First Place!
The Culkin School has always had higher standards than many other schools within our region. Our success is in part due to this strategy. Our dancers are held to the highest of standards and as a result, we have grown to be incredibly competitive at the local, regional, national and international levels.
At the regional level the school consistently achieves an 85% recall rate and at the Oireachtas (regional qualifier). Every year we have dancers qualify for the North American Championship and the World Championships, and many families travel to those destination competitions. We are always proud of how those dancers represent our school on the “big stage!”
Our dancers have also been successful in professional Irish dance productions. One of our dancers, Jennifer O. toured with “Riverdance” for many years. Margot W. performed in the 2013 production of “Take the Floor” in Ireland and for several years now we have had multiple Culkin Dancers performing in the production of “Studio2Stage” each summer.
Each school jockeys for its place in line within the region and within the nation. The Culkin School is working to climb the ladder of success. We couldn’t have made it this far without the dancers who travel to different feiseanna each weekend and represent us with such vigor and poise – so thank you!
Please find below the Culkin School Policies regarding competition levels:
- Dancers register as a Beginner if they are in the first year of lessons.
- Dancers register as an Advanced Beginner if they are in their second year of lessons OR they have competed previously as a Beginner in this dance and placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in that dance.
- Dancers register as Novice dancers for each dance if they have placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in that dance as an advanced beginner.
- Dancer register as Prizewinner dancers in each dance if they have placed 1st in that dance as a Novice dancer.
- To advance from Prizewinner to Preliminary Championships, dancers need two 1st places in each of the core dances — reel, treble jig and hornpipe for all dancers, as well as slip jig for girls. Please note: if any of the competitions have less than 5 competitors, dancers will be required to earn an additional 1st place placement in that dance.
FEIS RESULTS
Please pass on all feis scores to Sean and/or Phil. HERE’S HOW: Each time a student competes, we ask that dancers report their scores. Based on the placements and scores a dancer receives, they advance through the competition levels: beginner, advanced beginner, novice, prizewinner, preliminary championship and open championship.
Each dancer is responsible for passing a copy of his/her judges’ score sheets for each dance competed in a given feis to Sean and/or Phil. A first place will not be considered legitimate unless the score sheets have been added to the feis record book.
Many feiseanna now email dancer’s results who have danced in the “NON CHAMPIONSHIP” categories. You can forward your scores/results to us! You are always welcome to hand a hard-copy to your instructor.
Championship dancers are usually given hardcopies of their results at the awards ceremony. Please make sure to stay for your awards so you can pick up your results. You are welcome to scan in the score sheet and email it to us or you can give your instructor(s) a hard copy.
HOW DO YOU SEND US YOUR RESULTS? Scan in your score sheets OR forward your results to the email address below. If you are forwarding your score sheet and remarks, all pertinent information should be present. Please make sure that the following information is included:
- name and date of feis
- current level in each dance (beginner, advanced beginner, novice, prizewinner, preliminary or open championship)
- name of each dance (reel, light jig, slip jig, treble jig, hornpipe, traditional set, non-traditional set)
- placement in each dance
PLEASE NOTE: Our policy for those who have placed out of a dance is to keep on competing in that dance. We highly encourage dancers who compete in feiseanna to dance as many dances as possible in order to keep up with your material and stay competitive.