Awards, Preliminary & Open Championships
Effective from September 2016
General Rules
Age category is determined by the age the dancer is on the day of the Feis
Dancers may compete in more than 1 Award or Championship as long as they are not of the same grade
Boys/Men may only take part in 1 Championship. They must compete in the boys/Men’s championships once it is offered at the championship.
From September 2014: Modern set dances will be danced from the age of 9 upwards.
1 Adjudicator Championships
To compete in 1 adjudicator championship dancers must take part in a minimum of 2 solo competitions first.
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in 1 adjudicator championship they are open for both of the solo dances. This does not eliminate them from the preliminary championship.
Awards
A, B & Intermediate Solo Awards will be performed in front of 1 Adjudicator.
The A Award is for any dancer who has 3 or more solo dances in the A grades.
The B Award is for any dancer who has 2 or more solo dances in the B grades.
The Intermediate Award is for any dancer that has not attained 1st place in the Intermediate award, Preliminary or Open Championships.
To compete in Awards dancers must take part in a minimum of 2 solo competitions first. (Exception is if the dancer has no solo grades available at the event)
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in the A, B or Intermediate Award they are not permitted to compete in that Award again and must move up to the next grade for the Award and also the solo version of the dance.
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in the A, B or Intermediate award where there are fewer than 6 competitors the dancer will be allowed to compete in the Award at the next Championship Feis provided they still meet the eligibility criteria.
Preliminary Championships
The Preliminary Championship will be performed in front of 3 Adjudicators.
Preliminary Championships are for dancers aged 7 or above.
Preliminary Championship are for dancers that have not won an Open Championship performed in front of a minimum of 3 adjudicators.
Preliminary championship are run on the pick-up system.
Dancers will perform 2 at a time with 8 bars of music between each set of dancers.
The heavy round is danced first followed by the light round.
The dances for the age 7 & 8 preliminary championship will be Reel & Light or Slip Jig.
The dancers from age 9 upwards in the preliminary championship will be Reel & Treble Jig.
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in the Preliminary Championship they will move to the open grade for the 2 dances that they have performed in the preliminary championship.
If there are fewer than 6 dancers in the preliminary championship, it will count as a win. A dancer may obtain 1st place in the preliminary championship 3 times before being deemed ineligible to participate in it again.
Open Cup Age 5 & 6
Open Cups under 5 & 6 are performed in front of 3 adjudicators
The dances they perform will be Reel & Light Jig.
They will perform 32 bars for each dance.
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in an Open Cup they will be open for the 2 dances they performed
They are eligible to compete in the Preliminary Championship once they reach the age 7 group
Open Cup Age 7 & 8
Open Awards under 7 & 8 will be performed in front of 3 adjudicators.
The dances they perform will be Reel & Treble Jig
They will perform 40 bars in the Reel & 32 bars in the Jig.
If the dancer is awarded 1st place in an Open Award they are not permitted to take part in any preliminary championship as they do not meet the eligibility criteria.
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in an Open Award they will be open for the 2 dances they performed.
Open Championships Age 9 Upwards
Open Championships are for dancers aged 9 and upwards and will be performed in front of 3 or more adjudicators.
They will consist of a minimum of 2 rounds of which one must be modern set dance.
In all cases the heavy round will be performed first. Where there are 3 rounds the Modern (Traditional) Set dance will be the final round to be performed.
They will perform 40 bars in the Reel, 32 bars in Slip Jig, 32 bars in Jig & Hornpipe for qualifying championships.
They will perform 48 bars in the Reel, 32 bars in Slip Jig, 40 bars in Jig & 32 bars in Hornpipe for National & World championships
If a dancer is awarded 1st place in an Open Award or Championship (regardless of the number in the competition) they will be open for all of their dances.
The winner of the Open Championship is no longer eligible to take part in the Intermediate Award or Preliminary Championship.