Feis Na Cara 2015, Champs Review

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carafeislogo1Feis Na Cara, hosted by the McDade-Cara school was on Sunday, January 11th, 2015 at the Marple Sports Complex in Broomall, PA. This is a new location for this feis (formerly held at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, PA). The 2015 venue is familiar to the McDade-Cara school as this is the location for the Four Provinces Feis held in April.  The start time for the feis was 8:45 am. This was our 3rd time attending Feis Na Cara, but the first time on the Champs stages.

Venue

The venue is similar to the former venue- an indoor hockey rink. The parking was ample but most of it was on the street. Parking was not allowed at nearby businesses. The area is hilly so there was some uphill walking for folks! Plus, a very cold morning made a ½ mile walk seem very far!! But, it’s January right? A map of the stages/vendors/etc was provided by the Feis Committee via Facebook and Twitter. I found this very helpful to prepare myself and my child for the location where we needed to be. The fit inside the venue was tight. I really think the committee did a great job attempting to spread things out in general. However, because a hockey rink only has one or two “doors” to exit from, it’s difficult to have a good flow of traffic. The cap for this feis is 1000 and it met its cap so there were many people there!

Score 7

Hotel

A feis rate of 89.00 for a king and 99.00 for a queen was offered to guests choosing to stay at the Radnor Hotel. This hotel is less than 5 miles from the venue and is located in a nice area, It has a close proximity to restaurants and shopping should you have extra time on your hands.

Score 10

Stages and Seating

One rink hosted grades stages (4 of them) and the other rink hosted 3 stages for Champs. There is no formal seating but camping was allowed and many patrons brought in their own chairs. The stage size was ample for champs. Younger dancers danced 3 at a time and I didn’t see an issue with this. Older dancers dances two at a time. This information was also outlined in the syllabus. The stage itself was not raised and dancers competed on sport court flooring. Black tape ( I think it was tape?) covered the stages to prevent slipping. I did not see any slips or falls or hear complaints about this. These type of floors are designed for use with multiple sports thus it’s not known for being slippery. For what there is to work with, I thought the stages (5,6,and 7) functioned as they should. The only “problem” I had was that the sound for hard shoe was not as crisp as it would be on a wooden floor. This was the only fault I could find with the stages.

Score 7.5

Judges

Dancers danced for the same three judges in hard and soft shoe, which I believe is typical. Only one judge left a comment for my dancer and for only one of the rounds.

Score 8

Musicians

Each stage had their own set of musicians. The sound was ample and the dancers didn’t seem to have trouble hearing their music.

Score 10

Food

Coolers were not allowed at the feis, in fact upon entering the ice rink, you saw a person holding a sign saying “No outside food or drink”. They were serious! Vending machines for drinks were available, along with a bake sale, candy sale, and fresh fruit. Also, the ice rink has their own concession area with typical fare. We didn’t purchase food from that area, only a drink and candy bar.

Score 7

Vendors

Fayes was set up in the area of the champs stages. The Embroidery Girl and Head for the World were set up in the grades area.

Score 8

Camping

The area in the champs room/rink wasn’t overly crowded. It was full, but everyone seemed to fit. The area by the exit “door” (remember it’s an ice hockey rink) was packed and the flow in and out usually had a backup. The one way in one way out was the only fault I had with the camping area/stage area) It will be interesting to see the score from someone reviewing grades- that stage area seemed more crowded.

Score 8

Restrooms

Close to the dancing area. We never had to wait to use the restroom. They were kept clean.

Score 10

Feis Flow

Overall the stages moved at a good pace after a slight delay starting on time. When we arrived, the first Comp on our stage was just starting. That comp (according to the stage schedule) should have started at 9am– but it’s actual start time was 9:45 am. The last group finished at 5:01 pm (according to Feis Web).

