Nation's Capital Feis Recap

After missing last year's competition, I was finally able to make it back to the Nation's Capital Feis, which consequently in 2014 was my first time at a feis in 13 years! This year I came back much more experienced, with more dances to do.



Venue
This was actually my first time staying at a feis hotel; usually I either take public transit, stay at my parents' house (for feiseanna upstate), or get a cheaper hotel nearby. I must say, it is very nice to actually stay in the same building as the competition!

The hotel is great at hosting this competition; they have numerous ballrooms available and spread things out a bit so everyone's not right on top of each other. This year the adult competitions were in an upstairs ballroom (the rest are right off the lobby), which is nicely removed from the rest of the feis, albeit unnecessarily since adults were nearly the only competitions going on that day. 

One great thing was the downstairs stages were available all day for practice, which for our ceili team meant we were able to have an early-morning practice before things kicked off a couple hours later.

Competitions

What competitions does this feis not offer? There's all the standard solos, and even all the non-standard ones - I'm looking at you, single jig! There's ceilis of all numbers, which actually had competitors! There's even the showcase, a three-round competition, which is very nearly unheard of for adults. And the best part is nearly every competition had at least 5 dancers, so people actually have a chance to move up. 

Basically, if you're looking for a feis that has everything you could ever possibly want, this is it! (Unless you want to do a contemporary set, which seems to be the only thing this feis doesn't offer. And yes, I did answer my own rhetorical question from the previous paragraph!) It's why this is hands-down my favorite feis, and why I was very upset I couldn't go last year. 

I have a history (consisting of only one previous appearance) of doing well at this feis, so I was hoping to continue that streak. And continue it I did! This year I was competing in many more events, seeing as how the last time I was at this feis was not only 3 months after I had started Irish dancing again, but 13 years after my last feis. 

The competitions for adults started first thing in the morning with ceilis. I had done the 2-hand the last time I was at this feis, and even then it didn't have close to the number of teams entered (5 in 2014, compared to 12 this year). My teammate and I made a triumphant turnaround from last time's 4th place (good, considering she got stuck in traffic and didn't even get to the feis until half the other teams had already danced) and placed 1st!

We didn't manage to place for the 4-hand, which was likely my fault in large part, since I wasn't able to attend ceili practice, but there were also so many great teams that it was a tough race overall. My other teammates did, however, place in the 3-hand!

Solos were next, for which there were so many dancers! I was very nervous going into it, as the vast majority of my dances had around 15 competitors. I'm also still carrying around my Novice baggage from childhood, where I spent 3 years in that level without ever coming even close to placing before I had to quit. I'm happy to say that my bad luck streak there seems to be over! I placed in more danced than I didn't, and got very useful comments from the judge on the ones I didn't place in (*cough* rhythm in hornpipe *cough*). 

After all the solos, they finally held the adult showcase competition. I think just about everyone appreciated that it was held at the end; at every feis I've been to that has some sort of multiple-round adult competition, people have made comments that it should be after solos, not before, so that everyone was warmed-up and able to get all the nerves and kinks out during solos. 

There was a great group of dancers (10) for the showcase, mixed of Mid-Atlantic and New England dancers that I see all the time, and Southern dancers that until now I've only seen on Facebook.

Awards
In a change from two years ago (and different for most feiseanna), they announced awards for all grades in the ballroom. They also, in giving awards for reel, which everyone had entered, called all competitors up and gave each person a feis pin, which was a nice touch in honoring all of the dancers, many of whom had traveled a significant amount to compete. For ceili, awards were simple medals (unfortunately, not the cool spinning medals they had two years ago, but still nice). Awards for solos were small trophies, as were the awards for adult showcase. Personally, I think it would be nice for the showcase awards to be at least a little different from the solo awards (which I'm sure they do with prelim/open championship for &overs) given the amount of work that goes into it, but I recognize that it sounds really weird to complain about the size of a trophy in the grand scheme of things. Still, though.

At the beginning, they were able to use awards distribution to fill up delays in the competition (whether from administrative issues, or just allowing the poor judge who was in the room all day to take short breaks). It worked well for awhile, announcing all reel competitions, or all slip jig competitions, for example, but started to fall apart later in the day when only two treble jig results were called, for instance, causing confusion as to what had actually been announced. Overall, however, I think it was a good way to fill up those gaps that feiseanna always have, as well as foster some camaraderie among the adult dancers, many of whom don't necessarily get to interact often in person due to distance. 

I was very pleased with how I did this year (as well as how I did two years prior). I managed to place second in both reel and slip jig, and third in treble jig. I didn't place at all in hornpipe, which was the absolute least shocking thing to happen at the feis. 

The most shocking thing? I placed second overall in the adult showcase! I really wish someone had taken candid photos, because one of my strongest impressions was standing up there with all the recalls and hearing third place announced, which was not me, and mouthing completely drop-jawed to my classmates "are they serious?!" It was definitely my proudest moment not just at this feis, but every feis I've competed at.

Still a great photo, despite my smiling face! (via Nation's Capital Feis Facebook)

Overall, this is hands-down my absolute favorite feis that I've been to since I started dancing again, and I'm not the only fan - one dancer I know has already booked her hotel room for this feis 6 months early! While I won't be getting ready for Nation's Capital this early, I definitely plan on signing up as soon as registrations open!