The national dance list/fun dance challenge continues at Fancy Free Studios. Evie requested “Betty’s Bein’ Bad” as our next routine to tackle because she danced it years ago and loved it.
I never learned this dance previously but set to work preparing it for Tuesday night clogging class. My cue sheet states the routine was choreographed “before 1986.” The song was released in 1985 by Sawyer Brown, so this all checks out. Do yourself a favor and watch Sawyer’s video for this tune, if only to relive the colorful joy of 1980s clothing.
Guess what DIDN’T check out? Evie’s bewildered expression when I arrived at FFC Studio with copies of the cue sheet. “I had no idea this was choreographed by Scotty Bilz,” is perhaps not a direct quote, but it comes close.
Illness and cold weather kept several of our regulars away from dance this particular evening, but those who attended had a lovely night of clogging. We got through Part A and Part B of “Betty” during the time allotted for new material. (Great job, cloggers!)
When we danced it to music, I kept going to show the class what Part C looks like. Evie asked, “When does this part come in?” and started doing a move that is NOT in this routine.
We finally figured out the version Evie knew and loved from years past is NOT the routine on the CLOG National Dance List. Oops!
On the plus side, our dancers (myself and Evie included) LOVE Scotty’s routine! BONUS: Apparently there’s another great version floating around in the ether. If we discover who choreographed Evie’s beloved dance from the past, I will update this blog post with the info.
If YOU want to learn this routine and others, visit the CLOG National Dance List to find cue sheets and links to videos. In this case, I found a cleaner copy of the cue sheet at Lois Elling’s website. Be advised, however, there are minor variations in the cue sheets available on these websites, most noticeable during the first step of Part B.
If you are looking for a breakdown of the routine plus a demonstration with music, I found this video featuring Ginny Bartes to be especially helpful:
I look forward to teaching Part C with the bouncy “quick slip” step within the next class or two. Need to find or create a shorter version of the music to use for demos, but that won’t be a big deal until the dancers learn all the sections. (Please email me if your team has a good cut version to share!)
Thank you to Evie for carrying on with the dance, even though I did not bring the version you expected! Thank you to all the folks who create instructional videos and post cue sheets for clogging steps and routines!
Maybe I’ll get to try this routine at the Cabin Fever Workshop fun dance on February 2nd in Mansfield, OH. Hoping to see some of you there even if we don’t do this particular dance!
Good “cloggy” songs can inspire many choreographers to create routines for the music. Have YOU experienced a mistaken identity situation, where you thought everyone was talking about the same routine, but that turned out to be incorrect?