Memorial Day weekend in Northeast Ohio consists of cookouts, rib burn offs, picnics and, if you're a feis family, the Akron and Cleveland feiseanna. I have to go the Cleveland feis like it or not because our school, Murphy Irish Arts Center, has been actively involved in the running of this feis for quiet some time. However the Akron feis is optional and quite frankly after our experience today I am going to option to stay far away from this feis next year.
For those of you following along Marina is 8 soon to be 9 and is now ending her 4th year of Irish dance so when I write I'm writing from the "grades" perspective although when I know something about Championships I do try to include this info. We first attended the Akron feis three years ago when my daughter was in her second year of feising and had a great experience. That year the feis was well run, results posted in a timely fashion and we were done by noon. However, last year the feis was slow and disorganized with stages being abruptly changed. We didn't leave until late afternoon/early evening and as I've already stated had a full day of feising the next day to look forward to.
This year we went primarily because Marina needs to get a first place in her Novice Slip Jig to be in all Prizewinner and compared to what she's facing in Cleveland the numbers in the Akron Slip Jig were relatively lower. Let's face it the feis is 40 minutes from my house so what's not to like? The stage assignments for one thing! I have been to a feis or two where we've had to change stages once or twice but this year's Akron feis was downright ridiculous! My daughter had to dance on not two but 5 different stages and she was not the exception - this was the norm and the stages weren't even next to each other! I spent most of my day running between stages to check the progress in case I needed to ask to have the stage held and I wasn't alone. One of my friends had to switch from soft shoe to hard shoe and back again three times! The stages were not organized by age, type of dance or level of competition. They appeared to be arranged in random order creating a very stressful environment. Let's face it, feising is stressful enough without having the worry of missing a competition. I over heard a volunteer explain that they asked the stages to be arranged by age so that the dancers would only have to compete on one stage throughout the day and when the committee received the assignments it was too late to change them. Having served on a feis committee I find this hard to believe. If you are paying a service such as efeis or Feisworx then you have the right to go back to them and ask them to get it right. A friend of mine's daughter even missed one of her competitions and I'm sure she wasn't the only one!
Adding to today's frustration was the length of time it took to process the results. My daughter danced her last dance and after waiting 2 hours without receiving any results for her competitions we left! It seemed the reason for the delay was that a computer had crashed and they did not have the man power to add up the judges scores and manually post the results. Okay - I can accept that excuse for Championship scoring but grades!?! Come on! Take the judges sheet look at the scores, write them down on a piece of paper and tape them up on the results boards. I heard so many time today that parents don't care about the competitors names or the school they're from - just put down the number and be done with it! What the Feis? (Yes - I blatantly ripped that phrase off from a friend - and you all should visit his website www.whatthefeis.com.) So I handed Marina's dance card to a friend of mine and asked him if he could please check the results for us and packed up and left! That's something I thought I'd never do but my husband was with us and he had to get to Cleveland to help build the stages for tomorrow's feis or else I might have stayed.
It wasn't enough that the Akron feis' website is terrible, that they promised updates coming in the next few days and it took 9 days to post something new, that the competitor list was posted and taken back and now I can't access that or the judges list then to fail miserably on feis day is ... is... I don't know what it is. The only positive thing I can say about this feis is that the food is very reasonably priced - $2 for a hot dog, $3.50 for a burger and they have additional food vendors outside. That's not entirely fair - the volunteers kept their cool and were extremely helpful often apologizing for the situations - especially at the results area.
Which brings me to another issue - this year they put the vendors outside under a tent near the main entrance. If I were a vendor I wouldn't be happy with this arrangement because it did not look like they were getting any business. (The last 2 years the vendors were strategically placed across from the results and got a lot of traffic).
So ends my rant on the Akron feis. I can accept that the place is dusty - it's held at a fairgrounds and that comes with the territory but what happened today is inexcusable and the feis committee needs to take a long hard look at what they can do to improve this feis NEXT year. Otherwise they may join the rank of the many feiseanna that have failed and it won't be due to lack of attendance because this feis reached its cap of 1100 weeks ago.
Now I get to cool off, have a beer (or two) and get to bed because I have to get up and do it all over again tomorrow! Until tomorrow - Slainte!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
I'm Back From Cincinnati, Ohio & the Queen City Feis.
I was reminded today that I haven't posted anything for awhile and I guess that's right! Life - sometimes it does get in the way of what's really important - talking about Irish dance. So instead of going to my Irish dance class I decided to crack open a cold one - Killians, the closest thing I have to Irish beer and catch everyone to speed.
