Much like dance classes, I tried to keep track of my feis record. Unfortunately, when I lost interest in documenting everything (and moved to Livejournal), I didn't note down my results online. FeisWorx was new at the time and not every feis I attended used it, so finding my forgotten results will require sorting through medals and looking for old syllabi. I don't feel like doing all that. Some feiseanna have my original diary entries included. Others never got any diary entries at all, but I still included a summary from memory.

Pacific NW Irish Dance Championships 2002
The Stewart Feis 2002
Dance For Life Feis 2002
Boise Feis by the River 2002
Pacific NW Irish Dance Championships 2003
Feis at the Falls 2003
Chicago Feis 2003
Dance For Life Feis 2003
Emerald City Feis 2004

Pacific Northwest Irish Dance Championships (Bellevue, WA - March 8-10, 2002)

Hosted by the Comerford School. Completely indoors. An excellent feis for a first feis. The competitions in my age group were large enough for good placement, but not so large that you'd never place at all. About fourteen Haran dancers went. In our figures we had a winning streak, which made me happy! In the 3-Hand, we missed the set-up because the accordian player (who shall remain nameless...) was goofing off and we had no idea when to actually start, since it's key in figures to start right off. During the second day of dancing, I was rudely yelled at by an adjudicator, and I still don't know what I did wrong. I still placed (it was Slip Jig), but I was given a good scare. We also went out to a pub called Fado in downtown Seattle and had a very crowded, but fun time. Overall, great first feis.

Beginner - Figures
2-Hand - 1st
3-Hand - 3rd
4-Hand - 1st (by default)
6-Hand - 1st

Beginner - Solos
Reel - 2nd
Light Jig - 1st
Single Jig - --
Slip Jig - 2nd

First Feis Reel (Trophy) - --

My original diary entries:

"Okay, now you do whip sevens down this way
then he pulls you this way with whip sevens, and then
you pull him back this way with sevens."

The part I'm messing up on the most is the sevens at the beginning. Sad, isn't it. Well, it's not the actual sevens, it's really where in the heck I am supposed to be going. The sevens step is called "fancy sevens", because we go all over the place. I understand the first place that I go, but the third set of sevens turned out like crap, because we end up facing away from the judge/audience/whatever and I don't know how to get there...
Oh yes, and now I have decided I do not like Alex as my partner, as he pulls my arm too hard. It sucks. He's tall, I'm short. My arm does NOT go up that high! Ow ow oooowww! And also, he just pulls a little too hard when we do it; he yanks and pulls and stresses me out! Luckily, Devon is my partner.
We have been unable to dance it together in two or three weeks. He was gone once, sick another, and then gone another. Blast that child.
Also, Deirdre has been confusing the heck out of me. She says that I look too stressed when I dance. This is a sudden occurrance! She has never said that before. I am dancing just as I always have, so I'm not sure how to correct myself.
PROBLEM!
Yeah, and another problem: only one more class until the feis and the performances. Luckily (and I say this lightly), our next class is three-hours long. I am going to be superly (excuse me whilst I go coin words) tired after that. I am just praying that I will understand the nightmarish 2Hand before it's too late! Yeah, and we might want to practice the 4Hand at least once more, because we've only done it once, and Devon wasn't there.

March 2, 2002
Well, we had our final feis practice. There will be no more until the feis.
I'm not nervous yet. I don't think my body truly understands the concept of going to a competition, and I also do not think my body knows that one is in less than a week.
I made our school a website. Cait says she'd like me to maintain it. They have photos and all that that my mom said Cait mentioned she'd like to post.
But I digress.
I have the 2-Hand down, thankfully, but now the 4-Hand is trouble. But it's not just me, it's everyone in our group.
Deirdre might let us drop it if we are still having trouble with it by Friday.
Solo dances are going great. I feel my Slip Jig is still the best, though. Single Jig leapovers are still quite high and they hang in the air quite well, now. Reel is same as always, though I feel I travel much more now. In fact, I travel a ton on all of them. Light jig is still one of the favorites, and I love the lead round very much. Kerry's Step is fun as well.
Figures are, eh.
2-Hand: Fair; no more messing up in the sevens. Now we just need to work on timing. In every dance we need to work on the Set Up.
3-Hand: Very good; I understand it perfectly, all that needs to be done is minor touch-ups to make it look more snappy and perfect.
4-Hand: Needs work; while aren't horrible at it, we aren't eligible for placing, either. Deirdre may let us drop it if we are still having trouble with it on Friday.
6-Hand: Excellent: Just need to make things more precise, and I also need to get used to my new position in the line-up.