Score 6.5

Awards and Results

We are new to the champ awards so I cannot tell you if this is normal, good or bad. But I will tell you how it worked and you can decide. A separate area was designated for awards. This room (I think it was the sales shop/skate sales area) was well marked and very close the champs area. The room was small though. This led to an extremely warm, Ok, it was hot in there! But you can imagine that due to healthy competition sizes (remember the cap is 1000) and parents watching will make an area over crowded. Outside the room the comps were listed on a large poster board and the award time was written in giving dancers and family members ample warning. The amount of time that elapsed between my dancer finishing the second rounds and the start of awards was about an hour. I do not know if this is typical or not and the hour wait didn’t bother me. Now onto the awards. Round awards were given (top half of dancers)- the hard shoe round placers received a hot cocoa/candy cane/ marshmallow packet in a styrofoam cup. The soft shoe round winners got a tube of chapstick. I thought these were cute, clever and functional! Best of all, EACH overall placers received a sash. That was a huge hit! Overall placers also got a trophy for their efforts. The room was hot but the awards made up for that. Maybe a fan next time to circulate the air?

Score 8.5

Misc/Social Media

The Feis had a table with raffle baskets (one had the newest American Girl Doll- HUGE hit!) , they held a charity treble reel (side stage registration available) and used social media (Facebook and Twitter) to its fullest. Volunteers were friendly and helpful. They also organized a canned food drive to benefit the Nelson County Food Pantry in Lovingston VA.

Score 10

Feis Na Cara Overall Score- 8

The traffic in and out of the stage area (aka rinks) and maneuvering around sometimes got tricky. The awards room was stuffy and the vendors were spread out so if you were not competing in one area you might have missed out on visiting a vendor. The volunteers were friendly and helpful, communication before and during the feis was satisfactory, and the location and hotel’s location was in a safe area. Stages moved swiftly and results were announced within one hour of completed competition. I like this feis and we have happily attended for the last 3 years. It will continue to be a feis we attend.

Please comment if you disagree with something I wrote. This will help me learn more about the expectations of feis goers as it pertains to the champ level and also to overall feis expectations.

Thank you!
Cheers, CC

What Did You Think?

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

Feis Info

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

Venue

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

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

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

 Score: 9/10

Judges

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

Score: 10/10

Musicians

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

Score: 10/10

Food

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

Score: 4/10

Vendors

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

Score: 8/10

Results

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

Score: 10/10

Feis Flow

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

Score: 10/10

Scoring

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

Rating

Overall 8.5/10

Local Attraction

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

What Did You Think?

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Ryan-Kilcoyne Feis 2014, PC/OC Review
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The 20th Annual Ryan-Kilcoyne School of Irish Dancing Feis was held on October 11, 2014, at the Maple Point Middle School in Langhorne, PA.

Venue

A school. A very small, tight school. This mainly presents issues when it comes to parking and navigating the halls. There are vendors in the small hallways, right next to award postings. It is a difficult feat to get between a beginning mother and her much needed pictures of her newest dancer who just received her first 1st. It could take you several minutes to get to the gym navigating the maze. There are many unused hallways in this school. Why does everything need to be crowded into 2 narrow hallways?

Rating 6

Food

didn’t see any, but it may have been there. Trying to stay as far away from the crowded hallways as possible.

Vendors

Typical vendors nothing out of the ordinary.

Rating 8

Stages

Most of the stages including one preliminary stage are in the gym. Once you take 5 stages and all of the dancers, parents and feis gear into one small space, I bet you can guess what happens next? Lack of floor space. After about an hour of dancing, it is difficult to even find a path to walk to any stage in the gym. Camping occurs everywhere and anywhere. If there is an open spot on the floor, by all means, drop your stuff there. It won’t matter if you are in the direct path of the stage. The person behind you will need to navigate that one.

Rating 5

Musicians

Good musicians, but it is always difficult for dancers to hear when 5 stages are in close proximity.

Rating 8

Awards

This is the worst part of this feis. The champ awards are held on the opposite side of the school from the prelim stage. The background is a lovely set of red lockers. There is no school banner covering the lockers. Even after the placements are called, the volunteers didn’t even attempt to move out of the background for the parents to take photos. I actually have a picture of my daughter on the podium with a volunteer picking her nose in the background. I think I will frame that one. I understand that you are dealing with limited space, but a simple banner would fix some of this.

Rating 4

Flow

Good, kept to schedule. Awards came out relatively quickly.

Rating 9

Overall score: 7

Did you make it to this feis? What did you think?

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Pittsburgh Feis Eats

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One of the reasons I like to travel is for the food, and when I find a family friendly place near the venue I like to point it out, especially when it is a ‘local’ place that might be easily missed. I found one this weekend during the Halloween Feis.

