Live from the O

Day three - first chance I have to post.

Mini-feis/Traditional sets are done. Teams are about to start.

Be sure to read Steph's (Rince Pix) blog for results.

I can't upload from here - I can only type.

No news really - hope everyone is enjoying the great weather. I managed to view a nice afternoon from inside the hotel...........

Movie Night Info

See link for Movie Night Poster.

The teachers and parents of Gilchrist-Canavan are running this event. Talk to any of them to get more info.

http://irishdancecanada.com/IDTAC/Movie_Poster.pdf

Vendors

Gold and Shamrock

Essential Hair

Faery Reel

Rince Pix - Official ECRO Photographer

Irish Rox - Official ECRO Merchandise

Gold & Shamrock News

Harry and Eleanor of the Gold & Shamrock will be retiring this year.

Be sure to stop by the wish them well in their retirement.

Irish dance has been a huge part of their lives for many, many years and this decision will no doubt have a huge impact on their days to come.

I understand the business will still continue under new ownership but they can answer any questions you might have better than I.

Three cheers for Harry and Eleanor...

ECRO Journals etc.

Journals will sell for $15 starting after suppertime on Thursday evening near the vendors and all day Saturday/Sunday. If you don't know where this will be, ask around as more experienced families will gladly help you.

Vendors will set up on Thursday evening and as much as they'd like to help sell you stuff straight away, they need a bit of time to get organzied. Please be patient with them.

Remember, you have already paid admission fees so there are no wristband sales this time.

Certificates of Participation

Something new this year.

Anyone who has competed at the Great Brits/All Scots etc. will understand this process.

After the second round of dancing, dancers are to report side-stage in costume/shoes to receive certificates. Dancers will be handed them side-stage (the same side they walk on to compete) and 15 or so will walk on to the stage to form a line at the front.

Parents and friends can cheer on the dancers (and take photos) before the line bows and walks off the other side of the stage as the next line comes on.

This is a great chance to recognize everyone and the IDTAC-E thanks our certificate sponsor for her kind donation of funds.

Doire Dress Designs
Shauna Shiels
Unit 11, Northwest Business Complex
Skeoge Industrial Est, Derry BT48 8SE
info@doiredressdesigns.com
+44 (28) 71 358016 or +44 (78) 34592528

Don't Disappear After Your Light Round!!!

Running Commentary and Results

Steph from Rince Pix will be running a blog again this year. See her website for details.
http://www.rincepix.com/2009ecroinfo.html

This service is offered for free by her to anyone interested. Please show respect and appreciation for her and her staff. Rince Pix has taken steps to ensure info will be updated in a timely manner but should this not occur for any reason, remember that this is a free service before you complain anonymously on any Message Board.

Official results will be posted to the IDTAC-E site when I get online access - which might be over the weekend or it might not be until Monday.

Thank you.

Stage Building Volunteers - Thursday

Stages will arrive approximately at 5pm to be unloaded and set-up over about two hours. Flooring is to be laid out around 7pm. It will have to sit for a few hours before being taped down so it settles properly.

People arriving to help unload should bring comfortable clothing and gloves for splinter protection. Have a cordless drill to screw together the stages.

Those arriving for layout should have comfortable clothes too.

Thanks to those who have committed to help.

Trish Diggon from the Taylor Academy is heading up this project and Rose Johnson, TCRG will be in and out of the room to check on progress should you need to find someone but don't know who to ask for...

Dinner Dance Update #2

Please note the following information about this year’s dinner dance:
· The cocktail bars will open at 7pm
· The doors to the ballroom will open at 8pm
· Dinner will be served at 8:15pm
(Times are dependent on awards finishing on time on Saturday and subject to change)
· Please send any special dietary request this week to Siobhan@woodgateshamrock.com Only special meals ordered in advance will be accommodated.
· There are still tickets available to purchase please send any requests as soon as possible.

Cheers!
Siobhan Crummey, TCRG
Woodgate-Shamrock Academy of Dance
siobhan@woodgateshamrock.com

Adjudicator Change

Seaneen Doherty-O'Neill of Doherty-Belfast is no longer able to attend our event.

Iris Gray has accepted the position. Iris lives in Connecticut and teaches at the Gray-Gillan-Owens School.

Mini-Feis Age Groups and Other Info

In answering a reply today, I thought it'd be best to post some points from my reply online to avoid possible further queries.

The age groups for this year will be U9 U11 U13 and 13+.

U9 may seem a bit steep for our U6 and U7 dancers but going we tried to arrange the age groups as evenly as possible. Going with U8 U10 U12 12+ meant nearly 60 dancers in one group and 28 in another.

