Crossroads Feis

On Sat. the girls wanted to go watch the crossroads feis (pronounced "fesh") held at the Marriot Hotel in Provo. My mom enrolled Bailey and Addie in an Irish dance class at the Power Academy of Irish Dance. They really enjoy it and are excited about practicing and getting better. They seem to improve with every lesson. I'm glad they have something active that interests them. Their dance school was involved in an Irish dance competition (crossroads feis), so we decided to go watch since it was free to watch.

It was interesting to watch all the different dancers and their different costumes. The older girls had more elaborate costumes all of which usually had sparkly and brightly colored patterns. They all wear really tight curly wigs as well, which I never realized were wigs until we got involved with Irish dance. The girls wear different shoes as well, ranging from beginner types to more advanced. I am not sure on the names of the shoes, but Bailey ended up getting a pair that hopefully will leave room to grow in, so they last a long time because they are expensive. They are pretty cool looking and have really long laces that lace around a lot. Maybe later I will get pictures and post them. Sorry, but I forgot my camera and didn't take pics of the feis.

The feis was really crowded and wasn't really the sit down type of performance that I thought it would be. People were constantly coming in and out. They would announce different specific dances and those competing in that category would all line up along the back of the stage. They had musicians playing what appeared to be an accordian, but I could be wrong and they were also playing one of those irish drums. There were also people moderating each group and as the music would start the person moderating would clap twice signaling the next person to go out and perform. They would dance for about a minute then the moderator would clap again signaling the end of that performance and starting the next girl. When the performers were done, they would bow to the judge and then bow to the musicians. It was really interesting, but I think I prefer more of a performance type venue. It was hard to watch sometimes with people going in and out so much and groups changing all the time, but it was neat to see the different levels and types of dance and how they actually do the competition. There were these really tiny girls younger than 5 who were amazing. The girls really liked it and I think it motivated them to keep practicing. I love Irish dance, so I'm excited they like it. I would eventually like to learn myself one day.