85596488_scaled_110x110After having spent the previous week on the coast, I was actually tired of seafood, so when Mrs. WTF asked what I wanted for dinner, I said chicken wings. We did a Google search and found there was a Buffalo Wild Wings nearby, but those are everywhere. We also found a little place called Wings, Suds and Spuds that had some favorable ratings, so we gave it a shot.

A small place in Moon Township, about 10 minutes from the Hyatt, WSS is a family-run business. When we pulled in to a packed (albeit smallish) parking lot, I knew we were on to something, and once inside, I could smell the ‘wingy’ goodness. The restaurant is small, but is family-friendly and serves hot wings and cold beer as well as salads, sandwiches etc… You can see the full menu here.

I like wings and these were pretty good, better than some I have had at the big-name restaurants. The wings were wet, and you could get them really wet, so they were messy, but the sauces were really good. I did half and half with half hot, and the other half hot cajun. Everyone else got boneless or tenders and curly fries and there was very little left by the time we were all through.

WSS has 5 or 6 different beers on tap and all the usual suspects in bottles. I was surprised that there were no BIG name brands on tap, not even Yuengling or Iron City, which I think is against the law, but nobody seemed to care.

Prices were comparable to the chicken chains, maybe a little higher, but it was worth it.

So, if you are looking for something other than hotel or fast food next time you are at a Pittsburgh Feis, look these guys up.

As always, WTF is not compensated for these endorsements…. if I could only find a way 😉

Pittsburgh Halloween Feis 2014, PC/OC Review/0 Comments/in , , /by

I have been to four (at least) feis at this venue between the Halloween Feis and The West Virginia Feis. Yes, I said WV. It is at the same venue as the Halloween Feis which is actually between Pittsburgh and WV, but I digress. My first few experiences (one & two) were not my favorite, but number three was much better. The fact that TGC has moved up into the PC ranks, really helps the ‘likeability’ of this feis since the champs portion is held on Sunday. Not taking away from the great job the feis team does on Saturday mind you, but Sunday is just better. Can I get a ‘yeah man!’

The Pittsburgh Halloween Feis was held on Saturday and Sunday, October 4th and 5th, 2014 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA.

NOTE: This is for the PC/OC day of the feis (Sunday). If you have comments for the Grades day of the feis, please contact me and I can share them in a separate post, thanks!

After re-reading my review of the WV Feis from March, my comments for this feis are almost exactly the same, so much so that I am just going to quote them here, and I will indicate any differences I noticed.

Venue

Stages 1 and 2 were in the large ballroom and were separated by a temporary partition. This was a much better setup than having 3 stages in the same room and allowed more chairs for viewers and better traffic flow. Combine that with less people and it was a win-win.

Stages were huge, I am guessing 30 x 30ish, or maybe bigger. It was hard to tell since they covered the normal 4 x 8 sheets of plywood (which is how I do my normal measuring) with that black material which made a much better dance platform. I did not see any falls and only one minor slip while I was watching the competitions.

Due to the level of the dancers, results were announced instead of posted. This was in the hallway on the way to the back doors and blocked the hallway completely, which was an inconvenience but only minor (depending of course on who you ask).

Camping seemed adequate and I saw no NO CAMPING signs. People did fill up viewers chairs and the tables that had been set up in one of the side rooms, but I rant about that elsewhere if you are interested. There were lots of chairs though, and we did not have any trouble finding seats.

The concessions and vendors were setup in the halls as in years past, but with less people, it wasn’t as congested.

Parking was plentiful but may have involved a bit of a walk depending on when you arrived. There was a way to pull right up to the hotel to drop off dancers and gear though. The feis did pay for parking which was cool and saved me $13.

Judges

PC/OC  always has 3 judges monitoring the performance. You really don’t get much better than that. The judges seemed attentive on our stage and took no breaks that I saw.

Music

Each stage had their own musician and there was a lot of distance between them. I could not hear the music from the other stage when I was watching dancers perform on our stage.

Food

Same as for the last feis, breakfast sandwiches… all reasonably priced.

We were not there long enough for lunch so I cannot comment on that food. There are some previous comments in previous posts.

