Adult-friendly feiseanna
The one thing I've quickly learned upon re-entering the Irish dance world is that it can be hard to find a good feis to attend as an adult, and even harder to find one that's easily accessible without a car (thanks, NYC). I think the trend is for more and more feiseanna to offer adult competitions, but the quality and quantity is often not the best.
A lot of times when I've looked at adult competitions, it has completely eliminated adult levels, throwing everyone in together. I can understand that if there's not many adults attending the organizers wouldn't want to waste resources putting together 3 different adult reel competitions, for example, if not many are attending. On the other hand, I feel as though that the lack of different levels may in fact be discouraging adults from signing up, particularly if they are looking to advance competitively.
I think one solution could be to offer all levels on the syllabus, with the caveat that they may be combined after enrollment is closed, say, if the registration for particular levels don't meet the threshold necessary for competitors to move up. That way, at the very least dancers won't be in one-woman (or one-man) competitions, and it may also encourage more adults to sign up.
Of course, I have no idea what goes into the planning of a feis and there may be myriad reasons why they do or do not do these things, which I would love to find out some day. But for me, I really like to focus on ones that do have robust competition, even if I won't necessarily get to advance.
So here is a list of what feiseanna am I attending/looking forward to/seriously thinking about going to/kind of casually debating going to/definitely not going to because even though it sounds amazing it'll be impossible or way too expensive to go to:
O'Rourke Feis (February 7)- A bunch of dancers from my school (somewhere around 15-20) are going to this one. This is one that combines some of their adult competitions, although not to the extent where beginners are competing against advanced/former champion level dancers. I am sad there's no separate trad set competition though - I didn't feel like paying $30 to sign up for the adult championship (soft shoe + trad set) and was also a little confused if I could sign up for that plus all my regular advanced beginner/novice dances. [Purchase, NY]
Garden State Feis (March 1)- Sadly, this feis closed early for entries, and also my opera company's final performance is on that day, so there's absolutely no way I could have made it anyway. The syllabus lists a wide variety of adult competitions, although it seems as though apart from adult beginner, there's not too many others signed up. With a solid number of adult competitors in general, however, maybe next year it will be even bigger (and hopefully I can make it out to that). [Kenilworth, NJ]
Big Apple Feis (March 22)- So the details haven't been confirmed yet [when I wrote this - upon publishing, there has finally been an announcement!], and to my understanding they've always been a little slow to the game with this, but I've also heard that this is a wonderful feis for adults. It's also in Manhattan, so it will be incredibly easy to get to. In looking at last year's syllabus (and talking to a number of classmates who went last year), there's a complete schedule of adult competitions, including trad set, contemporary set (which I've never seen on a syllabus for adults before), and ceilis. I would be very shocked if my school wasn't sending at least a few ceili teams to this one. [New York, NY]
Roisin Academy Feis (March 22)- I'm definitely not going to this one because it's the same day as the Big Apple Feis, but if someone were looking for an adult-friendly feis in Central New York, this would be a good alternative. There's no separate levels, but it does offer hardshoe, softshoe, and ceili. It will be interesting to see how this fills up (if at all), since there's no real local school that I know of offering adult classes (see CNY Feis for more info on that). [East Syracuse, NY]
CNY Feis (April 25)- I really want to go to this (mostly because of nostalgia, also because it's in my hometown and it's an excuse to go visit my family), but all of the adult competitions are combined and there's literally no one signed up for it yet. I'm a little surprised that they're having adult competitions because ever since Johnston stopped offering adult classes there's been no school that I'm aware of in the region that offers them - the closest ones I know of are in Rochester and Buffalo. On one hand, I don't want to waste my time going if I'll be the only person competing (similar to the Young School Feis, which I have yet to write about), but on the other hand, I want to encourage feiseanna to offer adult competitions, and I fear if nobody attends, they may cut it entirely in the future. Also, maybe if someone sees another adult has signed up, it may encourage more to also sign up. [Syracuse, NY]
Orange County Feis (May 9)- This is one I just found today, and although this year's syllabus isn't out yet, last year's lists a full schedule for adults (including ceilis). It's also not insanely difficult to get to from NYC via public transportation/some minor cabbing, which is definitely a bonus in my book. Hopefully they will release more information for this soon, because it looks promising. [Central Valley, NY]
Buffalo Feis (June 6)- There's only 2 categories for adults (beginner and advanced) and only the standard hardshoe/softshoe dances are offered (no trad set or ceilis), but seeing as how there's some local and local-ish schools with adults, there should be a decent number of competitors. It would also be another decent excuse to visit my parents in Syracuse, and also borrow one of their cars to make the trip out for some dancing and most likely Buffalo wings as well! [Buffalo, NY]
Nation's Capital Feis (July 25-26)- I went to this last year (the full write-up is coming later), and it was fantastic. Tons of competitions, tons of competitors, tons of fun! Our school is planning to take a bunch of dancers down this year (last year only one other person went besides me) and I am so incredibly excited for it. [Vienna, VA]
More feiseanna will be announced for later in the year (and possibly even sooner), but for now, there's at least a few solid options for adults in the northeast to attend!
