:Clogging
{{Short description|Fast-footwork folk dance}}
{{About|a form of folk dance practised in the United States, but originally from Ireland|other forms of clog dance|clog-dancing|the construction of wooden clogs|clog|the phenomenon in flush toilets|flush toilet#Clogging}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
Clogging, buck dancing, or flatfoot dancing{{cite web |url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2191 |title=E-WV | Flatfoot Dancing }} is a type of folk dance practiced in the United States, in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the heel keeping the rhythm. Clogging can be found at various Old-Time and Bluegrass Music festivals.
Clogging is the official state dance of Kentucky and North Carolina.
Antecedents
In the United States, team clogging originated from square dance teams in Asheville, North Carolina's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival (1928), organized by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in the Appalachian region.{{Cite web|url=http://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/state-dance-clogging-and-shagging/|title=State Dance: Clogging and Shagging|last=Thompson|first=Jessica Lee|date=2006|website=Encyclopedia of North Carolina|access-date=29 January 2018}}
The Soco Gap Dancers performed at the White House in 1939, which caused an uptick in the popularity of team clogging.{{Cite web|last=Tabler|first=Dave|date=2018-04-24|title=Appalachian clog dancing|url=https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2018/04/appalachian-clog-dancing.html|access-date=2021-03-26|website=Appalachian History}}
American Clogging is associated with the predecessor to bluegrass—"old-time" music, which is based on English, and Irish fiddle tunes as well as African American banjo tunes. Clogging primarily developed from Irish step dancing called Sean-nós dance;{{Cite web|url=http://www.doubletoe.com/history.htm|title=Clogging History, Notation & Abbreviations|website=Doubletoe.com|access-date=2021-05-07}} there were also English, Scottish, German, and Cherokee step dances, as well as African rhythms and movement influences too. It was from clogging that tap dance eventually evolved. Now, many clogging teams compete against other teams for prizes such as money and trophies.{{Cite web|last=Kirkpatrick|first=Ian|title=Competition Clogging: Preservation And Innovation in Mountain Folk Dance|url=https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/listing.aspx?id=25769|access-date=2021-03-29|website=Libres.uncg.edu}}
Terminology
The term "buck", as in buck dancing, is traceable to the West Indies and is derived from a Tupi Indian word denoting a frame or hurdle for drying and smoking meat; the original po bockarau or buccaneers were sailors who ate smoked meat and fish after the manner of the Indians.{{sfn|Adelaide Bluegrass Cloggers|2010}} Another source states that the word bockorau can be traced to the "Angolan" word "buckra', and was used to refer to white people,{{sfn|Hashaw|2007|p=42}} which is disputed.{{sfn|Chuku|2012}} Eventually the term came to describe Irish immigrant sailors whose jig dance was known as 'the buck'."{{cn|date=January 2024}}
One source states that buck dancing was the earliest combination of the basic shuffle and tap steps performed to syncopated rhythms in which accents are placed not on the straight beat, as with the jigs, clogs, and other dances of European origin, but on the downbeat or offbeat, a style derived primarily from the rhythms of African tribal music.{{sfn|Ames|Siegelman|1977|p=41}}
Yet another etymology of the word argues that it derives from the word "buck", used as a pejorative term for African American men in the 19th century.{{cite book |last1=Jamison |editor1-last=Hinson |editor1-first=Glenn |editor2-last=Ferris |editor2-first=William |title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 14: Folklife |date=2009 |publisher=UNC Press |pages=265–267 |chapter=Buckdancing, Flatfooting, and Clogging}} Buck dancing was popularized in the United States by minstrel performers in the late 19th century. Many folk festivals and fairs utilize dancing clubs or teams to perform both Buck and regular clogging for entertainment.{{Cite web|title=Styles of Appalachian Clog Dance|url=https://socalfolkdance.org/articles/styles_appalachian_clog_dance_helt.htm|access-date=2021-03-29|website=socalfolkdance.org}}
See also
- Buckdancer's Choice
- Clog dancing
- Ira Bernstein
- Limberjack
- Sean-nós dance including as practised in America
- Step dance
References
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{Citation
| last1 = Ames
| first1 = Jerry
| last2 = Siegelman
| first2 = Jim
| year = 1977
| title = The Book of Tap
| publisher = David McKay Company
| isbn = 0-679-50615-2
}}
- {{Citation
|url=http://www.adelaidebluegrasscloggers.com.au/history.htm
|title=History of clogging
|publisher=Adelaide Bluegrass Cloggers
|access-date=24 April 2010
|ref={{harvid|Adelaide Bluegrass Cloggers|2010}}
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015112532/http://www.adelaidebluegrasscloggers.com.au/history.htm
|archive-date=15 October 2009
}}
- {{Citation
| last = Cahill
| first = Mike
| title = Clogs
| date = 14 June 2008
| url = http://www.clogger.eu/
| access-date = 20 February 2016
| url-status = dead
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305081332/http://www.clogger.eu/
| archive-date = 5 March 2016
}}
- {{Citation
| last = Chambers
| first = Douglas B
| title = Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia
| publisher = University Press of Mississippi
| date = 1 March 2005
| isbn = 978-1578067060
}}
- {{Citation
| last = Chuku
| first = Gloria
| title = Enslaved Igbo and the Foundation of Afro-Virginia Slave Culture and Society
| work = ChickenBones
| publisher = Nathaniel Turner
| url = http://www.nathanielturner.com/igbosinvirginia.htm
| date = 17 August 2012
| access-date = 20 February 2016
}} Review and criticism of {{harvtxt|Chambers|2005}}
- {{Citation
| title = Clogging: How it's different from tap
| date = 24 June 2009
| work = Dance Spirit
| publisher = Dance Media
| url = http://www.dancespirit.com/how-to/tap/Clogging_How_its_different_from_tap/
| access-date = 20 February 2016
| ref = CITEREFClogging2009
}}
- {{Citation
| last = Hashaw
| first = Tim
| date = 2007
| title = Children of Perdition: Melungeons and the struggle of mixed America
| publisher = Mercer University Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eJL8ZfV7fosC&q=bockorau&pg=PA42
| isbn = 978-0-88146-013-1
}}
- {{Citation
| editor-last1 = Spalding
| editor-first1 = Susan Eike
| editor-last2 = Woodside
| editor-first2 = Jane Harris
| year = 1995
| title = Communities in Motion: dance, community, and tradition in America's Southeast and beyond
| place = Westport, Connecticut, US
| publisher = Greenwood Press
}}
- Frank X. Bonner (1983) Clogging and the Southern Appalachian Square Dance, Creative Imprints of Marietta, Georgia, US
{{Commons category|Clogging}}
{{African-American dance}}
{{Appalachian people}}
{{Authority control}}