Vendors

They had the airbrush artist back which I like. Otherwise the standard feis tshirt guy, shoe booth, jewelry, feis and Irish themed apparel, knit goods, the wig stuff, nic-nacs, paddywacks, etc…

Results

As the morning progressed I was more and more impressed that ‘the feis guy’ would come out and announce ‘awards for X will be in 5 minutes’ about 15 minutes after the comp finished. Based on previous PC experience, this is the best PC/OC results I have seen. TGCs comp did take longer than the others, and was between 30 and 45 minutes, but there were a lot of dancers in her comp, so I can understand the extra time. Even with that, it was handled better than I have seen at this level so far.

I have to echo the same sentiment. Jim (the feis guy) does an excellent job keeping things moving. TGCs results were out in about 30 minutes, and now that I have a few champ feiseanna under my belt, that is pretty darn good.

If there were any negatives on the reults, and these are minor… It would be nice if the top three in both steps were announced instead of just first place. This seems to be the norm elsewhere and it seemed NKR (not quite right) when it wasn’t done here. Secondly, if Jim could slow down a little during the result reading, that would be good. If you have heard him, you know what I mean. That is one fast talker and his thick Pittsburgh accent doesn’t help 😉  NOTE: I realize I echo the same sentiment in the last review.

Feis Flow

Big KUDOS for feis flow. ‘The feis guy (aka Jim)’ I refer to above was outstanding keeping things going, and keeping people informed on what was going on.  I saw a continuous flow of dancers within and between comps, and there was very little down time.

Jim also ran the results and kept that smooth and quick. He does have a ‘not from around here’ accent and speaks quickly, and my wife had a hard time keeping up when he read results, but I had no trouble, of course my Mum has that same accent 😉 .  If there was any comment, he could slow down a little.

From my viewpoint the flow was handled exceptionally well.

Side Note: Although I did not attend Day 1 of the feis, we pulled in shortly after 4 and were surprised to see day 1 had already wrapped up. That is one quick feis. Nice job.

Scoring

I think Jim and his team do an outstanding job and from my perspective, this is one of the better run feis in the area. I would easily give it a 9+

What Say You?

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Celtic Fling Feis 2014, PC/OC Levels Review

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cfLogoThe Celtic Fling Feis was held on June 28th, 2014 in Manheim, PA.

This is an outdoor feis, combined with an Irish-Scottish festival. Be aware that each adult needs to pay to get into the feis (it includes admission to the fair) even if you do not want to go to the fair. The parking is well organized with parking attendants leading you to your appropriate spot. A short walk later and you have been transported into a Renaissance Village with the signage to prove it. Ye Enter Here! Be prepared for long lines to get tickets and dancer numbers, although there is an option to pick them up the night before.

Venue

The dancers loved the Renaissance look. As far as trying to lug a Zuca bag through the village…. not easy. The paths are all rocks and hard to push or pull the required many items that feis people need. The smart people arrived early with their tents and chairs, camping in the very small amount of shade available. Overall, since it wasn’t really humid, it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t all that hot, it was nice once you managed to get your gear past the rock path.

Rating – 9

Food

There is a small snack stand close to stages 4 and 5. The offerings were pretty slim. Think granola bars, fruit and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Nachos, chicken fingers and soda for lunch. My guess is that they keep the offerings minimal because the good food is over at the fair. Prices were reasonable.

Rating – 6

Judges

The ones that I saw seemed attentive. The dancers rotated stages so they were able to experience different judges.

Rating – 10

Musicians

We had a well-known musician on our stage, who is always fabulous. On one of the OC stages, there were reports that a less than wonderful musician was present. Stories of wrong music, wrong speeds and a lot of starting and re-starting. It may not be a good idea to place a new musician on an OC stage where these dancers can clearly call the musician out….just a thought.

Rating – 6

Awards

The champ awards were nice. Medal round awards for only the first place champion dancer. They did have crystal awards instead of trophies (a nice change) and nice sashes. The grades awards came out relatively quickly with happy dancers receiving trophies and medals. There were even ribbons for places greater than third.

Rating – 9

Vendors

Only 3. One shoe, one tee shirt and one “feis essentials” vendor. Nothing special. The real vendors were at the fair.

Rating – 7

Overall

A nice feis as long as the weather is good. The flow and results are good and everybody can enjoy some traditional Irish and Scottish music and games post feis. Get there early and bring your chairs and a tent and you will have a good day.

Overall Score – 9

Did you Fling? What did you think?

