Feis time is here!

Hi everyone!

We are prepared and excited for the 2012 New England Autumn Feis. Hope you are too! We just wanted to post some reminders about this years' feis.

• Remember that we are at Pembroke High this year, and also using Hobomock Elem School across the street. Only dancing will take place at the Elem School; no dancer cards available, no awards, etc., all of that will be available at the high school. The correct venue address is 80 Learning Lane, Pembroke MA. Parking is available in front of high school & on the street. There is limited parking behind the high school and next to elementary school as well. 
• The schedule >has been posted<, but to sum up, the following competitions are taking place at Elementary School: Open U9, U10, U13, U15, U17, U18 and ALL Prelim Sets. Bring your umbrella, it looks like rain is a possibility. 

Speaking of weather, if it is nice out, we will move vendors & the champ podium outdoors. In New England, you just never know! Plan accordingly and check the > >venue map< < for details. 

• We have a supervised Used Dress Sale room available until. Please remember to pick up your dress no later than 3pm. There is a Dress Sale form > > available here< < and we will have more at the feis.
• Doors will open at 7:30am, competitions begin at 8:30am sharp. Please be prompt. Also, Mass will be held at 7:35am in the HS Auditorium. 
• We have many great vendors, we are sure you will be able to shop and find what you need at the feis! Vendors include:
• Head for the World
• Mary Devlin Dance Shoes
• "R Shoes" (Rutherford)
• ishopirish.com
• Knits McFadden
• Stacey Andrade Jewelry
• Dippin Dots
• Charity 4-hand for PanCAN.org will take place at 1:15pm. Entrants should receive an email with more detail about this great event. THANK YOU for donating & participating!

Best of luck to ALL the dancers, we are really looking forward to having you and hope everyone has a great day at New England Autumn Feis 2012!

Venue Map & Address, Mass, a few updates

Detailed Venue Map now available...
CLICK here for Venue Map 2012

Please note the correct address for the venue is 80 Learning Lane, Pembroke MA, 02359. (The syllabus lists wrong street number but correct street).

Mass will be held at 7:35am in the High School Auditorium. Doors will open at 7:30am in both buildlings.

A few minor typos on the schedule have been corrected. Prelim U9 will be held at 10:15am, Stage 5-6 in the High School Gym (it was initially mislabeled). Updated Stage Schedule is >HERE<

Stage Schedule available

The NE Autumn Feis entries have officially closed. >CLICK HERE< for stage schedule. 

We are going to publish a venue map, which will be available later today and at the feis. For now, here are a few additional details: 

Please note we are using TWO BUILDINGS for the Feis. The HIGH SCHOOL is the main building for the feis and will house Registration, Food, Vendors, Used Dress Area, Award Postings, Medals, Champ Awards, Music Competitions and the CAFE, GYM and AUDITORIUM stages. The ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has ONLY 1 room in use - ELEM SCHOOL STAGE. There will be NO awards, numbers, food, etc available in the elementary school, only dancing. A VENUE MAP is available as PDF. Volunteers will be available to help with directions. Parking is available at/around HIGH SCHOOL and on the road. Wear walking shoes! Competitor Card pickup: VIA EMAIL from Feis Web, PRINT AT HOME and wear. Extras available at the Registration/Info desk in the HIGH SCHOOL. 

Champ Awards will be given in the HIGH SCHOOL ATRIUM level 4 or in HIGH SCHOOL REAR TERRACE if weather is nice. Awards time schedule will be posted. 

Beginner thru PW Awards will be posted in the HIGH SCHOOL ATRIUM level 3. Beginner thru PW Marks will be emailed to you after the feis. 

No COOLERS or FOOD allowed at HIGH SCHOOL or ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ~ Prelim & Open will dance HEAVY SHOE first ~  Please arrive early and be READY to dance at the scheduled time.  Competitions will not start BEFORE the times shown, but will line up 15-30 minutes prior. 

Due to low boys’ entry, Boys Beginner, Novice & PW competitions have been combined with Girls of same age.

Splitting Open U18

Thanks everyone for your entries! We are working on the detailed schedule and other last minute preparations. Everything is falling into place so that our 2012 New England Autumn Feis can be even better than last year. Late entries are being accepted until Sept 24. The schedule will be available no later than Sept 24.

First in the news, we have decided to split Competition 508, Girls Open U18. It will now be Open U17 and Open U18. If you are already entered, your split will be shown on your entry card. Feisweb will be updating so if isn't shown online right this minute, give it a day. If you held off from entering due to this double age bracket, but now wish to enter, please email me to inquire about waiving late fees. 

Next, we have added another vendor... ishopirish.com will be joining us with lots of Irish themed apparel and gifts.

Also, keep your fingers crossed for good weather. We hope to hold awards outdoors again in 2012 and will also be expanding the vendors shopping area outdoors if the weather is nice. We have sashes and medals for all our Prelim & Open champ placements. Select competition winners will be awarded perpetual cups, others will be awarded trophies, and we will also have a podium. 