When we last left our hero she had just returned from watching the Royal wedding and the Central New York Feis. Since that time she's attended a 3 hour and 40 minute board meeting for the dance school, been to another feis and gotten herself appointed co-chair of the school's annual bus trip. Not to mention taxi-ing her daughter to Murphys 5 times a week for classes, private lessons, team practice for the Cleveland Feis and tattoo practice. No - I'm not practicing getting a tattoo but if I was it might look like a Scottish thistle, ghillies or some other Gaelic symbol but I digress. Where was I? Oh right - returning from a feis, Queen City in Cincinnati, Ohio to be exact.
Friends went to this feis last year and had several good things to say so I decided to sign my daughter up for it expecting a nice time. I can't put my finger on it exactly but the vibe wasn't right. The venue was the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincy and it had all the right qualities - spacious, clean, seating for lunch and more than enough room to camp. The stages were large and well run, the judges rotated in a timely fashion but to me the pace was slow. The feis started on time at 8:30 and moved along but at one point I looked at my watch and was surprised to find it was only 12:30. It felt like 2:30 or 3 and my daughter still had two dances to go!
The nice touch was this feis broke all the stages for lunch at approximately the same time. Lunch was followed by the Treble Reel - which I wish they would run in the morning after figures but that's just my opinion - I could be wrong - and the grade stages pretty much wrapped up by 3pm. Still it was a long day. Results were posted at moderate pace (my daughter got 2nd in her Novice Slip Jig so I can't complain) however, we were told not to expect judges comments for 7 - 10 days! Really? Why so long? In that time I could show her teacher the comments and work on making corrections to her SJ so she can get into Prizewinner. (Her SJ is the last dance she needs to be in all Prizewinner). Blankets, chairs and coolers were permitted and that's always a good thing because the gang needed a beer with lunch. There were very, very few vendors which doesn't bother me because I try to spend as little money as possible at a feis but some of my friends complained. I didn't purchase any food so I can't comment on the prices or quality but there was a Starbucks cart in the lobby and I partook of that. So I guess it really wasn't bad - I just expected something different - what I'm not sure.
The hotel was a different story. We stayed at the feis hotel across the street from the venue which was nice. They offered a feis rate of $104 which is great for a Hyatt but they nickled and dimed everything else! You had to use their valet parking at $23 or find a surface lot for $15. We could not take a luggage cart we had to employ the services of the valet if we wanted one and they would not bring the car in the morning so we could get our sleeping bag out and put the luggage in. They insisted that we check our bags and walked me to my car in the deck (which was a block away) to get my sleeping bag. When the bill came in the morning it was for $168! I was told there was a deposit figured into the price and that would be taken off in 2 - 3 days. I'm watching my credit card closely. The pool area was nice but it didn't make up for everything else. If we decide to try the Queen City Feis again you can be sure we won't be staying at the Hyatt.
As far as the feis is concerned I'd give it a B+ the fact that the "vibe" wasn't right could have a lot to do with the fact that I didn't sleep well thanks to my daughter doing somersaults and dancing the jig next to me all night and not the feis itself. So this is the start of a very busy feis season. Next up Akron, Cleveland, Buffalo and Louisville not to mention the Cleveland Peacekeepers' Tattoo, overnight dance camp and my maiden voyage as tour director for the school's bus trip. Hope you all will be laughing with me! Til next tine - Slainte!
When we last left our hero she had just returned from watching the Royal wedding and the Central New York Feis. Since that time she's attended a 3 hour and 40 minute board meeting for the dance school, been to another feis and gotten herself appointed co-chair of the school's annual bus trip. Not to mention taxi-ing her daughter to Murphys 5 times a week for classes, private lessons, team practice for the Cleveland Feis and tattoo practice. No - I'm not practicing getting a tattoo but if I was it might look like a Scottish thistle, ghillies or some other Gaelic symbol but I digress. Where was I? Oh right - returning from a feis, Queen City in Cincinnati, Ohio to be exact.
Friends went to this feis last year and had several good things to say so I decided to sign my daughter up for it expecting a nice time. I can't put my finger on it exactly but the vibe wasn't right. The venue was the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincy and it had all the right qualities - spacious, clean, seating for lunch and more than enough room to camp. The stages were large and well run, the judges rotated in a timely fashion but to me the pace was slow. The feis started on time at 8:30 and moved along but at one point I looked at my watch and was surprised to find it was only 12:30. It felt like 2:30 or 3 and my daughter still had two dances to go!