Forecasted entries in mid-September totalled about 90 dancers when the decision to run four age groups was made but they actually totalled over 150 when entries closed Oct 1.

It was decided to allow dancers to perform in twos rather than threes as originally pitched, since most traditional sets don't allow for much moving. Going in threes could mean someone could be stuck in a corner. We weighed the options and did what we felt was best. Try to remember this our first year with the type of competition so we will have more information available to make decisions for next year.

The dance teachers are meeting on the Thursday of the Oireachtas so if you have concerns/suggestions about this or other aspects of the O, talk to them so your views can be presented at the meeting.

There will be 50% placing with really nice trophies for top five, medals for the remaining places.

Six dancers will stand in a line at the back of the stage and dance in twos as mentioned above.

Each group will pick up, meaning the music will be played three times. Judges will take a moment to look over all six dancers and then ring the dancers off stage. Dancers are sorted in the official program by dance (remember, there is a choice of seven traditional sets) and it may occur that dancers from the same school will dance together. Please don't worry. Since all dancers will be doing the same steps, it's not a problem.

Documents In Demand

You can find the final schedule here, the list of competitions here and the web-version of the syllabus here.

The list of competitors will not be posted prior to the event.

There will not be assigned practice rooms this year. The three rooms available will be the same as previous years. Ask around in your dance school if you are unsure of where they are.

Teachers' Meeting and Reception

The start time has just been changed to 5:30 due to lack of meeting space for a 4pm start.

Please RSVP to Rose Johnson if you haven't already done so.

The Teachers' Reception will begin around 8pm.

-----

Added October 22

Meeting - Strategy Room 5 and 6.

Reception - Upper Fallsview B

Practice Rooms

The practice rooms will be the same as previous years (on the fifth floor, ask someone in your school if you haven't been before). They will be opened at 5pm on Thursday until a reasonable time in the evening.

The rooms will not be assigned to specific schools this year.

We ask that everyone cooperate and be respectful to others by sharing the space. This is good advice for on-stage as well as off-stage. Please be careful to avoid injury.

Good luck.

Volunteers Needed To Help With Stage Set-Up

ATTENTION ALL PARENTS, FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS

***Volunteers are still needed to help with the set up of the staging and flooring on Thursday night. Please advise Rose Johnson by email below if you can volunteer to help out. ***

Without volunteers for this job - we can’t get it done – so please ask around to see who you can get to help you help us.

johnsonacad@sympatico.ca

Dinner Dance Update

Tickets for the Oireachtas Dinner Dance will be available for sale at the Roseland Feis. Also anyone with photos or memories of Rose Fearon that they wish to share will be collected at the Roseland Feis. Look for the “Oireachtas Dinner Dance table” near the vendors. Additional items can be emailed to us at: Siobhan@woodgateshamrock.com or snail mailed to us at 2007 Mount Forest Dr. Burlington, ON L7P 1H4

Further note to teachers from Ryan - please direcet all enquiries to Siobhan about the Dance. Anything sent to me will be forwarded. Thank you!

Still need a hotel for the O???

This a message from Yvonne Kelly, our Regional Director.

As you know, the Sheraton released all our $139.00 rooms without our knowledge and kept the $179.00 rooms.

(i) If you have not made your reservations, please call the Sheraton and tell them you wish to stay at the Crowne Plaza hotel - right beside the Sheraton. OR call the Crowne Plaza direct or use their website to make bookings. Our Association will get credit for bookings at the Crowne Plaza, due the Sheraton releasing all the $139.00 room without our knowledge. AS LONG AS WE ARE AWARE OF THE RESERVATION.

SO-

(ii) VERY IMPORTANT: Teachers, can you please put up a list at your studios for your parents to provide the following information:

- the name used for the reservation;
- the dates of your reservation;
- hotel name (Sheraton, Crowne Plaza....)

We will need this information from all schools in order to do the room audit at the end of the event. This has been made necessary because the Sheraton is not crediting us with all the bookings that should be included in our block.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Yvonne

Dinner Dance Memo

Hi Everyone,

This year we will be organizing the Oireachtas dinner dance and upon careful consideration of “themes” for the evening we decided to go back to an idea that this region use to be famous for- honouring a member from our own association.

The obvious choice to us was Rose Fearon. This year Rose celebrates teaching for over 30 years in our region and is one of the most accomplished teachers in the World. Rose has produced countless champion dancers and perhaps even more important to our region- a great number of new teachers.

