Irish Dancers from several states compete in Fort Smith

 

story and photos by Joel Rafkin
[email protected]

Almost 300 dancers took to the stage at the Fort Smith Convention Center to compete in the Arkansas River Valley Feis on Saturday (Nov. 13).

Attendance this year, the fifth year of the competition, was slightly up said instructor Judy McCafferty of McCafferty School of Irish Dance.

"In today’s economy, we’re grateful to have the interest in Irish dance holding pretty stable if not growing a little bit," McCafferty said.

There are more than 248 Feis held across the country every year said McCafferty. Although competitors usually travel regionally, they can enter a competition anywhere in the country and test their skills against dancers from unfamiliar schools.

Dancers who have been dancing for less than a year are entered into the beginner category. After one year, a dancer is promoted to advanced beginner. A first through third place win in a particular dance category will advance a competitor to the novice category for that particular dance. From this point on, a dancer needs to secure a first-place win in a particular dance category to move up in rankings to prize winner, preliminary champion and finally, champion division.

Dancers are also grouped by age in approximately two-year increments. the brackets are: Under age 5, under 7, under 9 — all the way to under 16 and then 16 and older up to age 20 when another division occurs for adults 21 and older.

Dances are broken down into the following categories: Figure dancing (group dances), reel  single jig, light jig and slip jig (girls and women only) are all danced with soft shoes. Treble jig, hornpipe and traditional set feature hard shoes.

Each dance is choreographed by instructors at a particular school with the exception of traditional sets which are danced the same worldwide.

Winners are awarded medals while trophies are awarded at he championship levels. Vendors also sold trophies which can be configured to display the medals and add some extra bling to a win.

Vendors at the event T-shirts, jewelry, wigs, clothing and other accessories related to Irish dance.

A soda bread and art competition were also part of the event. Annie Piechochki, 15, of Fort Smith took first place in the soda bread competition for the second year in a row.