The nice touch was this feis broke all the stages for lunch at approximately the same time. Lunch was followed by the Treble Reel - which I wish they would run in the morning after figures but that's just my opinion - I could be wrong - and the grade stages pretty much wrapped up by 3pm. Still it was a long day. Results were posted at moderate pace (my daughter got 2nd in her Novice Slip Jig so I can't complain) however, we were told not to expect judges comments for 7 - 10 days! Really? Why so long? In that time I could show her teacher the comments and work on making corrections to her SJ so she can get into Prizewinner. (Her SJ is the last dance she needs to be in all Prizewinner). Blankets, chairs and coolers were permitted and that's always a good thing because the gang needed a beer with lunch. There were very, very few vendors which doesn't bother me because I try to spend as little money as possible at a feis but some of my friends complained. I didn't purchase any food so I can't comment on the prices or quality but there was a Starbucks cart in the lobby and I partook of that. So I guess it really wasn't bad - I just expected something different - what I'm not sure.
The hotel was a different story. We stayed at the feis hotel across the street from the venue which was nice. They offered a feis rate of $104 which is great for a Hyatt but they nickled and dimed everything else! You had to use their valet parking at $23 or find a surface lot for $15. We could not take a luggage cart we had to employ the services of the valet if we wanted one and they would not bring the car in the morning so we could get our sleeping bag out and put the luggage in. They insisted that we check our bags and walked me to my car in the deck (which was a block away) to get my sleeping bag. When the bill came in the morning it was for $168! I was told there was a deposit figured into the price and that would be taken off in 2 - 3 days. I'm watching my credit card closely. The pool area was nice but it didn't make up for everything else. If we decide to try the Queen City Feis again you can be sure we won't be staying at the Hyatt.
As far as the feis is concerned I'd give it a B+ the fact that the "vibe" wasn't right could have a lot to do with the fact that I didn't sleep well thanks to my daughter doing somersaults and dancing the jig next to me all night and not the feis itself. So this is the start of a very busy feis season. Next up Akron, Cleveland, Buffalo and Louisville not to mention the Cleveland Peacekeepers' Tattoo, overnight dance camp and my maiden voyage as tour director for the school's bus trip. Hope you all will be laughing with me! Til next tine - Slainte!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
My Central New York Feis Experience
A few months ago I was looking at the calendar and realized this past week was my daughter's spring break. Last year a lot of her friends went out of town and I knew we couldn't go on a big spring vacation but I wanted to take her somewhere. So what else does a good feis mom do? I started looking for a feis to attend and found one 5 1/2 hours away in Syracuse New York. As it got closer to feis day I started thinking that maybe we shouldn't go. I've never driven 5 1/2 hours by myself and my husband couldn't take the day off work to chauffeur me and I was worried I we would make the trip for nothing. As the week went on and my daughter was bored I decided to make the trip - after all I had paid for it and the adventure would break up the monotony.
The Central New York Feis is held at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and is run by FeisWeb. I have to be honest - I don't care for FeisWeb. When registering for a feis I'm used to seeing a count of how many are in each competition. I like that. It gives us a sense of the competition and whether or not the event will split or merge. It's not possible to do this with FeisWeb. They give an up to the minute entry list but in order to see how many are in your competitions you have to scroll through and physically count the entries. Who has time for that? At least we got totals with the stage assignments. A nice touch was having the dance number emailed to us a few days before the feis. All we had to do was print in out and take it with us.
The feis itself was well run. It started promptly at 8:30 with the singing of the national anthems and headed straight to the competitions. Younger grades were danced three at a time with the older dancers two at a time. PC/OC competitions were held at the concurrent to the grades and those results were announced starting mid-morning. This CNY feis committee decided not to break for lunch because last year's feis ran very long and they hoped to keep things moving this year. To help accommodate this they had two judges at each grade event. The two judges stayed at the same stage the entire day but took turns judging the competitions and taking breaks. It was different and liked it because it kept the momentum going. It also helped that we were allowed to bring coolers in and I was prepared with all sorts of delicacies to feast on. Which was a good thing because the concessions were not good at this feis - more on that in a moment. The stages were organized and efficient and results were posted in lightning speed! Even with all these good things it still took us three hours to complete five events because the competitions were heavily populated. The two Novice dances my daughter competed in numbered into the mid-30s and thankfully split but the U11 and U14 weren’t so luck and had numbers in the mid to high 20s each. Trophies were handed out to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the Open/Prizewinner competitions – a nice touch as I’m used to seeing only the 1st place dancer receive a goodie. There were 10 vendors – including 2 shoe vendors and dresses sales were limited to one location.