A lot of times when I've looked at adult competitions, it has completely eliminated adult levels, throwing everyone in together. I can understand that if there's not many adults attending the organizers wouldn't want to waste resources putting together 3 different adult reel competitions, for example, if not many are attending. On the other hand, I feel as though that the lack of different levels may in fact be discouraging adults from signing up, particularly if they are looking to advance competitively.
I think one solution could be to offer all levels on the syllabus, with the caveat that they may be combined after enrollment is closed, say, if the registration for particular levels don't meet the threshold necessary for competitors to move up. That way, at the very least dancers won't be in one-woman (or one-man) competitions, and it may also encourage more adults to sign up.
Of course, I have no idea what goes into the planning of a feis and there may be myriad reasons why they do or do not do these things, which I would love to find out some day. But for me, I really like to focus on ones that do have robust competition, even if I won't necessarily get to advance.
So here is a list of what feiseanna am I attending/looking forward to/seriously thinking about going to/kind of casually debating going to/definitely not going to because even though it sounds amazing it'll be impossible or way too expensive to go to:
O'Rourke Feis (February 7)- A bunch of dancers from my school (somewhere around 15-20) are going to this one. This is one that combines some of their adult competitions, although not to the extent where beginners are competing against advanced/former champion level dancers. I am sad there's no separate trad set competition though - I didn't feel like paying $30 to sign up for the adult championship (soft shoe + trad set) and was also a little confused if I could sign up for that plus all my regular advanced beginner/novice dances. [Purchase, NY]
Garden State Feis (March 1)- Sadly, this feis closed early for entries, and also my opera company's final performance is on that day, so there's absolutely no way I could have made it anyway. The syllabus lists a wide variety of adult competitions, although it seems as though apart from adult beginner, there's not too many others signed up. With a solid number of adult competitors in general, however, maybe next year it will be even bigger (and hopefully I can make it out to that). [Kenilworth, NJ]
Big Apple Feis (March 22)- So the details haven't been confirmed yet [when I wrote this - upon publishing, there has finally been an announcement!], and to my understanding they've always been a little slow to the game with this, but I've also heard that this is a wonderful feis for adults. It's also in Manhattan, so it will be incredibly easy to get to. In looking at last year's syllabus (and talking to a number of classmates who went last year), there's a complete schedule of adult competitions, including trad set, contemporary set (which I've never seen on a syllabus for adults before), and ceilis. I would be very shocked if my school wasn't sending at least a few ceili teams to this one. [New York, NY]
Roisin Academy Feis (March 22)- I'm definitely not going to this one because it's the same day as the Big Apple Feis, but if someone were looking for an adult-friendly feis in Central New York, this would be a good alternative. There's no separate levels, but it does offer hardshoe, softshoe, and ceili. It will be interesting to see how this fills up (if at all), since there's no real local school that I know of offering adult classes (see CNY Feis for more info on that). [East Syracuse, NY]
CNY Feis (April 25)- I really want to go to this (mostly because of nostalgia, also because it's in my hometown and it's an excuse to go visit my family), but all of the adult competitions are combined and there's literally no one signed up for it yet. I'm a little surprised that they're having adult competitions because ever since Johnston stopped offering adult classes there's been no school that I'm aware of in the region that offers them - the closest ones I know of are in Rochester and Buffalo. On one hand, I don't want to waste my time going if I'll be the only person competing (similar to the Young School Feis, which I have yet to write about), but on the other hand, I want to encourage feiseanna to offer adult competitions, and I fear if nobody attends, they may cut it entirely in the future. Also, maybe if someone sees another adult has signed up, it may encourage more to also sign up. [Syracuse, NY]
Orange County Feis (May 9)- This is one I just found today, and although this year's syllabus isn't out yet, last year's lists a full schedule for adults (including ceilis). It's also not insanely difficult to get to from NYC via public transportation/some minor cabbing, which is definitely a bonus in my book. Hopefully they will release more information for this soon, because it looks promising. [Central Valley, NY]
Buffalo Feis (June 6)- There's only 2 categories for adults (beginner and advanced) and only the standard hardshoe/softshoe dances are offered (no trad set or ceilis), but seeing as how there's some local and local-ish schools with adults, there should be a decent number of competitors. It would also be another decent excuse to visit my parents in Syracuse, and also borrow one of their cars to make the trip out for some dancing and most likely Buffalo wings as well! [Buffalo, NY]
Nation's Capital Feis (July 25-26)- I went to this last year (the full write-up is coming later), and it was fantastic. Tons of competitions, tons of competitors, tons of fun! Our school is planning to take a bunch of dancers down this year (last year only one other person went besides me) and I am so incredibly excited for it. [Vienna, VA]
More feiseanna will be announced for later in the year (and possibly even sooner), but for now, there's at least a few solid options for adults in the northeast to attend!
Comments
Post a Comment