Still recovering from Smoky Mountain Encore, I made a much shorter drive to Columbus, Ohio for a rare opportunity hosted by the Yellow Rose Cloggers.
One Day Only: Clog with Josh provided a rare opportunity to learn from Josh King, an acclaimed clogging instructor who originally hails from Texas but will soon be returning with his family to Melbourne, Australia.
Even if you don’t know his name, you probably know some of his choreography. Does “All Shook Up” ring a bell?
Despite the lighted entrance, Galbreath Pavilion feels like a secret. You walk past the Ohio Theatre, duck down a side alley, and descend a level below ground to find studio space. A password or secret knock would not seem out of place.
The first two hours of the workshop used a single classroom, with everyone taking classes from Josh. He taught a beginner/easy routine, followed by an intermediate dance.
No excuses for crooked lines of dancers; the floor is clearly marked!
Everyone did a fine job with the starter dances AND the straight lines.
Advice to experienced dancers: Don’t disregard the “easy” classes, there is still much to learn! A valuable takeaway for me was Josh’s explanation of the Joey step. He breaks it down a bit differently than I do, and his method will come in handy when mine isn’t clicking with a student.
For the latter three hours of workshop, dancers had a choice between two classes offered for each time slot; a class taught by Josh and one taught by a member of the host team, Yellow Rose Cloggers.
Without intending to do so, I chose an all King schedule, taking classes from Adam and Naomi when I wasn’t learning from Josh.
Andrew Perry taught an intermediate routine, which looked fun. I tried out Josh’s advanced teach instead, and lived to tell the tale. I’ll catch one of your classes at World Of Clogging next month, Andrew!
Kudos to Josh for teaching a class at every time slot (five classes back to back) and with such variety in levels of difficulty (beginner/easy, beginner plus, two intermediate routines, advanced).
An hour of fun dances finished off the day of clogging.
Speaking of fun dances, Josh appears on the CLOG National Dance List AND has appeared on the ACA (Australian Clogging Association) National Dance List. They do the dance list a bit differently Down Under, releasing a new version each year.
Thank you to Josh, Yellow Rose Cloggers, and my fellow participants for a fun day!
Special thanks to the dancers from A2J Crew who took Adam’s class (complete with “Adam jazz” ha-ha) with me!
Wishing Josh and his family safe travels back to Melbourne (which I learned is pronounce Mel “burn” not Mel “born”) later this year!
Which instructors are YOU hoping to learn from this year?