March 5, 2002
Oh my! Is it so soon, already? I guess it is! Am I nervous yet? Naw. Well. Ok. A little. But not so much as I am shaking and not sleeping and not eating and not even listening to any Irish music! Nooo siree! In fact, I dress up in my school costume to practice every now and then, but for some reason, my dances never look as good as home. I guess it's the small amount of space. I love to travel, and it helps with my leaps and sidestep movements.
Of course, the nervousness comes when I think about it in depth, and yesterday this sudden feeling of nervousness came about when I was watching TV and not bothering with dance in any way! That was weird, and a little annoying. I've been feeling light butterflies off and on for the past two days, but nothing more than the excitement of actually going! The whole "you have to dance in front of people and compete" thing hasn't hit me yet. I think it will when I am walking around the mall with Soft Spikes in.
I'm pretty self-conscious when it comes to that sort of stuff, but I'll hopefully manage a little bit.
So this is if I do not write again: Confidence, man! Confidence! I lack it, and I need it back!

March 7, 2002
Meep, meep! Less than twelve hours! I am sitting here with a head full of spikes, and a dance bag that weighs twenty pounds (at least) and another suitcase to pack. Still not nervous - not now anyway. This morning before school (like right after I got up to about fifteen minutes before I leave to catch the bus) I was so nervous that I could barely eat, but I managed to eat a little bit. But less than a half-hour later, I was back to normal, and hungry.
We went to the mall to a salon to get my curlers in, because, well, we didn't want to do it ourselves (thought at the next feis, my mom has decided she is going to do it instead), and let me say that there was a fair share of staring. Mostly from this one lady getting her nails done. She just would not stop! I looked back at her, and she stopped, but then when I looked in the mirror, she was at it again - just mezmorized by the green, yellow and red spikes.
The next incident came on the drive home. I was sitting oh-so-spikily (coinage) in the car, when a sedan drives by, and the lady driver was just staring at me, not even looking at the road - just staring right in our car (which was beside and behind hers, not in front or beside). I laughed. It was funny. I can scare people much easier now than before.

Comments on the Feis/Feis Day:

