The Harvest Time Feis was held at Burlington High School in Burlington, Massachusetts on October 26, 2014.
Venue
Burlington High school- we got there a bit earlier this time around 11. Parking was a zoo, it is a huge lot and if you didn’t plan on a long walk and extra time this could be stressful. Again, I am not used to this size feis, which was bigger then Saturday, so maybe the natives would take it in stride.
The stages were spread out upstairs and down and finding a spot to put your things was a great challenge. I settled in a cleared out gym only to be told they were closing it and everyone had to leave in 10 min. Our backpack was then put behind a door near a trash can. It was very crowded but you could go outside, which people did. Felt a bit squished.
It was hot in the gym again but for Opens in the auditorium it was nicely air conditioned. Oh, the stages were rubber on a gym floor, this time splitting it into 6 stages in one room. It worked although there was only 1 check in spot in the back corner for all stages and that was confusing.
For the opens stage in the library the state was back to front with the audience behind the dancers.The only entrance was side stage.
Several falls in opens way too close to Oireachtas. Combined boys and girls. No idea what was happening in opens, and combined with ‘out of it volunteers’ or down right rude volunteers made it worse. I found the volunteers in prelim nice, but no one knew what was happening. One person only, went out of their way to get an answer for me to find out which show was dancing first. Everyone else, while nice to me, just said they didn’t know and walked off. That made it stressful for me and I would imagine worse for first time feisers.
I give it a 5
Judges
There were plenty of judges for all of the stages. I didn’t see a rotation after grade levels but I can’t be sure. They did figures in between, but because they were running so far behind they moved them into the gym that they previously closed. I still didn’t see a change of stations. I can’t rate this since I’m not sure again.
Music
Loved it again. Nice job it was clear and loud. Shared musicians for all but it worked.
I give it an 8
Food
I heard there was a cafeteria selling food but I had no idea where it was, and it was so crowded I didn’t go anywhere. There was a small table outside the gym selling candy for 1.00, but that’s it. Based on that I will rate it a 5, but I don’t know about food otherwise.
I give it an 5
Vendors
I can’t say that I saw a single vendor. Again, this was a big venue but I didn’t see any from my trip from the front of the school to the downstairs gym.
I give it a 0
Results
They were ok, no announcements again, so I had no idea when they were going to be held. No posting for recalls. We didn’t wait to long. The trophies were super cute, and I am all about theme! They had witches on the top, ghosts and pumpkins etc. Sashes were nice, with fringe, I think the opens had gems. Marks were given,
I give it an 8
Feis Flow
It was very choppy. My daughter’s comp ran 1.5 hours late. I was told it is usually a good running feis, so maybe it was an off year. They tried to move it along by moving the figures and glad they did, but ours ran late. Never fun. 2 dances start to finish was about 4 hours.
I give it a 6
Scoring – I give the feis an overall score of 7.
More room, better communication would help for sure. Like I mentioned previously, other locals told me this usually runs well, so we all have off years, maybe this was just a hiccup.
This was a nice experience overall. All the kids and parents were very sweet to myself and my daughter, esp since we have never competed there, so they were curious and that sprung into nice conversations and chats about the differences and similarities between regions. I liked the double feis, as I had to fly, so it made the pain of airfare a bit easier to swallow. I was impressed with the quality of the dancers in the New England region. So many lovely, sharp, and elegant dancers I can’t wait to go back next year.
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