New Haven Feis Recap
First off, we were promised sheep herding at the festival and there was no sheep herding! (There were, however, two adorable sheep wandering around/being sheared, so I guess that's ok).
Not only was this my first time at the New Haven Feis, but this was also my first time at an outdoor feis ever. And of course, the weather refused to cooperate, with misty rain all day long. Thankfully it never fully rained down, so it could have been much worse. The unfortunate thing is that it made it extremely difficult to keep stages clean, and also made it a challenge to get onto the stage without stepping in pockets of mud in your dance shoes. A nice mat and a couple of towels at the edge of the stage would have been great. Or, you could do what I saw some dancers do - just wear those disposable shower caps over your shoes! At least now I know to add those to my feis bag for any outdoor feis, just in case.
So, to the competition! For this feis all the adults were lumped into one category, which isn't always my favorite thing, but there were at least 4 competitors in all but one dance, which actually made it feel competitive (sorry CNY Feis, but while my competitor was great and all, it's kind of boring just dancing against one person).
Also, one of my good friends from my dance school who also competed totally rocked it, placing in all but one of her competitions! And this was only her second feis! (In case it's not obvious, I'm super proud of her!)
As for me, I cleaned up fairly well as well: two 3rd place trophies (reel and hornpipe, so clearly I need to brush up on those), one 2nd place (treble jig, also ending my childhood streak of only placing 1st or 3rd, never 2nd), and two 1st places (slip jig, apparently my specialty now, and light jig). Now if only I could find a competition where I actually have the opportunity of placing out of light jig in Advanced Beginner, my only dance that's not in Novice yet.
Overall, despite the weather and the longer than expected drive (which is on me, apparently I'm not great at looking at a map and realizing New Haven is about halfway between Boston and New York, aka a bit of a drive), it was a pretty good time. It was also great meeting some of the New England dancers, who I don't usually get an opportunity to interact with. Hopefully next year the weather cooperates a little more, and that there's also more sheep!
Not only was this my first time at the New Haven Feis, but this was also my first time at an outdoor feis ever. And of course, the weather refused to cooperate, with misty rain all day long. Thankfully it never fully rained down, so it could have been much worse. The unfortunate thing is that it made it extremely difficult to keep stages clean, and also made it a challenge to get onto the stage without stepping in pockets of mud in your dance shoes. A nice mat and a couple of towels at the edge of the stage would have been great. Or, you could do what I saw some dancers do - just wear those disposable shower caps over your shoes! At least now I know to add those to my feis bag for any outdoor feis, just in case.
So, to the competition! For this feis all the adults were lumped into one category, which isn't always my favorite thing, but there were at least 4 competitors in all but one dance, which actually made it feel competitive (sorry CNY Feis, but while my competitor was great and all, it's kind of boring just dancing against one person).
Also, one of my good friends from my dance school who also competed totally rocked it, placing in all but one of her competitions! And this was only her second feis! (In case it's not obvious, I'm super proud of her!)
As for me, I cleaned up fairly well as well: two 3rd place trophies (reel and hornpipe, so clearly I need to brush up on those), one 2nd place (treble jig, also ending my childhood streak of only placing 1st or 3rd, never 2nd), and two 1st places (slip jig, apparently my specialty now, and light jig). Now if only I could find a competition where I actually have the opportunity of placing out of light jig in Advanced Beginner, my only dance that's not in Novice yet.
Overall, despite the weather and the longer than expected drive (which is on me, apparently I'm not great at looking at a map and realizing New Haven is about halfway between Boston and New York, aka a bit of a drive), it was a pretty good time. It was also great meeting some of the New England dancers, who I don't usually get an opportunity to interact with. Hopefully next year the weather cooperates a little more, and that there's also more sheep!
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