Tag Archive for: 1S

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

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

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

Venue

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

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

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

Judges

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

Music

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

Food

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

Results/Awards

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

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

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

Feis Flow

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

Scoring

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

What did you think?

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

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!

What did you think?

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Gem City Feis 2013

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gcLogoThe Gem City Feis was held on October 12th, 2013 at the Dayton Airport Expo Center in Vandalia, OH.

This is my second year reviewing this feis although we have been here a few times. You can see the last review here.

Venue – As I said last year, the Expo Center is a great venue for a feis. People at the feis even commented that it was their favorite venue. However, last year I also said “probably could have taped off a bigger area for camping then they actually did, since the camping filled up and became difficult to navigate in and out of, but the annoyance was minor” and maybe I was a little too subtle. There is a ton of open area that could have been used for camping, but they taped off the same inadequate area this year and people were openly irritated. TAPE OFF A BIGGER CAMPING AREA IN 2014 PLEASE!

There, got that off my chest. Other than that, it was great!

There were 5 stages again this year and stages 1 & 2 (the OC/PC stages) were huge, 32 x 32 as far as I could tell. The remaining stages were all 24 x 24 and were bigger than the average stage I see at other feiseanna. Each stage had lots of chairs for the audience.

I saw a few slips but did see the staff mopping the stages (at least the one that we were on) at lunch, and the monitors were very good at cleaning up any foreign objects that happened to fall off dancers while they danced.

Parking, as last year, was plentiful but if you didn’t get there early, like at 8am, you were going to have to park out a ways. There is a drop zone available though.

Venue Score: 7.5 (down a little from last year due to camping situation)

Judges – The girl child had three dances and was judged by two different judges. Generally I would say that was not great, but on our stage they rotated a few times during the morning comps and it just so happened that the same judge rotated back to judge her again in the afternoon. One of the Moms told me that on her stage, her dancer had the same judge for 4 dances. I think that is unacceptable and could give unfair advantage (or disadvantage) to the dancers.

Judge Score: 5

Music – All stages had their own music and were spaced well enough so as not to bleed over.

On a side note, the nice lady at the concession stand told me she did not realize there was live music at these events. Oh, and that the music was very repetitive. We may not see her work the stand next year 😉

Musician Score: 9

Food – Same menu as last year, burgers, brats and dogs, pretzels, pizza, salad, sandwiches, drinks and some breakfast items. The food prices were good but the drink prices were (IMHO) very high. $4 or $5 sandwiches and the quality was ok, but a soda was $2.50 for a bottle. They had beer, but I did not see the price on that.

Food Score: 8.5

Vendors – Vendors were the standard list which you can see here. George the shoe guy, the wig ladies, the Zuca couple from Georgia, the ribbon lady, one Irish swag guy who sold sweatshirts, posters and a few other things, t-shirt vendor and a photographer.

The only noticeable change (to me) was that the feis t-shirts were not pre-printed like last year, and you could ‘customize’ them a bit, otherwise same-o same-o.

Vendor Score: 8.5

Results – Results were posted on the wall in about 15 minutes and that is excellent in my opinion. No apparent Twitter or Facebook posts, but I did not search very hard for them, so if any of you saw them, please let me know.

gemAwards were right next to the results and were divided by comps instead of by stages, not sure if that helped or not, but TGC never had to wait long for her awards.

I also like the gems that some of the dancers get for 1st place, nice touch.

The other thing I liked is that they had comments ready to be picked up within about 30 minutes of the dancers being finished. Not sure that was in every case, but it was in ours.

Results Score: 9.5

Feis Flow – Feis flow was just OK. They had 10 age comps on our stage and they all did the same dance before starting the next dance. I know that is how it usually goes, but with comps having sometimes over 20 dancers, it made for a long wait between dances. I think this wears on the dancers. I know it wears on the parents.

This venue is so large I think they could add a stage or two to help spread the comps out a little. I say that with the caveat that I do not know availability of judges, musicians etc… so this may not be an option, but it would be nice.

All that being said, we started around 11 and were done a little after 3ish with an hour lunch in there, so it was not horrible, but we got there early in case things went quick… you know how that goes, long day.

Feis Flow Score: 7

Scoring

The feis score consists of Judging, Music, Results and Flow and the overall includes everything.

Feis Score: 7.625

Overall Score (aka the WTF Rating): 7.85

What did you think?

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Milwaukee Feis 2013

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milThe 24th annual Milwaukee Feis was held on August 10th, 2013 at the Student Union at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Editors Note: This feis is run as a back-to-back with the McMenamin Academy Feis and this review will cover a few sections for both feiseanna.

Venue – This is the first time I have done the Milwaukee Feis, in fact, this is the first feis I have done in Wisconsin, and I enjoyed it.