First of all, let me say that the venue was extremely huge and extremely gorgeous! With that out of the way, let me say that this was one of the best feiseanna that anyone has probably ever had - I can't say it's my best (though it is) because I've had only one - but honestly, it was awesome!
We got to the venue (Doubletree Hotel Bellevue) five hours early after a five-hour drive in horrible weather. The roads for the first hundred miles were snow-packed, and our car swerved around instead of driving in a straight line.
When we reached the Cascades, it wasn't as bad, but the roads were really slushy and it was snowing so hard, visibilty was really limited.
When we finally made it to Bellevue, my butt was extremely sore, and I was bored, not to mention my hair was covered in spikes, but that's besides the point.
There was no one around that I thought was an Irish dancer, except for two girls doing threes (probably the reel lead round) in the middle of the lobby (which was so large, it's not really a lobby - more like it's own hotel). Anyway, we took out my curlers to let my hair fall (HA! They still haven't come out, and it's three days later) and then we grabbed a bite to eat in the atrium diner (it rocked). That's when I saw Tony Comerford for the first (but certainly not last) time. Very different than from his picture on the site - he has glasses.
After lunch, I saw the Heaney's (Alex and Johnathan and their parents) come in with lots of luggage.
We met up in the lobby at 3:30 to practice figures - and practice we did. Devon and I were pretty slow getting out of point point in the 2-Hand, so we practiced and the second run-through we got it. The 3-Hand was okay, but I needed to make my circle larger, but eventually I ended up getting it.
After a long session dealing with the 4-Hand, we decided to keep it in the competition - we were the only team for the Beginner 4-Hand.
We met up again an hour before the 2-Hand, and amazingly, the feis was on time (it was on time the whole weekend, except for Saturday, which it was early by an hour-and-a-half after our solo dances ended). We checked in with the feis-helpers, then sat around next to the stage in order. Alex and Rebekah went first, and they danced really well. Devon and I went next, and we were really slow coming out of the point point again, but I kept my footwork going so that it would look nice, and aparently our judge for that competition (Neill Reagan of Texas) liked us.
Next was the three hand, and there was four or five competitors, and all were really good. Alex subbed for Rebekah because she didn't know the dance. The musician for that night (Chris McLoughlin, New Jersey) was really into not starting right away, so it's really confusing when to start the set-up, and in our 3-Hand, we had nooo idea when to start, so our set-up was really bad, and then for some reason, Alex started too late in the lead round, but other than that part, we did a beautiful job dancing, so we weren't sure if we placed or not.
After that was the 4-Hand, and since we were the only competitor, we were guaranteed gold, but we still danced to the best of our abilities, a real miracle for the 4-Hand.
The 6-Hand went maaahvelously. We were really, really excellent! The groups that went after us weren't very good, in fact, they were really unsmooth and seemed rather timid.
We walked to the awards room after the last 6-Hand, because someone told us they were up. We walked and looked on the sheet of paper for our competition, and there it was! 1st in the 2-Hand, 1st in the 4-Hand, and 1st in the 6-Hand! I couldn't believe it, and neither could Devon. Then the next result came, and it was (amazingly) 3rd in the 3-Hand even though we had that horrid mess-up.
The next day, my dances were at 8:00 AM, and so we headed down there an hour early to get my number from Deirdre. She didn't come until ten minutes before my dance was to start (the feis was on time), and so a few of us were panicking for our numbers. I got mine (536), pinned it on (they were out of plastic number cards at the moment, but I bought one later that evening when they restocked), and ran with Devon and Rebekah to the first competition: Reel.
We got there as we were being lined up off-stage, and as soon as we were all there, we walked out on stage and I was done. I fumbled on my first step towards the beginning, because our musician (Pat King - yes, Pat King) and Adjudicator (Patricia Kennelly, California) were calling us out, until it was my turn, then they didn't, so my competitor and I totally messed up at the beginning, trying to figure out when to go, but I recovered after that, and my nervousness left. After that, we were lined right back up to do the Light Jig.
I danced way better than I thought I was going to. The stage was slippery, and I slipped once in the 4-Hand the previous evening, so I was pretty timid, but eventually I just let it go and travelled around the stage.
After the Light Jig came the Slip Jig. The girl next to me and I got out on time, but for some reason, the Adjudicator didn't want us to go when we were supposed to, so once again, we both fumbled with our steps when she finally clapped to let us go. Rebekah and I do not like that judge.
When the Single Jig came, I was pretty tired of that judge being so snappy, and both the girl next to me and myself slipped a little (she slipped when she was in front of me), but other than that, I thought I did well.
We waited about a half-hour for the awards. They were up when we walked into the awards room, and the first thing I saw was my number under the 1st Place spot for the Light Jig! Then I saw that Rebekah and I tied for 2nd in the Reel, and I got 2nd in the Slip Jig despite the rocky start! The Single Jig scores weren't posted yet, but when they were, Devon received 1st, and Rebekah 3rd. I'm not sure why I didn't place, because I don't remember any really horrible errors that were any different from the ones in the Reel and Slip Jig, but other than that, it was awesome! I was so happy! The medals are really nifty. There are different ones for the Figures than for the Solos.
That night, Devon and his mom, Deirdre, my family, and the Heaneys (all of them) went to an Irish pub in downtown Seattle. To follow Deirdre, we had to go at nearly 80 mph on the freeway and I-90. It was fun, but scary.
We had loads of fun at the pub (Fadó's) exchanging stories, staring at the black goo that was the dinner Alex ordered (he didn't eat it), and just having oodles of fun altogether.
When my trophy dance arrived the next day, I wasn't nervous at all. Devon, Rebekah, Alex and I stretched and practiced differen't Reel steps. Rebekah and I wanted to do Down Up Up, but we figured it would be safer not to, even though it was more prettiful and I felt like it showed my dancing skills a little better. I slipped once on that stupid stage (I think everyone did once or twice - darn plywood) but I thought I danced extremely well. I travelled and even smiled.
When results were announced by Tony Comerford (with whom I had ridden in the glass elevators), only Alex placed - he was the only one of us not doing Point Point. I figured out why we probably didn't place. Our steps were really easy, and the other dancers did more difficult steps and were able to execute them well. Next time I am so doing Down Up Up instead of Point Point, and I'll also do the Light Jig trophy, too.
All-in-all, an AWESOME feis! I bought a sweatshirt, more poodle socks and sock glue, medal holder, and a plastic number holder! Gotta love plastic number holders.

