Clogging shows

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Mothman Festival: where monsters and cloggers make friends.

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Fancy Free Cloggers paid a visit to our West Virginia “sister team” to perform at the 2019 Mothman Festival. Many thanks to Riverside Cloggers for inviting us to share this fun show with you!

Paid parking at nearby Krodel Park approached capacity by midmorning Saturday. Word is out about this cool festival! Don’t bother waiting in the shuttle line if you can walk the distance to Main Street; enjoy this mural, chuckle at the name “Piggly Wiggly” as you stroll past the grocery store, and try to cross the street with folks pushing strollers. Traffic will stop for a stroller. For me, not so much.

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Clogging calamity: Where's the speaker, Evie?

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Clogging shoes. Check! Team tee shirt. Check! Water bottle. Check! Speaker. Uh, oh.

Things got hectic at Fancy Free Cloggers’ nursing home performance on Memorial Day, but our IT crew “made it work” well enough to make Tim Gunn proud.

The Murphy marquee is a grand place to be!

The Murphy Theatre in Wilmington, Ohio is an absolute gem! My clogging team was honored to take part in the venue's 100th birthday celebration, which lasted an entire week. 

Renovation and restoration projects have been underway and are still ongoing to restore this theatre to its original glory. The progress made since we danced in the Christmas show is impressive!

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Brave the heat and stay on beat at the county fair.

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Cloggers and county fairs just go together! Somewhere between the pretty baby contests, the livestock exhibits, the booths of everything sugary and fried, we find a spot to plug in a sound system and dance. Why does it always have to be so HOT?!

Teams everywhere have been posting pictures and videos from their own fair shows. Y'all look great!

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Oinky gets a taste of showbiz!

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Unbeknownst to the audience, the props we use on stage sometimes have a life all their own! As Fancy Free Cloggers made final adjustments to our routine for the Hee Haw show at Smoky Mountain Encore, the stuffed toy pig carried by one of my teammates was deemed too small to be visually effective. Our team seamstress has a pattern and can make one for future shows (we plan on using this dance throughout the year), but she didn't have time to create a custom pig before the trip to Tennessee...

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Clog. Search for monsters. Typical weekend, right?

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Fancy Free Cloggers made our annual trek to West Virginia to perform with the Riverside Cloggers and enjoy the kookiness and spookiness that is the Mothman Festival. As usual, the town of Point Pleasant did not disappoint!

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Good clogging jeans?

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With summer weather comes outdoor festival season for cloggers. Commence happy dance! Many teams, Fancy Free Cloggers included, opt for denim and team tee shirts for such shows.

While it may not be as flashy as other costumes, this outfit comes with distinct advantages: 

1. No pantyhose!

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Time to Disco: Smoky Mountain Encore!

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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! 

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Smoky Mountain Encore Clogging Workshop: disco and clogging and bears, oh my!

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If the combination of disco costumes, clogging, and the Smoky Mountains is wrong, I don't wanna be right! I'm totally cool with leaving out the bear, though! 

Most of my team made the drive from Ohio to Tennessee on Thursday. 'Twas a fantastic day for a drive! (Yep, JT brought sexy back; I'm bringing the word 'twas back.) 

Driving to Gatlinburg was actually my first excursion out of the house since surgery last week! My teen passenger was willing to take the wheel for a while if I needed a rest, but that wasn't necessary.  

Clogger's Dictionary: Ripple (noun)

Today's vocabulary word is an element seen in many clogging routines: the ripple! Synonyms are not frequently used in this context, but could include a wave or a progressive movement.

Here's my official definition:

Ripple (noun): A movement performed by different dancers at different times to add visual and/or auditory interest to a routine. 

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Favorite quirky place to clog: Mothman Festival!

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While I enjoy clogging at fall festivals in general, I have a special love of the quirky ones. The kind where people watching is every bit as fun as the sanctioned events. Mothman Festival in West Virginia tops my list! 

This show isn't even my team's gig; Riverside Cloggers (our "sister team") hails from Point Pleasant, and they always invite Fancy Free Cloggers to join one of their performances. Please keep inviting us!

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All That! and a trip to the beach.

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Myrtle Beach, SC. Friday, July 15, 2016. Section B, Row 4, Seat 13. My vacation became way more awesome with a ticket to see All That! at the Carolina Opry!

I saw All That! perform in their "home" theater once before -  the last time Dieter held his Beach Jam competition - but the audience was full of cloggers. What would it be like on a "normal" summer night?

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Perks and perils of clogging to live music.

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For most of us, the typical clogging performance includes bringing music of our own. Predictable music. Exactly as practiced. Always sounds the same (with the exception of music technology glitches).

Sometimes, cloggers get to perform with live music instead! This brings a special level of fun and challenge!

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Fourth of July clogging shows bring us together!

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Bonus of clogging at a local event over a holiday weekend: Former team members are likely to be home visiting and you get to catch up! With a (very) little coaxing, you can even get them on the dance floor! Yep, a person can trade clogging for other hobbies or life pursuits, but those double toes are still there...

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Clogger's Dictionary: Nursing home show (noun)

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Today's clogging vocabulary lesson involves a type of performance almost every team does: the nursing home show.

Get ready to move tables and clear some space in the facility dining room!

Here's my formal definition:

Nursing home show (noun): A clogging performance where the dancers bring entertainment to an audience who may not be able to get out to attend other events. Synonyms include retirement home show, rest home show, etc.

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How do cloggers refill the tank? Five tips...

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We’ve all been there: Practice is not even close to over. There are still 5 more songs to go in the show. Sweat drips down your forehead into your eyeballs. You are drained.

How does a clogger keep up the energy and get it done?