After surviving the Pittsburg Feis, it occurred to me that I needed to actually write my impressions of all feisanna we attended down to accurately compare them to each other. Thus, the pages listed to the left of your browser window were born. Contained within these links are the distilled experiences of the Seger family at every feis we attended this season.
Keep in mind as you read these reviews that we are atypical for most families going to Feisanna. Your normal feis family generally consists of one or more dancers, one or more non-dancing parents, and sometimes a non-dancing sibling. Our usual crew at feisanna consisted of:
- Ges - 38 year old dancing father (Adult Beginner Reel, Adult Beginner Jig, Adult 2-hand) or Irish language/literature competitor
- Devonna - %# year old dancing mother (Adult Beginner Reel, Adult Beginner Jig, Adult Beginner Slip Jig, Parent-Child, Adult 2-hand)
- Rebekah - 6.5 year old dancer in Beginner Reel, Jig, Slip Jig and Parent-Child
- Rachel - 5.5 year old non-dancer, competing in vocal music
- Luke - 3 year old non-competing son and bon vivant
Things that impacted or concerned us might not be ones that would impact or concern you.
Criteria
I graded each Feis in the following categories:
| Organization | How well did the committee handle things like entries, registration, getting information to competitors, getting enough musicians and ajudicators... |
|---|---|
| Scheduling | Are the individual competitions and stages scheduled in some form of logical order or are they scheduled more or less randomly? When you have to juggle multiple competitors and their schedules, this becomes a critical factor. |
| Facilities | Was the site accessible? If food vendors were there, could they keep up with demand? Were there enough toilets (more critical than you think when you're trying to potty-train your 3-year old)? Could dancers get to competitions without knocking people over? These are just some of the questions which determined this grade. |
| Operations | This category is for the actual day of competition. How well did things go? How well did the committee handle unforseen problems? How quickly were competition results posted? |
Grading system for each category is on an A, B, C, D, or F system, which should be familiar to anyone who has survived American public education for the past two generations.
For purposes of these reviews, actual competition ajudication is not a factor in grading a feis. These are feis reviews, not ajudication reviews. Devonna, please take note.
If a Feis Isn't On This List...
...it means the Family Seger didn't go to it! That doesn't mean there aren't reviews on it, though: this site contains reviews of various feisanna across North America which are submitted by the dancers who participated in them. The review format is different from mine, but as I sort of said above: things that impacted or concerned the Segers might not be things that would impact or concern others.
If you have attended a feis that isn't on either site, I urge you to participate. Many eyes make light work, and together we can all improve feisanna for everyone who goes.
ObCYA
The opinions and evaluations expressed in these reviews are solely those of this reviewer. They are NOT the opinions or official positions of either:
- the North American Feis Commission (NAFC),
- the Irish Dance Teacher's Association of North America (IDTANA) or any of its regional sub-entities,
- the Celtic Academy of Irish Dance, or
- any of the numerous people, committees, or facilities referenced in these reviews.
If you insist on believing otherwise, you need your head examined.