Tag Archive for: 6R

Michigan (Muskegon) Feis 2013

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The Michigan Feis was held on September 14th, 2013 at the Muskegon Catholic Central High School in Muskegon, Michigan.

This is the second review for this feis. To see last years review, look here.

Venue – This is the third time we have done a feis at Muskegon Catholic and unlike some of the other feiseanna located in schools, we like this feis.

There were 4 stages in different areas of the school, 2 in one gym, 1 in the auditorium on the schools auditorium stage, and the PC/OC stage in another gym at the far end of the school. If by chance you had dancers on stages 3 or 4 and one of the other stages, especially stage 1 (OC/PC) you probably did not enjoy the layout as much, since dances moved quickly and it was a few minute walk between the stages.

Stage size was excellent and as far as I could tell were about 32 x 32 feet each. Stages 3 and 4 were about 20 feet apart, so there was plenty of room around the stages and plenty of chairs for the dancers to wait for their dances.

I saw one fall, and I did not see any floor cleanup or mopping, but we were there only a short time and left before lunch, so there may have been stage maintenance done.

Seating in the gyms used the gym bleachers and seemed adequate. The auditorium used auditorium seating and was also fine. Camping was in the bleachers, and in the hallways, and although some of the halls got a little tight in spots, it wasn’t bad.

Results were down the hall, half way to stage 1, and awards were in the hallway at the front of the building, so that wasn’t as convenient as other feiseanna where they are right next to each other, but it wasn’t horrible.

Parking was adequate, but the lots near the door, as you would imagine, filled up quickly. We got their at 9ish and ended up parking around the building, and had a 5 minute walk to the front door. There was a drop zone where a parent and the dancer could be dropped off to avoid the walking.

Vendors were in the hallway between stages 3 and 4 at the front of the building, and stage 2 half way down the hallway to stage 1. There were only a few vendors and they tucked themselves up against the wall pretty well. George the shoe guy set up in a side hall, and didn’t block pedestrian flow at all.

Venue Score: 8  

Judges – The girl child danced 3 times and was judged by 1 judge. Not great but TGC rotated through all her dances REALLY fast, and I do not see how they could have rotated all stages that quickly.

If I knew all judges were completely objective, and used the same baseline to judge all comps, 1 judge would be OK. I do feel however, they should try to get at least 2 judges to see each age comp, so dancers have a more chances, even if the judging is unintentionally subjective. NOTE: I am not insinuating the judging at this feis was subjective.

Judge Score: 6.5

Music – Each stage had their own musician which is always the best way to do it. We are in the gym with stages 3 and 4, and from where I was sitting, there was a lot of music bleed over between the stages. I asked TGC what she thought and she said she had a hard time hearing the music on stage, and that the left was better than the right. She also said she saw the judge signaling that she could not hear very well.

Musician Score: 7

Food – Wasn’t there for lunch so I am not going to score this, but a cursory glance and it looked like the same set up as last year.

Food Score: NA

Vendors –  I only saw George from Ballinvilla, the hair stuff lady and the tshirt guy. This is the Irish Music Festival Feis though and there is LOTS of vendors if you go to the festival. A little lame for a feis though.

Vendor Score: 6 

Results – WOW! Best I have even seen. From the end of the dance to the wall, less than 10 minutes. For one, I would say it was around 5 minutes. It is a FeisWorx feis, but results were not posted there, although it really did not matter unless you didn’t want to walk down the hall.

Results Score: 10

Feis Flow – Excellent! We started dancing at 1115 and were done with 3 dances and had results in less than an hour. Age comps were kept together so there was only one or two dances between each of TGC’s dances. Moved really quick. Mix that with the quick results… outstanding.

Feis Flow Score: 10

Scoring

Remember, scoring is in 2 parts, the feis score consisting of Judges, Music, Results and Flow and then the overall WTF rating for all items.

Feis Score – 8.375  (which really benefited from the results and flow scores).

And the WTF Rating – a 7.92

What did you think?

[poll id=”16″]

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.