Where was I last Saturday night? At home, as ordered by the State of Ohio. What was I doing? Dancing with more than 1300 clogging friends at the first Worldwide Clogging Fun Dance!
Clogging calamity: Where's the speaker, Evie?
New wallpaper and...a clogging stage? Homescapes game holds a fun surprise.
Regarding phone games, I haven’t progressed beyond Words with Friends. Shout out to high school classmate Aaron, my toughest opponent! However, a screenshot from Fancy Free Clogger Dustin expanded my gaming repertoire at least temporarily to include Homescapes.
Why? The game contains a surprise clogging reference!
Let the clogging choreo flow!
Who does the choreography for your clogging team? For Fancy Free Cloggers, it varies. We use routines learned at workshops (often with minor tweaks, such as cutting the music). We also have routines choreographed by a single team member. However, the dances we seem to love best are those we create as a team.
Parade at night? Let there be light!
Christmas season calls for parades. Night parades call for lights. HomeTown HoliDazzle in Wilmington, Ohio combines all of this and more!
Fancy Free Cloggers once again snagged a spot in the parade lineup. This event is perfect to get FFC in the mood for our upcoming performances in the Murphy Theatre's Cartoon Christmas!
Christmas card for cloggers - print & color!
Dance studio games: treasure hunt
Need a party game for an event at the clogging studio? Try a treasure hunt! I had so much fun creating an outdoor treasure hunt for Clog Camp at Fancy Free Studio last weekend, I decided to write clues for an indoor dance studio treasure hunt. We have unique decor at FFC Studio (Bean Chicken, I'm lookin' at you!), but these clues focus on items visible at dance classes everywhere. Customize as needed to fit your location.
Cloggerella: A bedtime story for cloggers
There once lived a girl who truly loved clogging. Her name was Ella, but no one called her anything but Cloggerella. She needed dancing as the bright spot in her life. After her dance instructor mother passed away, Cloggerella's father in his grief and loneliness married a clogging teacher from the failed studio one town over.
The stepmother wasted no time in taking over the household dance studio and making Cloggerella's life miserable.
Grace is NOT my middle name...
While Grace is a lovely name, my mama was wise enough NOT to bestow it upon this clumsy clogger...
At Melissa Pack's teach of "Old Time Pickin' " (advanced traditional with buck), I managed to slice my lower shin with a heel tap. Close examination of the cue sheet reveals no such move in the choreography.
Good sportsmanship is alive and well in the clogging world!
The dressing room of a clogging competition is a crowded, hectic place. Costume pieces flung about during quick changes, bobby pins and safety pins everywhere, dancers making sure they have every piece of the next costume on, a crowd around the mirror, and the smell of hairspray in the air...
The dressing room is also a place to make new friends, and frequently, to witness acts of good sportsmanship.
This clogger means business!
Sessilie Tackett, clogger with Rhythmic Alliance, means business both on and off the dance floor! This award-winning dancer is the creator of Custom Designs By Sessilie, providing unique apparel options for cloggers.
I met Sessilie a couple years ago at the Stompin' Grounds (Maggie Valley, NC), where she was tearing up the competition during Shindig in the Valley. It has been a delight to watch her business grow (Thank you, social media!).
Time to Disco: Smoky Mountain Encore!
Smoky Mountain Encore Clogging Workshop is worth the drive from Ohio to Tennessee! Or the flight from Florida, or the drive/flight from Canada!
Not only do you get the chance to enjoy Gatlinburg, you have up to ten classes to choose from at any given time during the workshop!
Naomi Fleetwood-Pyle taught an intermediate-level routine to Carrie Underwood's "Dirty Laundry." If you did not take this class, pull out your syllabus NOW and read part C of Naomi's cue sheet!
Happy Double Double Day! It's time for cloggers to have a holiday!
New year, new clogging goals!
Happy new year, cloggers! While it is appropriate to take stock of where you are and where you want to be all year long, the new year just begs for a little self-reflection. When my clogging team returned to classes on Tuesday after a holiday break, many teammates were willing to share their clogging goals for 2017. (Thanks!)
If you are still determining goals for the new year, you may find some inspiration here!
Twelve days of clogging!
Christmas party game for cloggers! Silly ad-libs!
Today's post is inspired by the latest issue of Double Toe Times, the clogging magazine. (If you don't already subscribe, click HERE to fix that.) The article on pages 18-22 suggests a whole list of clogging party games and activities, including clogging ad-lib word games.
Word games AND clogging?! I am IN!!! Here are a few just in time for everybody's clogging team parties! Print these out and create a unique story with your fellow dancers!
For those of you who aren't familiar, the game leader asks one person (or the group as a whole) for words to fill in the blanks in a story. The story, which usually makes no sense, is then read aloud. The reader is encouraged to be as dramatic as he/she wishes!
1. You'll Never Dance In This Town Again
We thought it would be a great holiday experience. The mayor asked us to clog at __________(local Christmas event) and we __________(verb ending in -ed) at the chance!
Adventures in clogging: lighted Christmas parade!
The holiday season is in full swing, which means plenty of performance opportunities for cloggers! The latest for Fancy Free Cloggers was the Hometown Holidazzle lighted parade in Wilmington, Ohio!
First, the name "Hometown Holidazzle" is adorable and fun to say! Second, the town goes all out for this event!
I wish I had a photo of the parade grandstand, but couldn't get one since I was IN the parade! It was shining and flashing like Vegas! Way to go, Wilmington!
Five clogging steps that feel WRONG on the right foot.
Why is it that certain clogging steps NEVER start on the right foot? It isn't a matter of difficulty; advanced cloggers are expected to perform pullbacks bilaterally, but most will hesitate when asked to perform these easier steps on the opposite foot!
Next dance class, challenge your teammates to give these steps a try on the right: