Once more into the breach, it's Clan Seger Feis Reviews!
The Crew
The usual caveats apply. Unlike your normal feis family (1 or more dancers, 1 or more non-dancing parents, and sometimes a non-dancing sibling), just about everyone in Clan Seger competes on Feis day. The crew this year consisted of:
| Name | Age | Dances in | Non-Dance Comps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ges | 42 | Adult Open/Prizewinner Adult 2-hand |
Singing Instrumental (piano) |
| Devonna | %# |
Adult Open/PW Parent/Child Adult 2-hand |
Soda Bread Photography Instrumental (Hammer Dulcimer) |
| Rebekah | 10.5 | Split Novice/Prizewinner Parent/Child |
Soda Bread |
| Rachel | 9.5 | Novice (except for Advanced Beginner Slip Jig) | Singing Soda Bread |
| Luke | 7 | -n/a- | Family Equipment Manager |
In other words, things that impacted or concerned us might not be things that would impact or concern you.
Criteria
As usual, 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? This is a critical factor when you have to juggle schedules for four competitors. |
| Facilities | Was the site accessible? If food vendors were there, could they keep up with demand? Were there enough toilets? 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.
Changes from last year
There are some significant changes with this year's schedule. In order to accomodate the longer-distance feisanna, we've had to cut back on others. Some of the choices were somewhat brutal.
| Austin, TX (Lone Star) | I'm not quite sure what happened here behind the scenes, but they took what had been one of the best range of adult competitions (4 levels, age split at 35) and completely gutted it for this year. No two-level adult competition is worth a 20-hour drive. |
|---|---|
| Detroit | We were disturbed by the precipitous decline in quality observed between 2002 and 2003, so we looked for another feis on this weekend. |
| Atlanta (Peach State) | We had to make some brutal cuts to accomodate this year's schedule because my day job gives me only so much paid vacation a year. |
|---|---|
| Indianapolis | |
| Feile Minnesota | |
| Charlotte (Rince na h'Eireann) | |
| San Diego (Harvest Time) | Cancelled :-( |
| New Orleans (Feis Louisiane & Lagniappe) | New Orleans in January. Adult Treble Reel. Grade Exams. Workshops. What WASN'T there to recommend about this feis? |
|---|---|
| Atlanta (Georgia State) | After our initial planning for the year, we found we had time in June for a feis. The kids also promised us if we sat this feis out, they wouldn't complain about only Mommy and Daddy competing at Nation's Capital. |
Recommended
I've discovered over the years that certain feisanna consistently rate well every time we've gone to them. Since it doesn't make sense to repeatedly cut and paste from the previous year's review, I've set up a list of feisanna which I can recommend you consider for attendance. This year, they are:
- Indianapolis
- Columbus
- Feile Minnesota
If a Feis Isn't On This List...
...it means we didn't go to it! When I started doing this a few years back, I linked to another review site in a slightly different format than mine so there would be more than just Clan Seger's opinions (and feisanna) available to the online Irish Dancer. I have since been informed that the other site is no longer online, so I propose the following challenge to the online ID community:
- If you know of another feis review site out there, drop me a URL.
- or, write your own review! Hey, if I can do this, anyone can.
Clan Seger can't go to every feis out there (even though it seems we do). Many eyes, however, lighten the workload across the continent for all. Together, we can improve feisanna for everyone.
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 Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America (IDTANA) or any of its regional sub-entities
- the North American Feis Commission (NAFC),
- the Celtic Academy of Irish Dance, or
- any of the numerous people, committees, or facilities referenced in these reviews.
Any questions?