & then through dust/rocks/mud once on the festival grounds, so changing into those bright white poodle socks AFTER you are in the building is advisable.

This feis does not charge a family fee, but does charge a $10 admission fee for all non-dancers in the party, payable at the entrance gate. This year there was a VERY long wait to pay your fee, have your bag checked, and get into the feis. I typically arrive over an hour before I conservatively estimate that my dancer will start dancing (so in reality 1.5-2 hours before she dances), and with the wait we had to get in this year, I got nervous enough about time that I actually started doing my dancer’s hair & wig while we were waiting in line.

Registration and awards were right outside the building, and my dancer was checked in quickly and easily. Volunteers were friendly & helpful.

The feis had 4 stages this year, and grades & PC/OC were run on separate days. 2 stages were in one room with a partition separating them. Another stage was in another room, and the final stage was outside (under an overhang, but still outside in my opinion), which made for some hot sweaty dancers, as Irish dance dresses & typical Chicago Memorial Day weather are not a great mix.

Stage quality was an issue this year (I had not seen any issues the previous 2 times we attended this feis) – my dancer’s stage saw many slips and falls, including one dancer who was carried off the stage & taken to the hospital. I never saw an attempt at mopping or otherwise treating the stage to make things less slippery.

Vendors were non-existent, except for a t-shirt seller, due to the availability of all kinds of items at the festival the feis was part of.

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.

Rooms were extremely overcrowded, and dancers truly had trouble making their way up to the stage to check in for dances. I am honestly not sure the feis was in compliance with local fire codes, it was so crowded. Overcrowding has been an issue at this feis every year we’ve attended, but with a larger cap and the decision to run stages by dance rather than by level, things were significantly worse this year, to the point where I heard many complaints that the situation was simply unsafe.

Overall Venue Score: 4/10.

Judges

My dancer danced 6 times and was seen by 3 judges. That’s reasonably good rotation, all things considered.

Judge Score: 8/10

Music

It is hard for me to comment on music, because I really couldn’t hear it over all the noise from the crowds. My dancer said she was able to hear the music well enough, but did get some bleed over from the other stage in the room.

Music Score: 8/10

Food

The feis did have donuts & other breakfast foods for very reasonable prices. Drinks, including bottled water, were $1, which was a nice change from the usual overpriced concession stands at most feiseanna! (And did I mention the facility had a bar? 🙂 )

Lunch required you to venture out into the festival, where lines were long, choices were somewhat limited (especially for young children, who aren’t interested in Irish stew & the like), and prices were not great.

Food Score: 7/10

Results/Awards

Results were slower than molasses. By the time my dancer finished her last dance (and she did 6 that day), only her first 3 dances had results posted, and we waited over an hour for results from the other 3 dances. There was much complaining among parents & dancers alike about the speed (or lack thereof!) at which results were posted.

Additionally, results were not printed, but written by hand into a grid. As is human nature in a situation like that, there were some unfortunate errors. While there is certainly the potential for errors when results are printed & posted in that fashion, I am not a fan of the handwritten option at all.

The feis appeared to place between 30-40% of the dancers, which is fairly standard at Mid America feiseanna. I personally like to see a little more generous placement, but I do appreciate that this feis does keep entry fees fairly low & I understand that they would have to raise fees if they placed more dancers. I would also point out that the awards they give out are VERY nice quality – heavy well made medals & nice ribbons.

Results/Awards Score: 5/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was run by dance, with First Feis & Beg 1 going first, then Beg 2/Novice/Open following. This is not my favorite way to run things, because I do feel it makes for a very long day, but I thought things flowed well until the lunch break. The break was supposed to be an hour (which is about 30 minutes too long in my opinion, but when food was only available at the festival, it was only fair to give people some time to get food & eat, so I understand), but turned into a 2 hour ordeal, which really put a damper on the day.

Feis Flow Score: 6/10

Overall Score: 6/10

Sorry Chicago Feis, but the overcrowding, slow down in the afternoon and issues with results made it tough to do any better than this.

