Running the sound system will never be my strength in clogging class. A full month as DJ Sheila Jo made this quite clear. No surprise to every teenager on my team. They teach me how to use a cell phone on a regular basis...
With my surgeon's okay, I laced up clogging shoes and returned to the dance floor this week.
How much do you love clogging? Enough to get a clogging tattoo? For Erica Haning, director of the Riverside Cloggers, the answer is YES!
This is Erica's second tattoo. Her brother previously worked in a tattoo shop, and he applied her first ink. She was so pleased with his work, she enlisted his services once again during a recent visit to his home in Florida.
It happened to me at a recent performance: broken tap! In this case, a teammate who serves as our shoe repair person replaced it before I went home. Look at that shiny, unscratched toe tap! (Thanks, Bob!)
Bob took it upon himself to learn the task years ago when his son broke a tap shortly before going onstage to compete. There was no shoe vendor at this particular competition.
Dirt and scuffs and stains, oh my! Between dance classes and shows, those clogging shoes quickly lose their shine and become less than show-worthy (Not sure that's really a word, but you know what it means.).
Lately, my shoe polish hasn't been cutting it, and I've started a search to find the best products to keep my clogging shoes looking good.
Here in Ohio, the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival in September is a big deal for cloggers. According to the current schedule, about a dozen clogging teams will be performing, along with some square dance groups. I love events of this sort and I'm glad organizer Adam King of the Yellow Rose Cloggers keeps my team on the invite list!
Last year had an unexpected takeaway: a new way to tie shoes!
If you have been clogging for years, do yourself a favor and go to beginner class!
I recently attended the very first beginner clogging class at a new performing arts/entertainment center (Congrats to a member of my clogging family on starting his new business!). It was fun to watch wide-eyed students work on finding the beat, learning the difference between a step/stamp/stomp, and cautiously attempting a (gasp!) double toe!
Class number three included considerably more happy noise: SHOES!