There were 7 stages at the feis, divided into two levels of the Student Union. The stages were each in its own space with plenty of seating, but, in this reporters opinion, limited camping.

Stages 1 – 4 were on the top level and included both the OC (Stage 1) and PC (Stage 2) stages. If my estimates are correct, each of those stages were near, or maybe a bit over 30′ x 30′. Plenty of room for the dancers.

Stages 3 – 7 were smaller, but I did not see any smaller than 24′ x 24′. They all had great seating too, but Stage 4 (the one on the top floor off by itself) was a little awkward because it had lots of bigger comfy chairs that did not allow for viewing as close in. That stage also really only had traffic on one side that seemed congested, but not terrible.

Stages 5 – 7 were also set up well and appeared to be 24′ x 28′. Stages 5 and 6 had plenty of seats and room to move around the seating area. Stage 7 did also, but not quite as much free space as 5 and 6.

I did have some issues with stage condition. Stage 7 literally had bowed floorboards on one end that contributed to a number of slips and trips. I also saw several slips on Stage 5 and one resulted in a bad fall.

Camping was probably adequate, but I really did not look closely on the top level. Camp areas were well defined and the only place I noticed ‘obvious camping in the viewing seats’ was at Stage 4 where the comfy chairs were… go figure.

Registration, Results and Awards were on the lower level and all close to one another. From the lower level it was a quick trip up the adjacent stairs to the two stage floors. Elevators were also available (but were slow).

On street parking was available, and parking in the Student Union parking garage was available, but cost $6. It was free in the garage on Sunday.

Vendors were in the hallway on the way in to where Stages 5 – 7 were, and on the ground floor near registration. Vendor areas did not seem to congest flow to stages as is the issue in many feiseanna.

The only issue I could see somebody having with the venue is if they had dancers on both floors, otherwise I really enjoyed it.

Venue Score: 9  (This also applies to the McMenamin Feis for Sunday)  

Judges – The girl child danced 3 times and was judged by 2 different judges. I generally think that can be done better, but the dances were very close together, literally one – three comps apart, so there was really not adequate time for a judge change. I do like feiseanna that go quick, so I can’t really ding them for this.

Judge Score: 8

Music – Every stage had their own musician and all stages were isolated enough where music bleed was no problem. I heard no complaints about the music, and saw none myself.

Musician Score: 10 (This also applies to the McMenamin Feis for Sunday)

Food – A college student union, how do you think the food was? All kinds of variety, subs, wraps, pizza, stir fry, donuts and breakfast items, ice cream, coffee, and probably some I do not remember, plus a little college store to buy other snacks and drinks as well as free standing drink sales booths. The only issue I had with the food was that the options were very limited for breakfast, and having a gluten-free issue in the family, it made it hard to find something. This was not an issue at lunch and there were several gluten free options. Everything was pretty good, and all fairly reasonably priced.

Food Score: 9.5 (This also applies to the McMenamin Feis for Sunday)

Vendors –  2 shoe vendors (George from Balinvilla was there), a nice jewelry and accessory table, 2 tshirt guys, and some shirts and sweatshirts. Noticeably absent was hair and wig vendors which I do not believe I have seen happen before. You can see the complete vendor list here.

I have been to enough of these so that I recognize the vendors and they recognize me, but I met a ‘ray of sunshine’ on Saturday. Victor from Amerigo and Amerigo describes himself as a ‘passionate Spainiard’, I describe him as a humming bird on speed, but in a good way. If you ever have the chance to say hi to Victor, you really should, you will walk away with a smile and a new friend.

Other than me being a Victor fan, I was kind of disappointed in the vendor offerings.

Vendor Score: 6 (This also applies to the McMenamin Feis for Sunday)

Results – This is another feis where FeisWorx was kickin’ out the results, in some cases in about 10 minutes, and I did not have the need to go and look at the board. There was one larger comp where it took 20 -25 minutes to hit FeisWorx, but generally it was less than 15 minutes.

For the Milwaukee Feis, you would go to the “wall” and then turn around and walk a few feet to pick up your awards. Milwaukee was wired and the award volunteers could look up all the results for the dancer. I like that.

I was really impressed with the whole Results flow but I was tied into FeisWorx the whole time, so I am scoring based on my experience. Your mileage may vary.

Results Score: 9.5

Feis Flow – Excellent. We started at 11ish and had the last dance and were through by 1. This included a 30 minute lunch and they stuck to their word. They grouped the dances close together which really helped speed us through, but it seems like we always have at least 1 dance after lunch. This quick turn-around between dances does limit the judge rotation, but I really can’t have it both ways.