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Dairyland Feis 2014 Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

dairylandThe 2nd Annual Dairyland Feis was held on Sunday January 19, 2014 at the Olympia Resort and Conference Center in Oconomowoc, WI. The feis was run back to back with the Wisconsin Winter Feis, and so some parts of this review will refer to the review for Saturday’s feis to avoid duplication.

This was our 2nd year attending this feis, and we have generally had a pleasant experience.

Venue

See Wisconsin Winter Feis Review for commentary.

Overall Venue Score: 8/10.

Judges

My dancer danced 6 times and was only seen by 1 judge, and that judge had seen her for 4 of her 6 dances the day before. In my mind, this is totally unacceptable. Even with running by level, judges could have been rotated so the dancers were seen by 3 judges.

Judge Score: 2/10

Music

Our musician had some trouble going back & forth between slow & fast speeds for hard shoe. This caused some trouble for a few dancers, which was unfortunate. (It’s hard for an 8 year old to make a call on the fly when a musician plays 2 bars of the hornpipe at the fast tempo, then switches to slow without restarting – should we start dancing after 8 bars, even though it’s only 6 bars of slow, or should we wait?) We also had some bleed over from the champ stage we were next too, which didn’t help.

Music Score: 6/10

Food

See Wisconsin Winter Feis Review for commentary

Food Score: 7/10

Results/Awards

Results were lightning fast and were also posted on Feisworx real time. We wait until our dancer is done with all her dances before checking any results, so I don’t know how long individual dances were taking to come out, but my dancer’s results were all complete & posted 5 minutes after she finished her last dance.

This feis appeared to be placing only about 30% of the dancers, which is on the less generous side of most mid-America feiseanna. I personally prefer when a feis places a little more generously, but I also realize that 35-40% appears to be the standard in our region. Medals were awarded for 1st-3rd place, and ribbons after that. The medals were on the smaller side, but were nice quality, and the ribbons seemed well made too.

Results/Awards Score: 8/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was run by level. My dancer did not dance until after lunch, but we were on the road home by 4:30, so things moved relatively quickly.

Feis Flow Score: 8/10

Overall Score: 6/10

The average came out to 6.5, but I had to round down due to the complete lack of judge rotation. That really MUST be fixed before next year …

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Wisconsin Winter Feis 2014 Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

winterfeis-picThe 14th Annual Wisconsin Winter Feis was held on Saturday January 18, 2014 at the Olympia Resort and Conference Center in Oconomowoc, WI. The feis was run back to back with the Dairyland Feis, and so some aspects of this review apply to the review for the Sunday feis as well.

This was the first year we attended this feis, and we had a pleasant experience overall.

Venue

The Olympia was a new venue for this feis this year, and I thought it was nice. It was an older hotel, and a little remodeling probably wouldn’t hurt, but structurally, it was a nice facility for a feis. There were several ballrooms for stages, room for vendors & practicing, and a nice remote (and pretty much unused!) location for camping.

Those who stayed overnight at the hotel enjoyed a very reasonable $89/night rate, and had use of an indoor pool.

Parking was available at the resort for free. Those who did not not stay at the resort were in some cases relegated to far outlying lots & had to take shuttles in.

Registration was on the first floor of the building as you walked in. Volunteers got my dancer registered & on her way quickly! Awards required a trip downstairs (an elevator was available).

The feis had 6 stages this year, plus a room for music competitions. 2 stages were PC/OC and 4 stages were grades. The stages were all fairly close, so even those with multiple dancers should not have had to walk too far.

Vendors in the hallway outside the ballrooms where the stages were, as well as with awards. We don’t spend too much time with the vendors, but they seemed adequate, and the dancer’s grandmother (who chose this feis to be the first she came to) was able to buy a little something for the dancer without any trouble.

Camping was available, but only in a remote location away from the stages. There was a progression board in the camping area that was kept up to date.

Plenty of seating was available at all stages, but as is unfortunately typical, there was a fair amount of feis shaming going on.