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West Virginia Feis Grades Day 2014

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The West Virginia Feis for Grades was held on March 22nd, 2014 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the feis was held in PA, I have listed it under both PA and WV reviews.

NOTE: This is for the Grades day of the feis (Saturday), which I did not attend, but I did have a comment or two from others so wanted to post them. If you have comments, please add them at the bottom. Thanks!

“I will only add that I wish when they are finishing a group prior to lunch they would push through and finish their TS. One of my biggest pet peeves is to finish their core dances and then have to wait around forever to do ONLY the TS after lunch. Of course this may just be me….

I think Jim Gravens did a great job of starting on time, and keeping the feis moving. Results were emailed on Sunday evening. The new floors were great, and none of my dancers danced in the dungeon room of stage 4…so it was a great feis. Results were a little slow in coming, I thought. Nice to see some new vendors, often I think we see the exact same ones at every Mid America feis.

My two cents!”

and from the Feis Chair:

” Thanks again for your very positive assessment.  (WhatTheFeis says – that part refers to the review I did for the PC/OC day)

The only thing is that the grades day(Sat) is the busiest part of the feis. We were able to do it in 8 hours with the usual  4 stages-3 in the main ballroom and the 4th in a smaller ballroom-Im lucky that i have very efficient,enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.”

How would you rate the WV Feis for Grades?

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West Virginia Feis PC/OC Day 2014

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The West Virginia Feis PC/OC was held on March 23rd, 2014 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the feis was held in PA, I have listed it under both PA and WV reviews.

NOTE: This is for the PC/OC day of the feis (Sunday). If you have comments for the Grades day of the feis, please contact me and I can share them in a separate post, thanks!

Venue – This is the third feis I have attended at the Hyatt, and though I wasn’t thrilled with the venue the first time, and even less impressed the second time, I didn’t mind it at all this time. Lots about the venue was the same, but considering it was a champ day, there were a LOT less people there and it made it a much more pleasant environment.

The syllabus listed 3 stages, but I only saw 2 (and actually didn’t realize there was a third). Stages 1 and 2 were in the large ballroom and were separated by a temporary partition. This was a much better setup than having 3 stages in the same room and allowed more chairs for viewers and better traffic flow. Combine that with less people and it was a win-win.

Stages were huge, I am guessing 30 x 30ish, or maybe bigger. It was hard to tell since they covered the normal 4 x 8 sheets of plywood (which is how I do my normal measuring) with that black material which made a much better dance platform. I did not see any falls and only one minor slip while I was watching the competitions.

Due to the level of the dancers, results were announced instead of posted. This was in the hallway on the way to the back doors and blocked the hallway completely, which was an inconvenience but only minor (depending of course on who you ask).

Camping seemed adequate and I saw no NO CAMPING signs. People did fill up viewers chairs and the tables that had been set up in one of the side rooms, but I rant about that elsewhere if you are interested. There were lots of chairs though, and we did not have any trouble finding seats.

The concessions and vendors were setup in the halls as in years past, but with less people, it wasn’t as congested.

Parking was plentiful but may have involved a bit of a walk depending on when you arrived. There was a way to pull right up to the hotel to drop off dancers and gear though. The feis did pay for parking which was cool and saved me $13.

Venue Score: 9 (so much better then the past with less people)

Judges – PC/OC  always has 3 judges monitoring the performance. You really don’t get much better than that. The judges seemed attentive on our stage and took no breaks that I saw.

Judge Score: 9.5

Music – Each stage had their own musician and there was a lot of distance between them. I could not hear the music from the other stage when I was watching dancers perform on our stage.

Musician Score: 9.5

Food – Same as for the last feis, breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, pretzels, pizza, salad, drinks and sundries… all reasonably priced, except maybe the drinks which were $2.50 for a small bottle of soda. I didn’t eat but my wife said the fries had been sitting out for a while.

Food Score: 7

Vendors – They had the airbrush artist back which I like. Otherwise the standard feis tshirt guy, shoe booth, jewelry, feis and Irish themed apparel, knit goods, the wig stuff, nic-nacs, paddywacks, etc…

Vendor Score: 8.5

Results – As the morning progressed I was more and more impressed that ‘the feis guy’ would come out and announce ‘awards for X will be in 5 minutes’ about 15 minutes after the comp finished. Based on previous PC experience, this is the best PC/OC results I have seen. TGCs comp did take longer than the others, and was between 30 and 45 minutes, but there were a lot of dancers in her comp, so I can understand the extra time. Even with that, it was handled better than I have seen at this level so far.

