Molly Martin and the Kick & Click Cloggers will host a state-wide clogging workshop this Saturday at Luckenbach. The public is invited to come and watch. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
The public is invited to watch the clogging workshop this Saturday at the Luckenbach Dance Hall from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call Molly Martin at 830-257-4401. The website www.texas-clogging.com lists all clogging clubs in Texas.
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Kicking & Clicking
by Phil Houseal
Jan 14, 2009
Another day, another dance.
This weekend for the first time, the Luckenbach dance hall will be alive with the sounds of clicks and clogs.
That would be the Kick & Click Cloggers hosting a statewide clog dance workshop this Saturday at the famous hill country town with the historic dance hall.
According to Molly Martin, Dance Director of the Kick & Click Cloggers, clogging is an original American art form. As did the banjo and the dulcimer, clogging started in Appalachia. It began as an amalgam of folk dances brought over by Irish, English, German, and Scottish immigrants.
"Where two or more are gathered, of course the music came out," Martin said. Folks would do jigs from their native land. They swapped and stole steps, creating new combinations. When the residents moved down out of the mountains and taught their dances, people gave names to those steps, and the choreography of clogging evolved.
As with mountain fiddle tunes and recipes, the steps retain colorful names. Beginners start with the Rocking Chair, move on to the High Horse, the Pothole, and the Shave & A Haircut, and advance to the Mountain Goat and the Outhouse (double step-rock, step-rock out, step-rock in, slide). Double metal taps on the soles of their shoes jingle out a counterpoint to the floor-shaking stomps and stamps.
Like square dance and line dance, clogging draws its aficionados together into clubs. The Kick & Click Cloggers, which formed in Fredericksburg in 1998 and now is based in Kerrville, boasts about a dozen regular members.
"We are mostly older, but we don't have to be," Martin said. "Clogging offers something for all ages."
That would be?
Martin ticks off a list. "It's a dance you can do without a partner, it is a great traditional dance, but lends itself to individual expression, it is good aerobic exercise - you'll break a sweat, and you always meet nice people from all over."
Let's be honest here. Are there some folks who are not candidates for clogging?
Martin explained that the word "clog" is derived from a Gaelic word for "clock." "You have to be able to keep time!" she said. "If you can't count, you can't dance. You also need strong ankles, knees, and hips."
So I assumed folks using walkers need not apply.
"Actually," Martin told me, "a group of cloggers at the national competition dressed up as old grannies and performed a routine using walkers. It was the cutest thing."
Martin expects about 100 dancers at the clinic. The public is welcome to come and watch on Saturday. Martin explained that every hour is a new class, and by the end of the hour the dancers are ready to perform what they just learned.
"When cloggers get together, they have a fun time. It's fun to watch. You'll tap your feet and clap your hands."
You might even find yourself out on the floor doing the Mountain Goat.