What The Feis Editors Note: Maybe a fair amount of feis rudeness, I don’t remember any shaming 😉

Overall Venue Score: 8/10.

Judges

My dancer danced 6 times and was only seen by 2 judges, and one of those judges saw her for 4 dances. This is the one area I think this feis could improve on – I think more judge rotation is needed. Because this feis is run by age & by dance, I realize that dances are close together, but I still think another rotation of judges could have been accommodated.

Judge Score: 7/10

Music

Our musician was fantastic! We did notice some bleed over of music from the other stage in the ballroom we were in, but it wasn’t as bad as it is in some other venues.

Music Score: 8/10

Food

The hotel had a grab & go type of area with bagels & other other breakfast things, as well as premade sandwiches, yogurt, etc. There was also a sit-down restaurant that was fairly reasonably priced.

Food Score: 7/10

Results/Awards

Results were lightning fast and were also posted on Feisworx real time. We wait until our dancer is done with all her dances before checking any results, so I don’t know how long individual dances were taking to come out, but my dancer’s results were all complete & posted 5 minutes after she finished her last dance.

As the parent of a young Open dancer (where, as you all know, the competition is tough, and placement sometimes seems arbitrary, and it’s very easy for a child to go home without so much as a single ribbon as a reminder of their hard work & effort), I really appreciate feiseanna who provide generous placements/awards. So we really love that the Wisconsin Winter Feis places a minimum of 50% in every competition. Medals were awarded for 1st-3rd place, and ribbons after that. The medals were on the smaller side, but were nice quality, and the ribbons seemed well made too. Like most Mid-America feiseanna, medals came without ribbons, but that would be my only complaint.

Results/Awards Score: 9/10

Feis Flow

For grades, this feis was run by age & dance, with U11 & younger in the morning and U12 & up in the afternoon. Our dancer started dancing around 9:00 and was done with her 6 dances by 12:00, which is excellent in my book. If you had dancers in both U11 & over 12, then your day would have been longer, however, so I could see that this would be a drawback for families with multiple dancers, but I & my lone dancer love this format!

I do understand that not all stages were as efficient as ours, and that some stages had significant delays, so I am reducing the score to reflect that.

Feis Flow Score: 8/10

Overall Score: 8/10

Great job, Wisconsin Winter Feis!!

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Delaware Feis 2014, Grades Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

iccdThe 35th annual Delaware Feis sponsored by the Irish Culture Club of Delaware was held on Sunday, August 10th at St. Marks Catholic High School, Wilmington, DE.

Venue

Upon entering the campus the road brings you to to a massive parking lot. There will be a walk into the building from the parking area, but on a beautiful day (as it was this year) you won’t mind. If you need to drop off someone/something there is a room to do so. The High School is a modern building and boasts ample space. A huge field sits in front of the high school and is the perfect area to take pictures of your dancer.

Score 10

Stages and Seating

Grades stages were run on on 5 different stages, with stages 1-2 sharing a musician, as did stages 3-4. Stage 5 had their own musician. Overall this worked out OK- if one stage still had to finish reels, then the dancers on the stage sharing the musician had to wait for Slip Jigs to begin. Not out of the ordinary. The stages were durable and not slippery, however they are very small. Fortunately the dancers lined up 2 at a time to dance. Still the older dancers complained about the size. I did see one stage line their dancers up 3 at a time- the dancers were in the 7-8 year old category but even for them the stages are too small for 3 at a time. Stage 5 was larger and they danced 3 at a time over there. Spectators must stand to view the dancers but there is ample seating for the dancers as they wait for their comp to begin

Score 9

Judges

Dancers rotated through stages and danced for multiple judges. The ones I had the chance to observe appeared attentive. My dancer received comments for all 4 dances she participated in (though not the case with other families we know)

Score 9

Musicians

Mentioned above that some stages shared musicians. Overall the quality and volume of the sound was good. No complaints from the dancers that they couldn’t hear their music. This may not have been the case in 2013 (per reading a facebook post)

Score 10

Food

The spacious cafeteria is located on the second floor and this is where most of the food was served. The choices were limited- a meatball sub, hot dog, or roast beef, nachos with or without cheese. The meatball sub was very good and cost just a few dollars. There is a separate area to buy drinks- soda, water, sport drinks and milk was offered all for reasonable prices. Another table in the cafeteria featured pastries and coffee and finally, there was a station for BEER! Something about having to drive home prevented me from sampling……..Inside the cafeteria were plenty of tables and chairs to sit at and eat and the room was comfortable with the AC working well. The food line got long at one point because the stages had just taken their break for lunch, but the friendly volunteers got everyone served.