So we ask that you begin to spread the word that Rose will be honoured and consider this information when designing your ads for this year’s program. We are hoping to have as many Fearon alumni join us for the dinner dance as possible. We are planning a memories book so any photos you can share with us are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to spread the word to anyone you may feel would like to send well wishes to Rose via our program and/or join us at the dinner dance.

Tickets will once again be $65.

Please feel free to email us with any ideas or thoughts. More information will follow.


Paula, Siobhan. Grainne & Katie

Woodgate-Shamrock Academy of Irish Dance

woodgate@woodgateshamrock.com

www.woodgateshamrock.com

905-335-9994

Reminder - Entry Due Date - SEP 30th

The entries for the 2009 ECRO are due September 30th. The original syllabus sent out showed an October date but a revised copy went out about ten minutes later. Use V2.

Send entries in Excel format via e-mail to ryan @ goggin-carroll.com (take out the spaces - I put them in to avoid getting spammed by webbots) by SEP 30th (or earlier please).

Send cheques to: IDTAC, Suite 165, B2-125 The Queensway, Etobicoke, ON M8Y 1H6
(This is not my home address - is a PO Box.) Cheques and e-mailed entry forms received after the 30th will be considered LATE and will be subject to double fees for entries.

Reminder to parents/dancers. If you haven't received info from your teachers about Oireachtas entries, you may want to ensure they received the information.

Rules To Be Added To Oireachtas Syllabus

1. The lodgement of an entry by a teacher for Oireachtas Rince na hEireann 2010 will imply that both the teacher making the entry and the dancer or team concerned accept that, in the case where the engagement of a particular adjudicator by An Coimisiun to adjudicate at the event is likely to create a conflict for the dancer concerned, the adjudicator will retain the right to accept the engagement, and the dancer will be required to withdraw.

2. The lodgement of any entry by a teacher for Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne 2010 will imply, that both the teacher and the dancer or team accept that,where the proposed engagement of a particular adjudicator is likely to create a conflict for the dancer or team involved, the adjudicator concerned, having notified the teacher in writing of the particular dancer or team in good time, (i.e. prior to their primary qualifying/ regional Oireachtas), of his/her intention to offer services as an adjudicator at the event, will retain the right to adjudicate at the Oireachtas, and the dancer or team concerned must postpone his/her qualifying place to Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne of the following year, ie 2011.

??? at a time?

In response to some e-mail enquiries...

For Solo Championships up to and including U14, dancers will perform in threes. Once entries are received, the committee will try very hard to develop a timetable allowing soft shoe in twos for at least U13 and U14. Dancers should be training to be prepared to dance both rounds in threes. This event is a qualifier for the World and North American Championships, where dancers perform in threes at these ages.

U15 and upward will dance in twos for both rounds.

All set dances in the Recall rounds will be performed one-at-a-time (including U8 and U9).

When the entries are processed for the Mini-Feis, the competitions will be arranged and a decision will be made as to how many dancers will perform together. Every effort will be made to ensure the result is no more than two-at-a-time.

Return of Perpetual Trophies

Last year we asked for trophies to be returned in advance so they could be checked for minor repairs. For 2009, our perpetual trophy coordinator - Patricia Finnegan TCRG - is requesting that trophies be returned side-stage on Thursday evening at the Oireachtas venue. Awards are always presented in the room with the built-in stage so that is where she would like them dropped off. As you face the ballrooms from the hallway, it is the room on the far right.

Winners will be contacted by Patricia shortly but please feel free to pass this message on to any trophy holders in your school in the meantime. Please ensure trophies are polished and engraved with name, school and year. If any repairs are needed, please get an estimate and let Patricia know. If nameplates are missing, please consider having them replaced to preserve the history of these trophies. Who knows? Maybe one day your dancer's name might fall off - you'd appreciate the same done for you. A list of previous winners is available here. If you have a trophy that is not on the site (or has info missing), please take a close-up photo of the trophy and list the years/winners/schools to help finish this project. Consider taking the photo against a plain backdrop to save time editing it with Photoshop...

E-mail photos and info to Ryan.

If you can't be there on Thursday evening, please send the trophy with someone else. Each year we are stressed over chasing people to get these trophies lined up for the award presentations. Every few years someone forgets altogether, which has resulted in a mad-dash drive home and back on Friday, missing their child's competition. Even if the award won't be presented until Saturday or Sunday, we'd like to know everything is in order. Some regions require the trophies be mailed in advance at the winners' expense. We don't want to have to switch to that sort of system. We have a limited staff of volunteers, all of whom would rather be watching the dancing during the day rather than chasing down people for perpetuals. Since most of those teachers will no doubt be wearing spiky high heels over the weekend, it would also be unsafe for them to be running around the halls chasing down these trophies...

