clogging shoes

Here’s your delicious A-list of clogging shoes. Clogging is a truly American dance form that began in the Appalachian Mountains and now enjoys widespread popularity throughout the United States and around the world.

As the Appalachians were settled in the mid 1700’s by the Irish, Scottish, English and Dutch-Germans, the folk dances of each area met and began to combine in an impromptu foot-tapping style, the beginning of clog dancing as we know it today.

Three main characteristics are: boisterous, fast footwork with steel plates or taps on the shoes, a fairly rigid torso and an up and down knee motion that differs from most other dance forms. Although clogging is a dance form for individuals, it is often done as precision dancing by a group of cloggers. Dancers do the same steps at the same time.

clogging shoes

Clogging is continually in a state of change and improvisation such that today it is performed not only to country and bluegrass music but also to pop, jazz and rap.

The term “clogging”. It comes from the heavy shoes once worn by the working people of Great Britain. In Holland, Belgium and France, the dance was done with wooden shoes and today many people still believe that cloggers dance in wooden shoes. In the English steel mills in the mid 18th century, dancing in wooden clogs was a popular pastime. Competitions were held and they danced on cobblestones with the upper body motionless while the feet and legs did all the work. Heavy wooden clogs were a hindrance so a switch was made to leather shoes and, to compensate for the loss of sound, copper pennies were nailed to the toe and heel.
Different from step and tap. It is a flat foot shuffle unlike any other form of dance the body motion is down. This is different from step and tap as their motion is up and the dance is done on the balls of the feet with much jumping or hopping. Step and clog are similar in their appearance as they both have little upper body movement. However, clogging is generally more relaxed with no requirement for arms at all. Tap uses the entire body with specific arm and body movements. As for the shoes many old clogging shoes had no taps and some were made of leather and velvet, while the soles of the shoes were either wooden or hard leather.
Present day clogging. It is growing in popularity as witnessed by increased numbers attending workshops, conventions and competitions. Canada boasts over 70 clogging clubs and there’s an International Clogging Team in the United States made up of cloggers from 17 different countries. British Columbia has clog dance clubs in the Lower Mainland, the Vancouver Island cities of Victoria and Nanaimo, the Okanagan Valley cities of Penticton and Kelowna, the Shuswap community of Chase and the East Kootenay city of Cranbrook. Present day cloggers use an oxford shoe with a special extra loud double steel tap.

Where Can I Buy clogging shoes

Accompanied by rousing fiddle and bluegrass music, clogging was a means of personal expression in a land of newfound freedoms. Clog shoes are often black, white, or black and white. Some people feel that white shoes are better at attracting attention from an audience. Generally, clogging shoes have taps that are double taps or “jingle taps”. This makes it so there are four taps on each shoe, two on the toe, and two on the heel. One is securely fastened to the shoe, while the other is more loosely fastened and hits both the floor and the fastened tap while dancing or simply walking about. Cloggers with this type of tap can be heard on carpet as well as hard surface floors. Many old shoes had no taps and some were made of leather and velvet, while the soles of the shoes were either wooden or hard leather.

Buying shoes online can be risky, especially if you aren’t sure about the sizing. For this reason, there are many online shoe stores offer Free Exchange if the size is not right, make sure that you have look out more information about clogging before you buy your shoes. Check out Capezio shoes or Capezio dance shoes, Bloch shoes or Bloch dance shoes, Zumba shoes, Top 10 Zumba shoes, best shoes for Zumba, ballet shoes, pointe shoes, ballet en pointe shoes and ballroom dance shoes too.