Coolers are not allowed, no outside food is allowed. They are very strict about this policy and there is absolutely no food or drink allowed in the gym where the dancing takes place.

For snack type foods-the first floor had stations that offered pretzels, candy, drinks and a variety of ice cream novelties. After lunch in the cafeteria, italian ice in 2 flavors- mango and lemon was offered for $1. After a day of feising my dancer and I thought it was delicious.

Score 8.5

Vendors

There was a good variety of vendor offerings from wigs, shoes and tshirts to novelty irish gifts and clothing. These were located on the first floor away from most of the stages

Stage 7 was in an auditorium (champs stage) and the entrance to that stage was near the vendors.

Score 10

Camping

A beautiful day of cooperative weather made camping outside possible. Shade could be found in a variety of areas. Bring a blanket or chair if the weather is nice. Camping is discouraged inside the building.

Score 9

Restrooms

Unless I missed something, I only saw ONE bathroom for each gender. Entirely unacceptable in my opinion. The bathroom only had 5 stalls which further complicated the long line.

Score 5

Feis Flow

The feis began on time and broke for lunch shortly before noon (Noon was the time listed on the syllabus for lunch breaks). I thought the flow was decent, my dancer completing soft shoe before the lunch break and ending hard shoe around 2:30, her comp was one the last to dance. In the past some dancers have had to change out of soft shoe to do one hard shoe dance, then change back into soft shoe. We didn’t experience that this year and neither did the families from our dance school.

A side note, this feis does not offer Set dances or a treble reel.

Score 9

Awards and Results

Results were posted up in the cafeteria (2nd floor). The top 50% were given awards- some grade comps had over 30 in them (they do not split), still half received awards. If you have never been to this feis or seen the pics on their Facebook page, the trophies are HUGE and they feature an Irish Dancer on them! Boys receive trophies with male Irish dancers on them. The dancers faces light up when they have a trophy in hand. I will mention that 4th place awards are medals. I am not a fan of different type of awards- if you are “on the board” you should get the same award (unless you want to make the first place award larger). Numbers were indicated, not names. Results were fairly quick and movement through the line at in the trophy room (adjacent to results) was fast.

Score 9

Miscellaneous

The volunteers were friendly and the staff running the stages were experienced and not afraid to give pep talks to the dancers before they went on stage. By pep talk, I mean encouragement. That’s nice to see in the grades level. Over the PA system throughout the day you could hear someone announcing a “last call” for comps. As long as you were in the gym you could hear this and I didn’t feel it was distracting to the dancers.

The Feis listed hotels in the area to stay at and they were no more than a 10 minute drive to the Venue. Plenty of restaurants (car was needed) to choose from.

Score 10

Social Media

The Delaware Feis has a Facebook page where they provided information before the feis and answered questions in a timely manner. There are a lot of photos on their FB page so check them out and see for yourself all of the happy dancers.

Score 10

Overall Score 9.5

Despite the lack of ladies rooms (please speak up if you knew of other ones to use!), this is a feis worth attending. They are highly organized and offer great trophies. The area inside is spacious enough, and if the weather holds, the outside area is beautiful. This Feis parent will be back in 2015, won’t you join me?

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Great Lakes Feis 2014, PC/OC Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

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

We have attended the Great Lakes Feis numerous times and we really like it. We have been going longer than I have been writing reviews, here are the reviews and additional posts I did write.

