Feis Review: FEILE RINCE TUCSON

Two weeks ago we attended the FEILE RINCE TUCSON with a group from our school.  Over all we had a great time but it was due to the company not the Feis.  Our girls brought their A game and it showed.  Congrats to each and everyone of you for what you accomplished.  Now on to the review.

The Hotel:  Feis was held at a Holiday Inn.  Check In and Check Out were simple.  The front desk staff were helpful and polite.  My room was clean, in need of some renovation but clean.  A friend said her room was dirty but that was not our experience.  We ordered room service on Sunday AM.  It arrived quickly and was hot, always a plus.  The pool party and BBQ on Saturday night was a lot of fun.  Glad our room was away from the pool due to the loud music.  My girl is young and we need to rest before the older children and young adults call it a night.  On Friday night we attempted to eat at the hotel restaurant.  After waiting 5 minutes for someone to seat us we gave up and went to the bar.  I assume since we saw no staff in the restaurant it was closed.  The were able to pull 2 tables together in the bar to seat our large party.  After a bit of a wait a waiter finally decided he should help us.  When we tried to order he kept walking off.  This happened again when the rest of our party showed up 1/2 way into our meal.  The food was bad.  The kids chicken strips was a breaded chicken patty cut in 1/2, the Mac and Cheese looked like it was the same stuff I pour out of a box and my pasta dish was top with watery sauce that was bland.  One of the moms had a wrap.  She said it was drenched in dressing.  So as you can tell we are not a fans of the restaurant/ bar.

The Feis:  Our girls, beginners, were to start dancing around 9:30 am.  Now like most competitions we expect to show up early and start late.  This Feis was no exception.  I think we started at 10:45 with the beginner dances.  We did enjoy watching the Champion U13 dancers before the beginner dancers.  I think this line up helped our girls see what they can accomplish with work.  Each Feis has good and bad elements.  Based on my experience here is the good and bad.
    The Good:  Check in was easy once we found out were to go.   Awards were excellent.  The glass cactus trophies are wonderful.  The medals are shaped like cactus, very cool.  My daughter loved hers.  The ballroom were the Feis was held was large enough and we had enough room to move around.  Vendors were great.  Lots of shopping available while we waited.  This was a good thing because we did a lot of waiting. 
    The Bad:  This was the Feis that would not end.  Grades danced on Saturday and it was drawn out.  The U13 Champions were late ending which put the whole day behind. That happens and is to be expected.  I think where it started to go down hill was that the stage moms didn't have control over getting the kids on stage and dancing in a timely manner.  Kids were pulled from one stage to the next, they weren't lined up behind those already dancing causing more delays. 
  Another huge issue was the musician.  Believe it or not, he actually stopped playing and said he would not start until the kids were lined up and ready to dance.  This didn't happen once, not twice but numerous times.  My daughter was stopped 4 times mid dance and had to restart once all 3 stages were fully loaded and the lines behind the stage were also in place.  Do you know how hard it is for a dancer at that level and young age to stop and then restart a dance.  She was a real trooper and did her best but you could tell all the girls were off their game each time this happened. 

So will we go back to FEILE RINCE TUCSON?  I doubt we will return.  It's sad the the only reason we will not be back was the musician stopping the dancing over and over again.  This one thing ruined the experience and  messed with the girls concentration. If we see a different musician we may change our minds.