Feis Flow Score: 9

Scoring

Keeping the 2 part scoring in mind, the feis score consisting of Judges, Music, Results and Flow and then the overall WTF rating for all items including the venue, food and vendors.

Feis Score – 9.125  An excellent feis score

And the WTF Rating – a 8.71, very respectable overall

What did you think?

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Dayton Feis 2013

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The 41st annual Dayton Feis was held on June 22nd, 2013 at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Venue – This is the second time I have done the Dayton Feis at Sinclair. If you are curious here is the review for last year. I don’t think the venue is bad, but I think it has a few limitations.

The feis was split into three floors of the building. The competitions held on the lowest level in an indoor track and field building, a second floor that had a cafeteria, the tabulation room and where the OC/PC presentations were done, and the top level where results were posted and awards were presented. Lots of stairs so not the best for people with limited mobility, but there were elevators available.

There were six stages, which in general were good sizes. The smallest was 24 x 20 and the largest was 32 x 32 (one of the champ stages). While the smaller stage is bigger than some I have seen, the issue with this one is that it was half of a joined stage (stages 5 & 6) that were split down the middle by a piece of tape. Last year I was OK with that, but I am less of a fan this year, especially with the size of some of the comps on those stages. These stages were sharing a musician like last year, but I do feel there was enough room to separate these two, add a little more size and still share the musician.

I saw multiple slips and falls and could see ‘stuff’ on one of the champ stages. Couldn’t tell if it was hair pins, or whatever, but it was obvious. I did not see any floor cleanup or mopping during the day, not saying there was none, but I saw none.

Chairs seemed adequate, a bit heavy for OC/PC but that seems to be the norm. There were lots of standing viewers.

Camping in the dance area was very limited, but the second level had a lot more area available, just not as convenient.

As mentioned, results and awards were on the third floor, and as long as you were done dancing, that was cool, you could just wait upstairs (which is also where you exited the building). Otherwise, having them two floors up caused a lot of walking and stairs during the day.

Parking was plentiful, pretty close, and only $2.

Vendors were at one end of the room, and there were a lot more than last year. I thought they were easy to get to, and separated nicely from the stages.

Venue Score: 8  Would have been better with more camping in the competition area and if everything was on the same floor, otherwise, really not that bad.

Judges – The girl child danced 4 times and was judged by 4 different judges. As good as it gets in my opinion.

Judge Score: 10

Music – All stages except 5 & 6 had their own musician. 5 & 6 shared one, but that really did not seem to be too much of an issue. I did witness one rather long stoppage when dancers were lined up on both stages, and they just milled about waiting for the musician to return.

Maybe my suggestion of separating stages 5 & 6 will be seen and they can add on another musician next year. 🙂

Musician Score: 7.5

Food – Using the college concession worked to the feis advantage. Food was plentiful, had some variety and was priced for college students. There were also healthy options like fruit cups and hummus and chips in addition to pizza etc…

Food Score: 9.5

Vendors –  A big improvement over last year! George the shoe guy had his table, and the ribbon key chain lady, and the shortbread guy (if you are from this area, you probably know these people), and the wig people, and the t shirt table that had a nice variety of add-ons for the t-shirts. In addition though, there were several jewelry tables, and several vendors with Irish items like hats, scarves, shirts, nic nacs etc…  A nice browsing/shopping experience.

Vendor Score: 9.5 

Results – For reasons I will explain in another post this week, I thought the results were handled pretty well. The ones that I checked were up on the board within 30 minutes.

Dayton is an eFeis feis so electronic results were not available right away like some are on FeisWorx, and the feis was not tweeting or otherwise posting results electronically

Awards were on the same floor with the results, and they had a variety of awards available for Prizewinner 1st place winners.

If there were any negatives, it would be that the results needed to be posted in a more organized fashion. They were just posted as they came out and there was no order to them. IMHO, each comp should have been grouped together and posted in the same area on the board so all results for that comp could be easily viewed.

Results Score: 8

Feis Flow – Not too bad. We started at 10ish and had the last dance at around 3. Huge comps and lots of them slowed everything down a little, but without adding more stages, I don’t know how that could have been better. Our day would have been longer but they moved a few of the last dances to another stage to help get them get done earlier. The stages moved along pretty well I thought.

I did hear complaints that the lunch took to long with someone saying an hour and a half, but I was trying to sell a dress, eat some pizza and find my daughter, so I really did not notice.

Feis Flow Score: 7.5

Scoring

Remember, scoring now has 2 parts, the feis score consisting of Judges, Music, Results and Flow and then the overall WTF rating for all items including the venue, food and vendors.

Feis Score – 8.25

And the WTF Rating – a 8.57. Great job Dayton!

Remember to look for a special Dayton Feis 2013 post coming later this week.

What did you think?

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