I was saddened to hear this feis was moving dates in 2015 to the last weekend in July, which is the same weekend as our local Celtic Festival where our school volunteers and dances, so if you go next year, don’t look for me, afraid I won’t be there.

Like my last post on the Dayton Feis, the basics for this feis are almost exactly the same as last year, so instead of repeating, I suggest you read that one first and then come back here for my thoughts on the PC/OC aspects of this feis, which was new for us since last year.

Venue

Stages and Seating

Just like last year. The stages were slippery again this year, but I did not see any stage maintenance this year. Not saying there was none, but I did not see any on our stage. TGC mentioned it was really slippery when she came off the stage, and the very next dancer had a slip that stopped the dancing. Other than that, last year sums it up.

Chairs seemed adequate, but… there was some feis shaming, you know where to look 😉

Camping and Access

Like 2013, lots of it.

Awards and Results

Awards for the PC/OC levels were nice, looked like most OC placers got some Beleek ware, while the top 3 PC dancers got something similar. Other PC placers received BIG medals to show their accomplishments. Only first place received sashes for both PC/OC, which I thought a bit odd.

The PC/OC awards were held on an elevated stage. There were lots of seats for viewers, and the dancers had easy access to the stage if they were called. There was no podium on the stage, so all winners just lined up, which I thought could have been handled a bit better if they had had a podium.

Parking

Parking seemed good, but like last year, we parked the car at the hotel (which was attached to the venue via walkway) and just left it there until we left after the feis.

Judges

This is a repeat of every PC/OC review I have done. Three judges, all seemed attentive and watched all the dancers equally.

Music

Again, pretty much just like last year, even the standing musician was there.

Thinking back, I did not notice any music bleed since the stages were separated pretty well, at least on our end of the hall.

If I had to make any comments, it might be around the announcements heard throughout the hall. They were loud, which was good, but I could see how they could be distracting to the dancers because they happened frequently. Even happened during the PC/OC awards which came to a complete stop until the announcement was over.

Food

I only bought a cup of coffee which was reasonable. TGC had her own money so she bought some chicken which she said was ‘good, not greasy’. Prices seemed to be reasonable for a convention center type venue.

Vendors

Seemed like the same vendors as last year. We did find some Irish candies, but sadly, no Irish M&Ms.

Results

I thought the results were pretty good. It took between 75 to 90 minutes for the results to come out, but lunch breaks had started and I am not sure if that negatively impacted that any. I did hear that earlier results came out slower, but I think they were about average.

Based on my comments from Dayton, where I did not like them doing overall results first and then individual shoe results, GLF did shoe results first and then overall. IMHO it is much better that way.

Feis Flow

From our perspective, it was great! From start to finish in TGCs comp (all the dancers, not just her dances) was only about 30 minutes. Granted the comp was a little smaller than what we are used to, but they kept things moving.

Scoring

No problem scoring this one, easily an 8 – 8.5. They do a nice job at the PC/OC level and I would highly recommend this feis if you have not been.

Sadly, unless they change the dates again, or our Celtic Festival moves it dates, or we move, we probably won’t be back, but you should go!

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Missouri State Championship Feis 2014 Review

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The Missouri State Championship Feis was held at the DoubleTree Hilton Union Station, in downtown St. Louis. This is a new feis and it debuted on August 2, 2014. This feis offered an abundance of specials, for all ages and abilities. From trophies to sashes to cash prizes. This feis had something for everyone. The volunteers were hard working, ready to help, and able to answer questions. Every volunteer we had interaction with was helpful, smiling, and encouraging. You could almost call them Disney perfect helpers. Job well done, MO State Champs Feis Team Members!