Stewart Feis (Vancouver, BC - June 14-16, 2002)

Hosted by the Stewart School. Completely indoors. Really huge feis. At least, more like one you'd find in the Midwest or East Coast. First time competing hardshoe (only treble jig) and first time competing without a teacher present. The vendors were great and there were plenty. The only thing was that the feis was in a gym at a recreation center, so it was pretty chaotic with all of the people running about. My smallest competition had fifteen people in it, and my largest had twenty-eight. Compared to my first feis, this was a lot. The staging areas were large, and so I wasn't kicking the ropes like at my first feis, which is always a plus. But I few times I danced to the side of the adjudicator's table because I travelled too far forward. The awards room was up on the top level of the recreation complex, so we had to run up and down flights of slippery stairs, which freaked me out when I was wearing hardshoes.

Beginner - Figures
2-Hand - 1st

Beginner - Solos
Single Jig - 4th (more than 15 people)
Treble Jig - 1st

Advanced Beginner - Solos
Reel - --
Light Jig - 3rd
Slip Jig - 2nd

Beginner/Advanced Beginner Reel Trophy - --

My original diary entries:

Dance For Life Feis (Seattle, WA - July 27-28, 2002)

Hosted by Scoil Rince Slieveloughane. Considered by my school to be their main feis of the year for all of their dancers to attend, as my TCRG has a close relationship with Robert Haley, the founder/TCRG of SRS. Many students came who had never competed before. I made sure my dragon brock was complete before this one, and me and my mom worked tirelessly to get it done. My first feis with all of my hardshoe dances.

Beginner - Figures
2-Hand Reel - 1st
3-Hand Reel - 2nd
4-Hand Reel - 2nd
6-Hand Reel - 2nd

Beginner - Solos
Hornpipe - 2nd
St. Patrick's Day - -- (spaced out)

Advanced Beginner - Solos
Reel - 4th (out of 15)
Single Jig - 3rd
Treble Jig - 4th

Novice - Solos
Light Jig - 3rd
Slip Jig - 2nd (out of 16)

Treble Reel Trophy - -- (out of 50)

My original diary entries:

Whoa what a feis! The ceili was super fun and I re-learned Waves of Tori and learned Siege of Ennis. We also did a funky made-up ceili dance and Robert had us put together 2-Hands, 4-Hands and 6-Hands randomly.
The feis itself was really organized until they had to put Prizewinners on stages D and E, and ended up pushing back loads of other competitions, so everything was 3 hours behind. at the end of the day. I was there for 12 hours. My last dance was the Trophy Treble Reel (just for fun) and it ended after 7 PM! My first dances were a little after 8 AM, and I had been there since 7 AM anyway.
At first I thought I couldn't move up because you have to get 1st, but I counted all of my competitions as I was lined up, and there was just enough for me to move up!
The medals were really heavy and really cool, and most of my dances are in Novice now, which is even cooler!

Boise Feis By the River (Boise, ID - September 21, 2002)

The first feis I attended without anyone else from my school present. It wasn't exactly the most fun, but I did meet a couple of people from Webfeis.

Beginner - Solos
Traditional Set (St. Patrick's day) - 1st

Advanced Beginner - Solos
Reel - 1st
Treble Jig - --
Hornpipe - --

Novice - Solos
Light Jig - 6th
Slip Jig - --
Single Jig - --

Pacific Northwest Irish Dance Championships (Bellevue, WA - 2003)

I always loved this competition and its venue in Bellevue. A year after my first feis, I now had my solo dress and wig. I'm fairly sure we all did pretty well here in our solo dances, because I was all in Novice and Prizewinner after this one, but I don't remember the results anymore. They're not on FeisWorx, either.

