Traditional Dance - Appalachian Clogging (Stepping)

A how-to-do-it tutorial by Rosie Davis

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Transferring weight

Knowing where your weight is can take time to master, but as clogging is elaborated walking the ON beats are mostly weight bearing, once you learn to trust your instinct it gets to feel straight forward.

Many beginners find weight transference a problem, remember one foot then the next. Skipping is a good exercise for this, make a clean step onto the working foot on the ON beat and lift the other foot well clear of the ground, make a real HOP
on the working foot on the OFF
beat before making the next step, your brain gets the message as to where your weight is and you start to let your body go with the music. Skipping is not a step used in Appalachian Clogging but is a means to an end and is the basis of the Two Beat Walking Step the basic step used in "Flatfooting". Try mixing up skipping and walking the "tick
tock" rhythm, walking on the ON beat -tock     tock    tock    tock tick
tock tick
tock tick
tock tick
tock etc.

Walking/skipping in time to the music

This sounds simple and is a good warm up, it gives time to get into a groove, relax and listen to what the tune does in the gaps in-between steps and most important an opportunity to listen and focus on the music. Try alternating between walking and skipping as described above.

Two Beat Walking Step

Once you have the skipping steady and with the music, start to slide backwards instead of hopping, this will feel like being on a Cakewalk machine at the fairground, keep the weight back slightly and the legs low. Step forward on the ON beat, slide backward on the OFF
beat - like stamping on an imaginary ant and squishing it! When you have mastered this, try keeping the leg low and let it swing forward rather than letting it cycle through.

1
tock
step
L
&
tick slide
L
2
tock
step

R
&
tick slide
R
3
tock step
L
&
tick
slide
L
4
tock
step
R
&
tick slide
R
5
tock step
L
&
tick slide
L
6
tock step
R
&
tick slide
R
7 tock step
L
&
tick slide
L
8
tock
step

R
&
tick slide
R
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