Rose City Feis Review 2014, Grades Level

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

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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An Intro to Irish Dance Terms

orockwhatThe next post in my Feis Dad series out on Antonio Pacelli is a quick intro to some of the terms used in Irish Dance. You know the easy ones to say like ‘feis’. Don’t laugh, you know you probably said it wrong before you were ‘in the know’.

So take a look and let me know if I captured all of them out at An Introduction to Irish Dance Terms.

 

 

 

 

Southern Tier Feis 2014, Grades Level Review

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.

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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.

Feminine (aka fitted) TShirt Question – Please Help!

If you have made a recent purchase of what I referred to as the ‘fitted’ tshirt, can you take a second, click this posts title and go to the post itself to answer a poll question regarding the shirt? If you have additional comments regarding your purchase, you can add them below the poll, or contact me via one of the methods here.

Thanks in advance!

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Milwaukee Feis 2014, 2nd Opinion

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.

Milwaukee Feis 2014 Review

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!!

What Say You?

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McMenamin Academy Feis 2014 Review

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!!

What Did You Think?

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Chicago Feis 2014 Review

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

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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