Teen Movie Night

As the 2008 teachers' meeting, the consensus among the members was to discontinue the Teen Dance and switch to something easier to manage like a Movie Night. The teen dance posed problems with staffing and selling tickets. 13 year olds didn't want to hang out with 10 year olds and everyone seemed to wait to see who else was going before committing to go themselves.

It was suggested that two movies be shown. Suggestions included: High School Musical or some of those cheerleading movies (no, not the one about the mom in Texas) where the team is really bad at first but overcomes adversity and wins State finals with only two weeks of practice???

The original concept behind the teen dance was to give a safe place for dancers to be while parents were whooping it up at the dinner dance, in addition to having fun with dancers they may not see that often. The same goal exists for Movie Night.

As of today, no teacher/school has volunteered to run this event so I have no details to give you such as the age ranges, movie titles, snacks being offered, time, location etc.

I realise many parents may base dinner dance ticket purchases on having an event for their children. I will advise when I hear more...

RC

Competition Info

Here is an PDF with competition numbers, day they will be run and dances required.

Age groups for the mini-feis will be decided after the entries are received in order to balance the size of the groups. We don't want 45 in one group but 12 in another. Since this is the first year, we don't know which age groups to choose.

Entries can only be processed by a teacher. There are strict deadlines to enter on time. If you don't hear from your teacher in the next week, they may not have received the entry info. E-mail addresses often change and I have no way of knowing. Follow up with your teacher. All forms went out to them today.

Good Luck!!!

Contacting Us With Questions

You can send questions by e-mail to ryan@goggin-carroll.com

All queries will be answered in a timely manner.

Generally speaking, all information I receive from the Oireachtass committee will be posted on the blog unless I am asked not to do so until a specific date. Basically, if you can't find it here, I probably don't have the answer for you.

Still, you are welcome to ask.

Ryan

Booking a Hotel Room for Oireachtas 2009

OIREACHTAS CANADA 2009
SHERATON ON THE FALLS HOTEL
NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO
November 13th, 14th and 15th, 2009

RESERVATION INFORMATION:

Reservations Open: July 27th, 2009

Reservation Procedures:

Call Sheraton’s Reservation Office at 1-800-519-9911
Identify yourself as a member of the “Irish Dance Group”
A non-refundable deposit equal to one night’s stay will be taken at time of reservation
Traditional Rooms $139.00, Fallsview Rooms $179.00
Hotel agrees to send confirmation of reservations and/or reservation changes to registered guests within seven days of receipt of such information
Name changes to room reservations may be made up to (1) day prior to arrival at no additional charge, IF there is no change to the arrival and departure dates.

We know that, for many attendees, finding the lowest possible hotel rate is very important and we are aware that attendees have access to a large number of housing options in the Niagara Falls area. We are also aware that some attendees fear losing the one-night deposit should something unforseen happen. We all must do our best.

Please note that STARWOOD members WILL receive their points for booking with the IRISH DANCE BLOCK.

To conclude, we humbly ask you to consider staying at the Sheraton on the Falls Hotel because in doing so, you will be supporting your Oireachtas.

THANK YOU!

Dinner Dance

The 2009 gala event will be hosted by the teachers of the Woodgate-Shamrock School. Details to follow in the Fall.

Family Fee In Lieu Of Daily Admission Charges

2009 will see the introduction of the family fee at Oireachtas level.

There are many pros and cons to this system but for various reasons we have opted to switch to the family fee.

In addition to the struggle to get volunteers to sell wristbands and to check for wristbands at each set of doors to the competition rooms, the layout of the Niagara Falls hotel in 2008 meant that we were not allowed to put our sales table in the main hallway. This allowed people to access the ballrooms without going to the sales table to buy wristbands. We have trouble securing volunteers to stand at the doors, often due to mis-treatment by others.

The family fee system will allow an unlimited number of friends and family members access to the dance ballrooms to support the dancers.

The family fee will be $40.00 and shall be paid via the TCRG (who submits the school's entry).

***NEW for 2009 - Traditional Set Dance Competitions***

Following the success of the Mini-Feis concept at other regional Oireachtasi, our region has voted to conduct a “Mini-Feis” on the Sunday morning of the Oireachtas to allow Advanced Beginner, Novice and Open Prizewinner dancers who are otherwise not participating in solo events at the Oireachtas to compete in a traditional set competition. Originally (two steps of) a reel were to be included, but after discussion, it was agreed to try just traditional sets for 2009 and consider, based on success and timing, including reels for 2010.

