In this final installment of the Florida Clogging Festival story, we discuss the adventures of the Fancy Free Cloggers at the fair and the competition itself! Previous posts discuss our trip from Ohio to Florida for the event and my experience attending the workshop.
The Florida Clogging Festival took place at Osceola Heritage Park.
Camron Thompson's professional photos of the Florida Clogging Festival are all over Facebook this week! He managed to beautifully capture the moods and moments of teams and individual dancers throughout the competition day.
Let's back it up to the morning and talk about the workshop that took place before competition!
Happy days (and clogging workshops) are here again! Once the flurry of activities to begin a new year settles down, clogging workshops are a welcome excuse to get out and dance!
My first workshop for 2017 was Cabin Fever, hosted by the Buckeye Country Cloggers! This workshop relocated a short distance to Mansfield, OH for a bit more space after packing the school gym in Bellville, OH last year. Not sure where it will be next year after filling this new venue, too!
Everybody is familiar with today's vocabulary term: team spirit! It's not all hootin' and hollerin' and wearing a funny hat. Some aspects of team spirit require more work than that.
A basic definition:
Team spirit (noun): Feelings of cooperation, respect, and/or friendship which allow group members to work together for the greater good of the team as opposed to the good of any individual member. Group members who possess a great deal of team spirit are known as team players, and these folks are critical to the success of a clogging team. Indirect team members, such as fans and family, can also have team spirit.
Does your clogging team do awards? Fancy Free Cloggers had our Christmas party/awards banquet this week! The banquet is a lovely time to look back on the year and appreciate the progress and contributions of each team member.
Every Fancy Free Clogger receives a medal and is recognized for something special he/she brought to the team during the previous year. We also give special awards which vary from year to year, depending on the circumstances. Everyone, however, waits anxiously to see who will win the two highest honors: the Larry Pummel Award and Clogger of the Year!
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!
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?
This is probably the toughest entry Clogger's Dictionary has tackled to date: clogging director. Common synonyms include clogging teacher, clogging instructor, clogging coach, etc. All of these terms are woefully inadequate as a job description, but they do at least fit on the back of a tee shirt...
Not every suggestion for a clogging routine is a great one. Sometimes, an idea that shows promise is just not right, due to a lack of time or other resources. Other times, only one team member has a vision for a particular plan, so it quietly dies.
The next time that happens, hear the clogger out! Otherwise, you could miss an amazing adventure.
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...
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.
One of my teammates celebrated her 16th birthday at clogging class this week. It was neither a belated nor an early party; it was THE milestone day, and she chose to spend it dancing with us. It was a privilege to share this special time with Michaela, although she may have regretted her choice once we started singing Happy Birthday! (Yep, most of us should stick to dancing only.)
It's amazing how those who stand beside you in clogging class also stand beside you in life.
