Brandon Kelly
Appalachian Festival
ENGL 336
Fall 2010
“Step-heel-step, Step-heel-step,” being chanted by two of the dance performers as I arrived at the event. The main show host, by the name of, “Rock”, has been flat footing also known as “clogging” for the last thirty to forty years. The other performer has been dancing for about fifteen to twenty years. Flat footing is a type of dance where the feet are positioned close to the ground. On the other hand, clogging is referred to when your foot is lifted off the ground. Most viewers have mistaken these forms of dancing for tap dancing. After the performance I was able to learn more about Rock and his affection on dancing. He explained that while growing up he was taught square dancing and that he never became interested in flat footing until he was in his early twenties. Placing his hand on my shoulder Rock says, “The key to dancing is to be a part of the band, and to be the drummer”, which simply means to feel the music within your feet and become one with it. As they were performing I understood that the dancer has to interpret the music with their feet as the female performer did the “mashed potato” dance from many years ago.
Throughout the show audience members were invited onto the stage if they wanted to participate in the dance. I joined them as well. We all did a dance where the participants stood on one foot and placed the other leg behind them spinning it around in circles. The audience shouted and cheered us on as we put on a show for by standers. The dance was confusing at first, but was quickly attained by the “first timers”. Laughing loudly, an older woman from the audience shouted “Danget if I wasn’t so lazy I’d be up there with you guys, but I’m a couch potato”. The two band players in the background were playing banjos throughout the performance. They played a major role in the flat footing performance. At the end of the performance the female performer said to the audience “people think it’s something magic, but it’s not,” encouraging spectators to join the next performance.
Rock shared with me that performers should do what he calls a “flash” for the audience. A flash simply gets and keeps the audiences’ attention by mixing different types of dance moves within the performance that way the audience is not watching repetitive movement. It gets the audiences’ appeal and is a helpful tactic. Clogging is a folk dance and the only thing one can do wrong is to be off beat. I learned some vocabulary while I there as well. For example, I picked up on the differences between a “three sound beat”, along with a “walking step”, and a “four sound beat”. Between the three dance styles, the only one that happens to be extremely different is the walking step considering you have to add heel movement in the dance.
Overall the Appalachian Festival was a great experience. I visited a number of events, but the performance by the dancers intrigued me the most. They shared a lot of information, which helped me to understand the dance easier. I think one of main reasons I liked this event more than the others is because they interacted with the audience. Getting the audience involved with the activity helped them to embrace and build a stronger connection with the performance.
Appalachian Festival
ENGL 336
Fall 2010
“Step-heel-step, Step-heel-step,” being chanted by two of the dance performers as I arrived at the event. The main show host, by the name of, “Rock”, has been flat footing also known as “clogging” for the last thirty to forty years. The other performer has been dancing for about fifteen to twenty years. Flat footing is a type of dance where the feet are positioned close to the ground. On the other hand, clogging is referred to when your foot is lifted off the ground. Most viewers have mistaken these forms of dancing for tap dancing. After the performance I was able to learn more about Rock and his affection on dancing. He explained that while growing up he was taught square dancing and that he never became interested in flat footing until he was in his early twenties. Placing his hand on my shoulder Rock says, “The key to dancing is to be a part of the band, and to be the drummer”, which simply means to feel the music within your feet and become one with it. As they were performing I understood that the dancer has to interpret the music with their feet as the female performer did the “mashed potato” dance from many years ago.
Throughout the show audience members were invited onto the stage if they wanted to participate in the dance. I joined them as well. We all did a dance where the participants stood on one foot and placed the other leg behind them spinning it around in circles. The audience shouted and cheered us on as we put on a show for by standers. The dance was confusing at first, but was quickly attained by the “first timers”. Laughing loudly, an older woman from the audience shouted “Danget if I wasn’t so lazy I’d be up there with you guys, but I’m a couch potato”. The two band players in the background were playing banjos throughout the performance. They played a major role in the flat footing performance. At the end of the performance the female performer said to the audience “people think it’s something magic, but it’s not,” encouraging spectators to join the next performance.
Rock shared with me that performers should do what he calls a “flash” for the audience. A flash simply gets and keeps the audiences’ attention by mixing different types of dance moves within the performance that way the audience is not watching repetitive movement. It gets the audiences’ appeal and is a helpful tactic. Clogging is a folk dance and the only thing one can do wrong is to be off beat. I learned some vocabulary while I there as well. For example, I picked up on the differences between a “three sound beat”, along with a “walking step”, and a “four sound beat”. Between the three dance styles, the only one that happens to be extremely different is the walking step considering you have to add heel movement in the dance.
Overall the Appalachian Festival was a great experience. I visited a number of events, but the performance by the dancers intrigued me the most. They shared a lot of information, which helped me to understand the dance easier. I think one of main reasons I liked this event more than the others is because they interacted with the audience. Getting the audience involved with the activity helped them to embrace and build a stronger connection with the performance.
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