Three things keep me from raving about this feis – the concessions, the bathrooms and the admission process. There was only one concession stand open in the morning and for of us who needed/wanted coffee it wasn’t possible. There was only coffee maker and the lines were simply too long to wait through. By lunch time another concession opened and the lines were much smaller so that was somewhat of a consolation. I got my afternoon coffee and all was right with the world. Both concessions were cash only. The admissions process while very smooth required the payment a $10 of each adult attending the feis – again cash only. In this era of debit cards I don’t carry a lot of cash on me so I much prefer to the pay the family fee online with the registration. Last but very important – the bathrooms! With a feis capping at 1200 dancers (not to mention family members attending) there was only 1 – yes 1 – bathroom per gender. Dancers were urged to use a location other than bathroom to change in order to have enough space for those of us who needed to visit the necessary. I’m not sure if other buildings on the fairgrounds were open to the public and didn’t have time to find out.
We were fortunate to get a good camping area but then again we got there as the feis started and waited 2 ½ hours before her first dance. However had we waited until later we would have had pressed to find a descent spot. I think that’s true of most feisanna though.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this feis. It started on time, was well run, efficient and the volunteers were pleasant. Things that I found troublesome were not something the feis could control unless they found a new venue or went to a different feis management system like efeis or something similar. 24 hours we’re still waiting for personal results/comments to emailed on posted on FeisWeb and being new to this system I’m not sure when to expect them. Again given the fact that the results at the feis were posted quickly I’m assuming this might be something with FeisWeb but I’m not certain. We had a nice time, brought home some hardware and met nice people so over all I give this feis a B+. Our next stop – Cincinnati – the Queen City in two weeks. Til next time – Slainte!
The Central New York Feis is held at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and is run by FeisWeb. I have to be honest - I don't care for FeisWeb. When registering for a feis I'm used to seeing a count of how many are in each competition. I like that. It gives us a sense of the competition and whether or not the event will split or merge. It's not possible to do this with FeisWeb. They give an up to the minute entry list but in order to see how many are in your competitions you have to scroll through and physically count the entries. Who has time for that? At least we got totals with the stage assignments. A nice touch was having the dance number emailed to us a few days before the feis. All we had to do was print in out and take it with us.
The feis itself was well run. It started promptly at 8:30 with the singing of the national anthems and headed straight to the competitions. Younger grades were danced three at a time with the older dancers two at a time. PC/OC competitions were held at the concurrent to the grades and those results were announced starting mid-morning. This CNY feis committee decided not to break for lunch because last year's feis ran very long and they hoped to keep things moving this year. To help accommodate this they had two judges at each grade event. The two judges stayed at the same stage the entire day but took turns judging the competitions and taking breaks. It was different and liked it because it kept the momentum going. It also helped that we were allowed to bring coolers in and I was prepared with all sorts of delicacies to feast on. Which was a good thing because the concessions were not good at this feis - more on that in a moment. The stages were organized and efficient and results were posted in lightning speed! Even with all these good things it still took us three hours to complete five events because the competitions were heavily populated. The two Novice dances my daughter competed in numbered into the mid-30s and thankfully split but the U11 and U14 weren’t so luck and had numbers in the mid to high 20s each. Trophies were handed out to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the Open/Prizewinner competitions – a nice touch as I’m used to seeing only the 1st place dancer receive a goodie. There were 10 vendors – including 2 shoe vendors and dresses sales were limited to one location.
Three things keep me from raving about this feis – the concessions, the bathrooms and the admission process. There was only one concession stand open in the morning and for of us who needed/wanted coffee it wasn’t possible. There was only coffee maker and the lines were simply too long to wait through. By lunch time another concession opened and the lines were much smaller so that was somewhat of a consolation. I got my afternoon coffee and all was right with the world. Both concessions were cash only. The admissions process while very smooth required the payment a $10 of each adult attending the feis – again cash only. In this era of debit cards I don’t carry a lot of cash on me so I much prefer to the pay the family fee online with the registration. Last but very important – the bathrooms! With a feis capping at 1200 dancers (not to mention family members attending) there was only 1 – yes 1 – bathroom per gender. Dancers were urged to use a location other than bathroom to change in order to have enough space for those of us who needed to visit the necessary. I’m not sure if other buildings on the fairgrounds were open to the public and didn’t have time to find out.
We were fortunate to get a good camping area but then again we got there as the feis started and waited 2 ½ hours before her first dance. However had we waited until later we would have had pressed to find a descent spot. I think that’s true of most feisanna though.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this feis. It started on time, was well run, efficient and the volunteers were pleasant. Things that I found troublesome were not something the feis could control unless they found a new venue or went to a different feis management system like efeis or something similar. 24 hours we’re still waiting for personal results/comments to emailed on posted on FeisWeb and being new to this system I’m not sure when to expect them. Again given the fact that the results at the feis were posted quickly I’m assuming this might be something with FeisWeb but I’m not certain. We had a nice time, brought home some hardware and met nice people so over all I give this feis a B+. Our next stop – Cincinnati – the Queen City in two weeks. Til next time – Slainte!
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