Venue

This was a hotel feis. As most of the readers are aware, I am not a fan of hotel feisanna. Thankfully, this feis had low caps and a large venue. It worked well. The stairs from the ballrooms to the main hallway did create bottle necks, at times, but they were easily navigated otherwise. This distance did keep people from attending their award announcements and caused a couple of missed announcements and/or missed competitions. We found seats in the champ and grades rooms any time we were seeking them. There was plenty of room for camping, practicing, and chatting with feis friends. The bathrooms were large, clean, and well stocked the entire feis. The Wilkes family certainly enjoyed this feis and this venue. We plan to return next year, provided the cap remains low and the venue stays manageable, as it was this year. 8 out of 10

Parking

Parking was a mixed bag. If you stayed at the feis hotel, you were paying $20 a night minimum. If you drove in, you could have paid anywhere from $1.75 for the day to $20 for the day. It all depended on how much you wanted to walk and how much time you spent looking for a spot. Ash Wilkes found $1.75 for the day in a parking lot 2 blocks walk from Union Station. 8 out of 10

Judging

Rotation really did not occur frequently. Our darlings, older and younger, danced almost every one of their dances for the same judge. This worked well for our youngest darling. It did not work much in favor for our other darlings. Hardly any judge rotation is not a good thing, except for the chosen few that judge prefers. When it goes “your” way, it is great. Otherwise, it is frustrating. 3 out of 10

Results

As with many feisanna, results started coming out at about 15 minutes, from stage to results board. As the morning progressed, this time increased. It increased to 2 hours from stage to results announcements for specials. Since some of these increased wait time directly affected us, I am giving a low score. 2 hours is a long time to wait. We know others who were waiting on these results to be announced, just so they could start their drive home. They also have little ones, so it was an even tougher wait for them. 5 out of 10

Awards

Hooray! The first Mid America feis to GO BIG on their awards. If the medals had been embossed and not stickered, it would have been a 10 out of 10. Drake School has really set our medal expectations high this year, from their Peach state medals. Lovely black or pink embroidered sashes. Cash prizes for older. Open Champ winners. Wooden plaques for champion placements. Trophies for all first place winners in Prizewinner. Sashes, petite fours, and trophies for all 1st place special winners. Specially tagged stuffed animals for Tir Na Nog and First Feis dancers. Treats, medals, or ribbons for ALL Show Me State Reel competitors. It especially made our hearts happy to see that the trophies were created by Unique Engraving. Our family is glad to see the Clark Academy of Irish Dance supporting this wonderful, Irish dance trophy small business.  9 out of 10

Feis Flow

This feis was rushed. See also Music. The rushed competition style really kept all the dancers harried throughout the feis. Several dancers were hurriedly changing shoes. It also caused delays, which the rushing was supposedly trying to avoid. My suggestion would be to rotate the Advanced Beginner/Novice/Prizewinner/Adult dances. Start with their soft shoe and move through the hard shoe, traditional sets, and specials. This would give the Advanced Beginners time to change their shoes and get ready for their next dance. That same time to change shoes and prepare would be passed on to the Novice, Prizewinner, and Adult dancers. Either that, or start the feis an hour earlier and include time for shoe changes and musician breaks or rotations. 4 out of 10

Music

No breaks in the music, for as long as it could be possible. Stages 3 and 4 had a talented violinist. The speakers were not loud enough for the single musician to carry 2 stages. It was especially problematic when people were talking in the hall AND the dancers were competing hard shoe dances. It created problems for the dancers and the judges. Stages 1, 2, and 5 all had an accordianist. One for the first two stages and one for the champ stage. Even on stages 1 and 2, it was difficult to hear the music over talking in the hall and hard shoe competitions. Blessed accordionist, only 2 of our darlings had the benefit of your beautiful music. 5 out of 10

Feis Food

Ash Wilkes did find his feis coffee. It was $4.95. He also had to wait in a long line, since the venue coffee stand was under staffed. He did check out other venue food options. I looked for them and could not find them. None of them were in the main hallway, with the feis vendors. He did not purchase anything else, since the prices were high for small portions. But, yay for feis coffee! 4 out of 10

Feis Score: 6 out of 10

Great job for a brand new feis!

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Rockland County Feis 2014 PC/OC Review

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rocklandThe 41st Annual Rockland County Feis was held on July 20, 2014 at the German Masonic Park in Tappan, NY.