Open - Figures
2-Hand Reel - 1st
4-Hand Reel - 1st

Advanced Beginner - Solos
Treble Jig - (can't remember)
Hornpipe - (can't remember)
Traditional Set (St. Patrick's Day) - (can't remember)

Novice - Solos
Reel - (can't remember)
Light Jig - (can't remember)
Slip Jig - (can't remember)
Single Jig - (can't remember)

Girls Trophy Novice/Prizewinner - --
Treble Reel Trophy Novice/Prizewinner - -- (didn't compete)
Eileen O'Doherty Memorial Trophy - -- (huge competition)

Feis at the Falls (Spokane, WA - 2003)

This was our school feis, open to Haran Dancers only. It was at Spokane Falls Community College, where my mom worked at the time. We had a ceili, either before or after everything finished (after, I think?), where students demoed steps or dances they made up, and there were snacks and other treats. The feis itself was in an auditorium divided into two stages, so we had plenty of room. I remember feeling very self-conscious in my solo dress, as no other Haran girls were wearing anything very elaborate. I changed into my school dress and took off my wig for the trophy dance. The results for the figures were especially confusing, for some reason. I don't remember if we ever sorted out who placed, or got all of the medals. I have absolutely no idea how I did, except for that trophy dance. Because I got a trophy, which is easy to remember.

Open - Figures
2-Hand Reel - Unknown
3-Hand Reel - Unknown
4-Hand Reel - Unknown
6-Hand Reel - Unknown
Trip to the Cottage - Unknown

Advanced Beginner - Solos
Not sure if I had any?

Novice - Solos
Reel - (can't remember)
Light Jig - (can't remember)
Slip Jig - (can't remember)
Maybe Treble Jig, Hornpipe, and Trad Set?

Prizewinner - Solos
Single Jig - (can't remember)

Slip Jig Trophy - 4th

Chicago Feis (Chicago, IL - June 14, 2003)

Another feis with only me and my family present. In addition to my parents, my uncle and grandma came, too. We were originally going to attend the Illinois State Feis the next day, but I was a little burnt out (and sunburnt) being the only kid. It was my first outdoor feis, and my largest feis by far. For some reason, I opted not to do my hardshoe rounds, despite doing really well in all of my softshoe (they didn't offer the single jig in competition). I think I just ran out of energy. Being a moody teen is hard.

Novice - Solos
Reel - 2nd
Light Jig - 1st
Slip Jig - 3rd

Dance For Life Feis (Seattle, WA - July 26-27, 2003)

I remember a few distinct things about this feis: there was a ceili in celebration and support of our TCRG, Deirdre, on the first night. I didn't do well in my solo dances at all (though I don't necessarily remember my mistakes). And a couple of the dance moms told me my competition was starting, despite how I thought I had at least an hour or so. And despite the fact that my name wasn't on the checklist, they put me out on stage first. And I realized this was definitely not my competition, and ran off the stage after (stupidly) going to the adjudicators and asking which dance this was. (It was advanced beginner something, by the way, and I was in Novice.) A moment that has haunted me for the rest of my life.

Open - Figures
2-Hand Reel - 1st
3-Hand Reel - 2nd
4-Hand Reel - 1st
6-Hand Reel - 2nd

Novice - Solos
Reel - 4th
Slip Jig - --
Treble Jig - --
Hornpipe - --
Traditional Set (St. Patrick's Day) - --

Prizewinner - Solos
Light Jig - --
Single Jig - --

Novice Treble Reel Special - -- (huge competition)

Emerald City Feis (Seattle, WA - February 7-8, 2004)

Accidentally became my final feis. I wasn't planning on that at the time. I actually originally thought I might go to the PNW Championships again the next month, but my parents wouldn't do two hotel stays two months in a row. During the summer, when I would have competed next, I was in physical therapy for my foot. My results here, particularly in hardshoe, were better than I was expecting, though it did shine a light on how inconsistent I was with my two main softshoe dances (reel and slip jig). Deirdre attended this feis, though it may have been the last one, as well as quite a few Kettle dancers. I also had a blonde wig due to recently highlighting my hair. It didn't look as good as the copper.

Novice - Solos
Reel - --
Slip Jig - --
Treble Jig - 2nd
Hornpipe - 1st
Traditional Set - 1st

Prizewinner - Solos
Light Jig - --
Single Jig - 2nd

Novice Reel Special - --

Story to share? Information to add? Correction to make? Webfeis trauma to rehash?

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