Clogging is a truly American dance form originating in the Appalachian Mountain area. After a hard day of work, people of all nationalities would gather around a fire and dance the steps they knew from their home countries. Before long, all these steps merged into one dance style, and clogging was born.
The dancers around the campfire wore heavy work boots to make the same sounds that we make today with our taps. Clogging shoes today are soft leather shoes with double taps on both the heel and the toe. Many dancers choose to buy a comfortable pair of tennis shoes and glue the taps on instead.
The word clog is Gaelic for time. In clogging, the heel of your foot is the time keeper, constantly moving to the beat of the music. There are eight basic movements in clogging. Every step that cloggers dance is simply a combination of those eight basic movements.
Clogging was originally done to bluegrass music. There were Line dances, Big Circle dances, and Traditional dances. Today clogging consists of mostly line dances, and a variety of music is also used, from the traditional bluegrass music, to modern country, rap, alternative, and top 40.
Ida and Harold Seibel brought clogging to Minnesota in the 1970's. Ida started teaching and soon after, the first clogging group in Minnesota was formed, called the Royal Sil-O-Ets.
Links for more clogging information: |
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| Informaiton on Clogging in Minnesota | |
| The National Clogging Workshop | |
| General Information | |
| General Information | |
Clogging Groups |
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