Clog dancing
Welsh clog dancing mainly originates from various slate mines where workers would compete against each other during work breaks.
[1] Northern English traditional clog dancing originates from Lancashire, Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumberland and the Lake District.
Welsh and English clogs, with leather uppers and a sole cut from alder or sycamore were the regular, everyday footwear for working people all over Britain until the 1920s.
English clogs with an iron or rubber protective layer on the sole are also worn for North West morris.
The famous comedian Charlie Chaplin started his career in music halls as a clog dancer.
Welsh Clog dancing tradition is unbroken and continues to exist in many festivals in Wales, mainly the National "Eisteddfodau".
Workers would attempt to out-perform each other during work breaks by performing more extravagant and striking "steps" and "tricks" to impress their co-workers.
Competitions since the 1960s have extended to dancing duets and trios which meant that groups could recreate on stage the true tradition where one dancer was trying to out-dance the other.
Clog dancers today wear a mixture of costumes inspired by the Victorian and Edwardian clothing of the northern workers.
In Lancashire and Northumbria some female clog dancers have specially made costumes, often with a waistcoat or bodice which is worn with a shawl, a long skirt, and an apron typically embroidered with floral patterns.
Pat Tracey (1959) described the everyday clothing worn by clog dancers performing in streets in the early 20th century;"For their performance the dancers usually wore their normal working clothes – brown fustian trousers, striped shirt with red muffler knotted round the neck, navy blue jacket and soft cap.
Dancing traditions still exist in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Derbyshire and other parts of England.
[22] Wooden shoes are worn as an essential part of the traditional costume for Dutch clogging, or Klompendanskunst.
[citation needed] American clogging is associated with the predecessor to bluegrass—"old-time" music, which is based on fiddle tunes from the British Isles.
Clogging developed from aspects of English, Welsh, German, and Cherokee step dances, as well as African rhythms and movement.
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.
[24] Traditional Appalachian clogging is characterised by loose, often bent knees and a "drag-slide" motion of the foot across the floor, and is usually performed to old-time music.