Venue

Outside, in an open field. Bring your tents and chairs because it can get hot and the premium real estate goes fast. There is parking all around the venue, with parking attendants to direct the drivers. Trying to lug your Zuca bag through the rocks in the parking lot brings its own challenges, but the dancer managed it well. Bring your money, there is a per person gate fee attached to this feis, of course, dancers do not need to pay. There are activities going on all day – singing, music, kids games, even a playground for the siblings of bored dancers.

Rating 9.

Food

Good, typical food with relatively good prices. Typical sandwiches in the afternoon and bagels in the morning. There was a large beer garden over by the music section. I did see many dads in that section. I wonder why?

Rating 9.

Vendors

Nothing special. All essential feis items were represented.

Rating 8.

Stages

Multiple grade stages across from three champ stages. I did not get out a measuring tape, but I would bet that at least one of the champ stages were not to regulation. They were awfully small. Many dancers were seen maneuvering corners and “going around” other dancers. Grade stages appeared to be the correct size.

Rating 5.

Musicians

Loud enough with good music. These musicians were smart, bringing their own tents to keep cool.

Rating 9.

Awards

So, so. Trophies for champs, no sashes and no podiums. A podium would have been nice so parents could see who the winners are. Remember, most of the dancers are shorter than the parents and it was crowded in the red and white small circus tent. Volunteers tried to call out the names of winners to the background noise of passing trains, making it very difficult to hear. I found myself asking “Who?” many times. Some of the higher level champs had perpetual trophies and they looked very nice. Grade trophies and medals were nice.

Rating 6.

Flow

The stages appeared to go off as scheduled. There was a nice speaker system that had a gentleman announcing the progress on stages and times of awards. Award times were posted on Twitter – though sometimes as they were starting “Results for 215 – now”… not very helpful when trying to get a dress back on and put down your beer cup from the garden.

Rating 8.

Overall – 8

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Governor Thomas Dongan Feis 2014 PC/OC Review

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medalThe 26th Annual Governor Thomas Dongan Feis was held on Saturday July 19, 2014 at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY.

Venue

After several years of attending this feis, I still have no idea why I can’t find the actual venue. Everyone says to drive to the “big egg”. I can see the big egg, but it always takes me 15 minutes to figure out how to park near the big egg. This year was a little better, with only 10 minutes of circling the venue and its three surrounding blocks before I paid my $5 to park. Bring cash with you upstairs, because each adult is charged an additional gate fee. Grade stages are in the main room, with champ stages in two separate rooms.

Rating 8.

Food

The rooms are closely guarded with volunteers who will not let in ANY outside food. If you want something to drink, you must buy it there and eat it outside. One volunteer actually tried to stop my child from walking in with her water bottle. The food is OK, long lines around lunch time.

Rating 8.

Vendors

The typical ones, shoes, socks and tee shirts. All of the essential feis items were represented.

Rating 8.

Stages

I am always amazed when this feis starts. There are four grades stages, all running concurrently. All stages start at once because they share the same musician. The stages are on a convention floor, only the dancers are allowed in the stage area. Stage volunteers do a great job lining dancers up to be ready. There are plenty of seats around the stages (higher up) for all of the parents to view. Stages 5 and 6 are in separate rooms, one with a raised stage, the other flat. Both rooms had adequate seating for on lookers.

Rating 9.

Musicians

One musician for 4 grade stages. The reels start and they don’t stop until all of the stages are complete. It always amazes me that they seem to keep to their published schedule. The Champ stages basically ran to time when we were there as well. Great job!

Rating 9.

Awards

Uh, not much to say here. Champ awards included sashes and tiny ceramic vases with near dead tiny flowers. Medal rounds included clear plastic “medals”. The grades had the same plastic “medals” and first place trophies as well. With all of the money collected at the gate, I would think better awards may be a possibility, but what do I know.

Rating 5.

Flow

Good, kept to schedule. Awards came out relatively quickly. Parents were updated on Twitter with times of awards and pictures. Over all good.

Rating 9

Overall score: 8

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