Keeping Time with the Music. A Thriving Appalachian Tradition
It’s only fitting that our Southern Appalachian mountains, with a strong heritage in old-time music, are also home to the mountain folk dance, clogging.
The exuberant, percussive dance-characterized by foot tapping, stomping and shuffling to the rhythm of jamming music-inspired team competitions in the late 1920s at the first Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, N.C. “This was the birthplace of clogging,” says Jeff Atkins, member of Asheville’s Folk Heritage Committee.
Clog dancing was partly influenced by English, Scottish and Irish step dance traditions brought by early settlers to Southern Appalachia. Historians say it was the Queen of England who actually spurred the name “clogging” in 1939, when she visited the White House and watched a Waynesville, N.C., group performing, which reminded her of clogging in England. “English clogging goes back to the Industrial Revolution,” says Atkins, “when the mill workers would unwind after work in their wood-soled shoes.”
For many cloggers in the Mountain South region, a tradition which started with barn jamborees has extended beyond festivals and fairgrounds to major competitions and worldwide performances. Plenty of recreational cloggers just enjoy it for the fun and exercise (it burns about 400 calories an hour). The common thread among cloggers-they all love to dance.
Different Styles
Traditional cloggers often describe clogging as a combination of square dancing and buck dancing. (Buck dancing, like flat footin’, is a solo freestyle dance featuring fancy footwork that involves brushing and clicking the floor to make rhythmic sounds.) With a mix of cultures, clogging in the United States has adopted many styles, but two distinctions are often made: traditional Southern Appalachian, and precision.
“Southern Appalachian cloggers typically dance traditional [square dance] figures with freestyle footwork to live music-banjo, fiddle, guitar,” says Rodney Sutton, member of long-standing North Carolina group the Green Grass Cloggers. “Couples will feature footwork in moves like the Kings Highway and the Queens Highway. Precision clogging is more like line dancing-they got out of the big circles.”
Precision (or modern) clogging evolved in the 1950s with a variety of music, elaborate costumes, jingle tap shoes and choreography. Contemporary precision teams often incorporate hands-on-the-hip routines, higher kicks and greater emphasis on heel tapping.
Ann N. Yungmeyer is a freelance writer who lives in Kingsport.
For the complete story please read the November/December issue of Marquee.
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Enjoyed the article, Ann…great feature about something that is unique to our region. My family enjoys clogging whenever we go to the Carter Family Fold, where we were first introduced to it.
LOVED the cover photo…such a Degas moment. The photographer (Tim Hussey) knew what he was doing when he captured that.
Great choice, Marquee, on a cover story!
Comment by Nancy W. — January 3, 2008 @ 9:18 am
can you list dance studios that offer clogging instruction for kids and/or adults in the tri-city area? thanks!
Comment by Jessica — January 30, 2008 @ 11:42 pm
I do not have a list but the group that sponsors Tenn Clogging Classic where many studios participate should have info. - Tenn. Hoedowners http://www.tennesseehoedowners.com/Tennessee Hope that helps.
Comment by Ann — January 31, 2008 @ 11:59 am
Thanks, Nancy!
Comment by Ann — January 31, 2008 @ 12:01 pm