Nassau County AOH Feis Recap
First off, I seem to have incredibly bad luck with this feis. Last year I registered for it, and came down with strep throat that weekend, ensuring that I couldn't go. This year, the week of the feis I landed on my toe in hardshoe class (heel directly into toe) and split the nail. I thought I broke it (thankfully I didn't actually) and was having a rough time walking the rest of the week and into the weekend. At this point I'm a little scared to register next year; what will happen to my body then?!
This feis was initially supposed to be at Hofstra University, which is not too bad to get to from the LIRR. Unfortunately, they subsequently moved it to Lido Beach, a place I've never heard of and is also a bit farther out than the university. Thankfully a cab to the beach is not too expensive, especially if you get off at the right train stop. Thanks Google, for telling me to get off at a much further station!
As an outdoor feis, definitely be sure to bring some sort of thing to sit on! I brought my trusty picnic blanket for us (one of my dear dance friends and my boyfriend all came out), which definitely was useful when it came time to put shoes on (as it is incredibly difficult to put my shoes on while already in my solo dress - sitting awkwardly is pretty much the only option). Thankfully the organizers left plenty of open space for people to set up blankets and chairs; nothing drives me crazier than an outdoor feis with signs everywhere saying 'no camping,' but don't provide any seating or anything.
There were plenty of vendors there, with a nice variety of stuff for sale (do we really need 5 different tables of earrings and bows, every other feis?!). The bathroom/changing situation seemed a little spotty, as they had just lined up a few port-a-potties along the edge of the field where the feis was taking place. However, if you go into the administration building for the park, they'll totally let you use the bathrooms in there! The stages were basic plywood and weren't covered, but the monitors seemed to be doing a great job keeping them clean.
The competition for adults was pretty sparse: while they did have separate grades for adults, there were only 4 adults registered total (2 in beginner, 2 in novice). The dances themselves were also curtailed; they only offer reel, slip jig, treble jig, and hornpipe. As someone who isn't typically the biggest light jig fan, I was a little sad that they didn't offer it - only because we had recently learned a weirdly advanced light jig in class and I wanted to take it out for a test drive, so to speak.
Thankfully scoring went fairly quickly, at least in comparison to some other recent feiseanna. Our only issue (speaking for myself, my friend, and my competitor) was that the staff seemed a little bit confused as to how to issue judges' sheets and awards. On the plus side, they do give you the judges' sheets right there, so you don't even need to wait to log in to see what your comments are for all those impatient types.
For a two-person competition, my competitor and I both did well - two first places each! We initially read the numbers wrong and I though I had placed second in my slip jig, which was incredibly disappointing to me. Thankfully, we are all bad at numbers, or the organizers are bad at their ordering, and it turns out I did get first in my slip jig, as well as my hornpipe. It definitely wasn't my best feis performance-wise, but that sense of disappointment and failure in myself I think was helpful in pushing me to prepare for the next feis.
Overall, the feis wasn't too complicated to get to, was run fairly smoothly, and had some sweet trophies at the end.
However, I don't know if it's one that I would make the effort to go back to. Maybe it's my own disappointment with my own performance that's clouding my view of it, or the unfortunate small showing for adults there, or even the location (which a friend referred to as 'Murder Beach'), but I'm definitely on the "meh" side of things. Hopefully my view will change next year, and there will also be more adults registered, because I think it could have a lot of potential.
This feis was initially supposed to be at Hofstra University, which is not too bad to get to from the LIRR. Unfortunately, they subsequently moved it to Lido Beach, a place I've never heard of and is also a bit farther out than the university. Thankfully a cab to the beach is not too expensive, especially if you get off at the right train stop. Thanks Google, for telling me to get off at a much further station!
As an outdoor feis, definitely be sure to bring some sort of thing to sit on! I brought my trusty picnic blanket for us (one of my dear dance friends and my boyfriend all came out), which definitely was useful when it came time to put shoes on (as it is incredibly difficult to put my shoes on while already in my solo dress - sitting awkwardly is pretty much the only option). Thankfully the organizers left plenty of open space for people to set up blankets and chairs; nothing drives me crazier than an outdoor feis with signs everywhere saying 'no camping,' but don't provide any seating or anything.
There were plenty of vendors there, with a nice variety of stuff for sale (do we really need 5 different tables of earrings and bows, every other feis?!). The bathroom/changing situation seemed a little spotty, as they had just lined up a few port-a-potties along the edge of the field where the feis was taking place. However, if you go into the administration building for the park, they'll totally let you use the bathrooms in there! The stages were basic plywood and weren't covered, but the monitors seemed to be doing a great job keeping them clean.
The competition for adults was pretty sparse: while they did have separate grades for adults, there were only 4 adults registered total (2 in beginner, 2 in novice). The dances themselves were also curtailed; they only offer reel, slip jig, treble jig, and hornpipe. As someone who isn't typically the biggest light jig fan, I was a little sad that they didn't offer it - only because we had recently learned a weirdly advanced light jig in class and I wanted to take it out for a test drive, so to speak.
Thankfully scoring went fairly quickly, at least in comparison to some other recent feiseanna. Our only issue (speaking for myself, my friend, and my competitor) was that the staff seemed a little bit confused as to how to issue judges' sheets and awards. On the plus side, they do give you the judges' sheets right there, so you don't even need to wait to log in to see what your comments are for all those impatient types.
For a two-person competition, my competitor and I both did well - two first places each! We initially read the numbers wrong and I though I had placed second in my slip jig, which was incredibly disappointing to me. Thankfully, we are all bad at numbers, or the organizers are bad at their ordering, and it turns out I did get first in my slip jig, as well as my hornpipe. It definitely wasn't my best feis performance-wise, but that sense of disappointment and failure in myself I think was helpful in pushing me to prepare for the next feis.
Overall, the feis wasn't too complicated to get to, was run fairly smoothly, and had some sweet trophies at the end.
However, I don't know if it's one that I would make the effort to go back to. Maybe it's my own disappointment with my own performance that's clouding my view of it, or the unfortunate small showing for adults there, or even the location (which a friend referred to as 'Murder Beach'), but I'm definitely on the "meh" side of things. Hopefully my view will change next year, and there will also be more adults registered, because I think it could have a lot of potential.
Comments
Post a Comment