Lastly, we have amended our list of adjudicators. The current list is as follows:
Mike Mullane, IL Anne Hall, CO Kate O’Connor Rea, CAAnn Johnston, NYJennifer Nagle McGovern, NJ Eddie Irwin MASheila Laskey Cloherty MA Attracta Quinn, MA Sheila Bremer, MA Kathleen O’Keefe NYJohn O'Keefe CTAidan Maher MA (will judge music events only)

MusiciansMichael Fitzpatrick, MAMike Shaffer, OHRyan Duns, MAOwen Shaffer, OH

Entries and other news

Hello all! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already entered for the 2012 New England Autumn Feis. We appreciate your support. We are still accepting entries without a late fee through Weds, Sept 19. We are also very close to our cap of 900 so don't delay.

The schedule is already in the works and may be ready for publication by this weekend (9/22).

A few new things we have added in the past few weeks:

• We will hold mass on-site at the feis at 7:30am with Fr. Cathal Doherty, SJ of Boston College.
• The Used Dress area will be centrally located and supervised during the day. There is NO FEE to hang your dress. 
• Dippin' Dots will be in attendance, in the cafeteria from 10am.
• A venue map will be available this weekend. The second building (Hobomock Elem. School) will house a wood stage covered in marley and will run mainly Open Championship competitions. Hobomock is across the parking lot from the High School building, a very short walk!
• Competitor cards will be emailed to you Weds or Thurs the week prior to feis. 
• Music competitions will be held between 11am-2pm. Entrants should go to the "Music Competition Room" during this time with their instrument, ready to compete. A sign-in sheet will be available should there be a busy time. We are thrilled to see so many musicians entered to compete!

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the 2012 New England Autumn Feis. 

Back to School... Back to Feisin'!

It's mid September already, and time to get your entries in. It's hard to believe how quickly the summer came to an end. Now that everyone is back to dance class, don't forget to send in your entries for the 2nd New England Autumn Feis, to be held Sunday Sept 30, 2012 in Pembroke, MA.

We are working hard to make this year's feis even better then last year. Just in case you are on the fence about entering, here are some of the latest NE Autumn Feis updates:

• We will have a FREE supervised dress room available. It's in a great location at the venue and will be supervised by volunteer adults 10am-3pm. NO FEE will be charged to drop your dress off! 
• Perpetual cups will be awarded to a number of the Prelim & Open Championship 1st place winners. 
• All dancers who place in Prelim & Open will receive a sash!
• Both medals and ribbons will be awarded in Beginner, Adv Beginner, Novice & Prizewinner
• We have several new local vendors attending, plus some of your feis favorites: Mary Devlin Dance Shoes, Head for the World, "R Shoes" (Rutherford), and the ever popular Dippin Dots!
• The venue doors will open at 7:45am, coffee and breakfast will be available at that time.
• Our charity event, the 4-hand reel lottery, will take place around 1pm in the HS Gym. All other stages will be on break at this time. The 4-hand lottery will be a fun "mixer" type event while also supporting a great cause, www.pancan.org 
• 8-Hand Ceili competitions will take place around 12:30pm in the HS Gym. All other stages will be on a break at this time. We hope to see some of those amazing New England ceili teams join us for the ceili competitions!

The full detailed schedule will be available on Sept 25, but for now you can count on the following summary: 

• Beginners will dance in the HS Cafe between 9:30-11am
• Adv Beginners will dance in the HS Cafe. Adv Beg U6, U7, U8, U9 will dance between 10:30a-12:30. Adv Beginners U10, U11, 11& up will dance after lunch. 
• Novice will dance in the HS Gym starting at 1:30pm and should conclude around 3:45pm
• Prizewinner will dance starting at 3:00pm in the HS Gym
• Prelim competitions will be held in the HS Gym starting at 8:30am and will conclude by 12:30pm. Prelim set competitions will be held between 10:00am - 2pm (varies by age).
• Open Competitions will dance in HS Auditorium & Elementary School stages all day - more detail available Sept 25. 

All in all, we are hoping for a great day with tough comps, great judges and lots of friendly volunteers. If you have any questions please feel free to email the feis chairpeople! See you feisin' soon!

~Theresa & Suzanne, and everyone at Dunleavy Shaffer

Charity 4-hand for pancan.org

New for 2012: 4-Hand Reel charity special to benefit Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org). 

The Charity Special will be kind of a "lottery," where dancers will be paired up with other dancers from any school, of the same relative age and level. Any dancer familiar with the 4 Hand Reel (including the ladies chain) can enter. All entrants will receive a tshirt with their entry, and may not wear school dress or solo dresses for the 4-Hand Special. Just come with your hair neatly done (wigs, curls, etc) and ready to dance in your new t-shirt and shorts/skirt. It should be a fun way to meet some new feis friends and raise money for a great cause.