Clogging workshops

Cabin Fever 2019: You'd better (ripple x 3) put on your cloggin' shoes!

Buckeye Country Cloggers know how to host a fun workshop AND pack it up into cute prize baskets! (More on that later.) I suspect they possess some ability to control weather, as their workshop weekend ushered in a welcome relief from sub-zero temps.

OFFICIAL COMPLAINT: If they control the weather with dance, the cue sheet is noticeably absent from my syllabus. Bummer!

World of Clogging Workshop 2018, now with puffy eyes!

FUN FACT: World of Clogging instructors make fabulous babysitters. Jeff, Johanna, and Corinne should start Baby-sitter's Club: Clogger Edition. I would totally read that book series!

How do I know about their babysitting skills? From experience, unfortunately. 

Clogging Craziness Workshop may improve your sanity in unexpected ways.

I arrived at Clogging Craziness Workshop on April 14 with a bad attitude. My mind was filled with (non-clogging related) worry, and I was exhausted. Despite paying in advance, I almost stayed home.

BUT... my teammate was teaching a class, I want to support clogging events in my area, and I figured a day of dance might do me good.

SAA-LUTE! Smoky Mountain Encore 2018

Fancy Free was in excellent company among the almost 1000 cloggers from all over (including the Czech Republic) making a journey to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for this annual dance workshop. There's also a clogging competition associated with this event.

Get out and clog! Cabin Fever Workshop 2018

Cooped up cloggers in Ohio are ready to dance! Approximately 162 of us came out for the Cabin Fever workshop at Baku Grotto Hall in Mansfield. There was even a clogger from Canada in attendance! Fancy Free Cloggers brought three dancers to this event, one sporting a "spectator" armband due to a recent knee injury.

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.

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

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.  

Dancin' on Sunshine: Florida Clogging Festival 2017, PART TWO

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!

Dancin' on Sunshine: Florida Clogging Festival 2017, PART ONE

Fancy Free Cloggers became snowbirds for the weekend as we traveled to the Florida Clogging Festival! We admit to texting a few smug photos to friends and family - it was 22 degrees back home when we took the competition stage! As usual, the trip was an adventure, and we have many stories to share...

Cabin Fever Clogging Workshop 2017!

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!

Clogger's Dictionary: Step notation (noun)

How does a clogger explain a step without video or demonstration? Step notation! A common synonym is step breakdown.

Here's my official definition: 

Step notation (noun): A written method of describing clogging steps, so that a dancer can learn the step from scratch or recall the step later.