Results Score: 9

Feis Flow – Big KUDOS for feis flow. ‘The feis guy (aka Jim)’ I refer to above was outstanding keeping things going, and keeping people informed on what was going on.  I saw a continuous flow of dancers within and between comps, and there was very little down time.

Jim also ran the results and kept that smooth and quick. He does have a ‘not from around here’ accent and speaks quickly, and my wife had a hard time keeping up when he read results, but I had no trouble, of course my Mum has that same accent 😉 .  If there was any comment, he could slow down a little.

From my viewpoint the flow was handled exceptionally well.

Feis Flow: 10

Scoring

Two part scoring with a Feis Score consisting of Judging, Music, Results and Flow, and then the overall consisting of everything.

Feis Score: 9.5 – PC/OC is always helped by judges and music, but the Results and Flow did not disappoint either.

And the WTF Rating is 8.92… pretty good 😉  You can add in your rating in the What Say You section below.

EDITORS NOTE: During the results, Jim took an informal poll of the dancers. It has been the habit of the feis to give all dancers at this level an award considering they have worked so hard to get to this level. The poll was to see if that should continue, or if they should just award top half as it is for most other feiseanna. Seemed the majority (not all) of the dancers thought the status quo (all awarded) was the way to go.

My opinion was that I thought it was nice that they do that, but something seemed amiss. It was when my daughter and I were chatting on the way home that I figured out what that was. She said she liked the fact they gave awards to everyone, but by doing that, they were taking some recognition away from the top half placers. She suggested that maybe a different award might be appropriate, so that the dancers who placed had something signifying their placement, instead of the same award that they all got for participating. I tend to agree and hopefully that came out right 🙂

What Say You?

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West Virginia Feis

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The West Virginia Feis was held on March 23 and 24th, 2013 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the feis was held in PA, I have listed it under both PA and WV reviews.

Please add your feis rating for the West Virginia Feis at the bottom of this review!

NOTE: This review focuses on Saturday only for this two day feis. OC and PC stages and judging therefore are not included in the review.

Venue – This is the second feis I have attended at the Hyatt, and for the last one, I said it ‘wasn’t terrible as a feis venue’, and I still go by that, HOWEVER, I liked it a lot less this time than the last. There were four performance stages, and while I peeked in on the fourth, most of my time was spent in the large ballroom with the three stages. As in my last review for this venue, stages were good size and had sufficient chairs for viewers. The traffic area around the stages was not adequate and moving was difficult, especially since some people congregated on the back wall and in front of the doors into the stage area.

When the hard shoe dances started, the noise carryover between the stages was distracting to me in the viewing seats, but I cannot speak for the dancers on stage.

Camping spots were available in the meeting rooms around the ballroom. Hallways were clearly marked “NO CAMPING” but I saw plenty of people camped right beneath the signs. Camping in the seats around the stages seemed to be at a minimum however, which was nice (at least on stage 3 where we were).

For the last feis I thought the biggest venue ‘issue’ was the concession set up. For this feis, use of the hallways WAS WORSE. This was not helped by the people who did not appear to notice the ‘NO CAMPING’ signs.

Feis results were posted in the hall between the ballroom and the lobby, where the concessions happened to end, which made for an issue of the lunch crowd versus the results crowd. On top of that, there were vendors across from the results, which severely constricted flow. At lunch time that area came to a literal standstill, the rest of the time it was just horrible.

There were also vendors on both sides of the big hallway adjacent to the ballroom, so it was slower traffic through there. The hallway on the end of the ballroom did not really have vendors and might have made a better results area (my opinion only, since I have never set up a feis).

Parking was plentiful but may have involved a bit of a walk depending on when you arrived. There was a way to pull right up to the hotel to drop off dancers and gear though. The feis did pay for parking which was cool and saved me $13.

Venue Score: 5.5 (sorry the results-vendor hall made it worse this time)

Judges – Same as the last time, daughter danced four dances and was judged by three different judges.

Judge Score: 9

Music – Each stage had their own musicians, otherwise pretty standard.