Benefits of this concept include: exposing more dancers to the prestigious championship event, making the trip more worthwhile for those who are usually team-only dancers, encouraging more dancers to go for teams since they can do a solo dance too, promoting the traditional side of Irish dance and having something to work toward once the feis season ends.

Dancers can choose from the seven traditional set dances in our syllabus: St. Patrick's Day, The Blackbird, Job of Journeywork, Garden of Daisies, Three Sea Captains, King of the Fairies and Jockey to the Fair.

Competitors would be entitled to wear the costume of their choice.

Competition age groups to be under 7, under 9, under 11, under 13, under 15 and 15 and over, to be split at the discretion of the Oireachtas Committee. That the rate of entry would be $20.00 per entrant, plus the family admission.

Being the first year, we have no idea how large or small these competitions will be. All teachers have been asked to provide an esitmate of entries or a notice that they do not intend to participate so we can plan better. Perhaps we have too many age groups? Perhaps we need one year to let people see what it's all about? Perhaps it's not necessary?

Team events will begin once the traditional set dance competitions are complete, allowing time for dancers to change outfits.

We realise that many schools travel from afar and look forward to getting on the highway after team events. We are working on a schedule that will minimize any such delay.

Officials - Updated Sep 18

The following people will officiate at this year's event.

Pat King - Brian Grant - Merv Bell - Jessica Bell - Tony Nother - Teresa Wilkinson had to cancel; we have decided to stay with five

Brendan O'Brien - Maire Dixon - Annette Doolan - Seaneen Doherty-O'Neill - Bernard Hynes - Tara Dey - Terry Gillan - Mary Kay Heneghan - Laura Masters

Dates and Location and Attrition

Hello everyone:

This year's Championships will occur on November 13, 14 and 15 2009 at the Sheraton On The Falls Hotel in Niagara Falls, ON. This is the same hotel that was used for the 2008 event and many events prior.

Our venue was secured on July 23rd, 2009; much later than usual, due to a complicated negotiation process. One may assume that a hotel in a recession would make a stronger effort to secure business, but sadly, that wasn't the case.

The primary area of delay was not about profit for us but for fear of losing money due to attrition charges.

In 2008, our organization stood to lose a considerable amount of money (over $15,000) due to attrition charges. Attrition charges occur when we don't meet the guestroom quota agreed upon in the contract.

In order to get the ballrooms at a (heavily) discounted rate, we must guarantee so many roomstays over the weekend - particularly on the Saturday night. I don't recall exact figures, but if we were going to be below (I think) 75% then we would have had to pay a bill of about $80,000.

We were near 90% with two weeks to go but for whatever reason, many people cancelled their bookings in the final week and we fell to about 77% (c. $18,000 penalty). We managed to get the hotel to credit us for Oireachtas families who stayed there but didn't book within the block and that helped a bit more. Still, we paid a bigger than expected rent for the ballrooms and an unexpected attrition fee for our un-met contract. We can't afford to do that each year, obviously. We try hard to not have to raise fees even though our costs go up each year.

As a note of information, the Western Canadian region hosted a National Championship in Vancouver but lost so much money in attrition charges that it ruined their association and they subsequently dropped out of the rotation for hosting that event. Eastern Canada is the next smallest region and we don't want the same to happen to us. The last Florida nationals had the same thing happen to them which is why they have a new fee structure for 2010, but I am not here to discuss their decisions...

Due to last minute cancellations last year, we had no choice but to go with a one-night non-refundable clause for all bookings this year. Not expecting a surge or drop in entries, we assume the competition sizes will be about the same, so the schedule will remain as it was in 2008. This assumption will help everyone plan better. We realise that no one has or wants to risk losing this deposit should something occur, but in trying to plan an event, we need security of knowing you will support it.

In response to requests to seek out less expensive hotels, remember that they come with fewer facilities that we otherwise take for granted. We are looking at proposals for Windsor, Collingwood, Ottawa and Montreal for the coming years. There is interest and opposition from dance families for every one of those choices already. The GTA is often mentioned as a possible choice since it is fairly local for the majority of the region, but that is the exact reason why we can't have the event in the GTA (unless it is heavily sponsored). If people don't stay in the hotel because they live so close by, then we don't get a discount on the ballrooms.

So in closing, we hope you will understand our position and make the best choice possible.

See you at the O,

Ryan Carroll,
on behalf of the Executive committee of the Irish Dance Teachers Association of Eastern Canada