Musician Score: 8

Food – Same as for the last feis, breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, pretzels, pizza, salad, drinks and sundries… all apparently reasonably priced but we did not eat at the feis so I cannot speak to the quality.

Food Score: 6

Vendors – They had an airbrush artist which I had not seen at a feis before and I thought was a nice addition. Otherwise the standard feis tshirt guy, shoe booth, jewelry, feis and Irish themed apparel, knit goods, the wig stuff, nic-nacs, paddywacks, etc…

Vendor Score: 8.5

Results – Another negative. My daughter danced her first dance at 9 and the results were out at 930, not terrible but not great. After that though, it trended toward terrible taking about 90 minutes for the next 2 results and over an hour for the last (not sure how long since we went out to lunch and came back). A caveat, my daughters comps had nearly 30 dancers.

Results Score: 4

Feis Flow – As for the last feis here, I thought the feis flow was pretty good. There appeared to 5 or 6 dances between each of my daughters so there was time for rest between each although I did see 1 dancer from another age group what appeared to be back to back dances.

From my viewpoint the flow was handled really well and things were kept moving.

Feis Flow Score: 8.5

And the WTF Rating – a 7.07.

What did you think?

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Pittsburgh Halloween Feis Review

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NOTE: When you are done reading, please see the comments for a follow up by the Feis Chair.

The Pittsburgh Halloween Feis was held on October 6, 2012 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA.

Venue – The Hyatt wasn’t terrible as a feis venue, but I did have some ‘issues’ with it.

From the syllabus I see there were five stages but I really only saw three of them. They were good size and although they were all in the same room, there was adequate room to move between them. They also had sufficient chairs for viewers.

OBSERVATION: I did not see any ‘campers’ in the seats around the stage, not saying it did not happen, but it was not rampant as it is in many feises. A nice, less aggravating seating plan 🙂

Camping spots were available in the halls and other meeting rooms around the ballroom and seemed adequate.

A venue ‘issue’ was the concession set up. They set up serving tables in one of the halls which happened to be the main hall between the dance areas and the results area, and the lunch rush was just a huge traffic jam of people trying to get from one area to the other. They could have used one of the meeting rooms which would have helped the congestion.

Vendors were also set up in the halls which constricted flow a little, but it was not terrible.

Parking was bad and due to construction at the airport was extra bad. We ended up in extended stay parking the first attempt, and the nice man in the exit booth routed us to the right parking. Hotel parking (aka Long Term) was very full so there was a bit of a walk to the hotel, not good for some attendants. The feis did pay for parking, and they provided us with tickets to pay, but it was not obvious on how they were to be used. I saw some ‘aggravation’ with people trying to leave who were unsure what to do.

Venue Score: 6.5

Judges – My daughter danced four dances and was judged by three different judges, pretty darn good.

Judge Score: 9

Music – Each stage had their own musicians, always good. Our stage musician took several breaks, one seemed a bit ‘extended’, so much so that it was obvious. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.

Musician Score: 8

REALIZATION: I think I may be getting burned out on feising…. I feel like I was not quite as observant at this feis.

Food – Hot dog, pretzels, pizza, salad, drinks and sundries… all reasonably priced. A negative, a quarter pound hot dog was $3 and a salad was $5, which kind of put the kabash on healthy eating decisions. Not bad, but could have used a little more variety since it was catered by the hotel.

Food Score: 6

Vendors – A feis tshirt guy, and a shoe booth (not George)… always there. Nice jewelry and knit goods, the wig ladies, need I go on?

Vendor Score: 7.5

Results – This was a huge negative. My daughter danced her first dance between 11 and 1130, they broke for lunch, and then continued dancing. She finished her 4th dance at nearly 2 and the results for the first dance had not been posted when we checked before her fourth dance started. It was out shortly after, and the last three results came out by 3 so it seemed to speed up some, but in the meantime, there was a LOT of grumbling from dancers and parents.

Results Score: 3

Feis Flow – I thought the feis flow was pretty good. Age group dances were kept together with only a few dances between, always help the flow. During the lunch break I saw one of the feis staff go around announcing break was over, and got everything going again about 30 minutes after break started. I thought that was good and had not seen that much effort put into keeping the flow. (I did find out there was a wedding reception planned for later that day in the same room since the hotel double booked, which may explain the extra effort).

Feis Flow Score: 8

And the WTF Rating – a WTF Rating is 6.86.