Clogging is described as “percussive dancing,” which uses rhythmic taps of both the heel and toe of the foot alongside stomps, jumps, and slides.  

History 

Israel Zangwell, an author and playwright of the early 20th century, coined the term “melting pot” for referencing the way the United States absorbed immigrants. With people of different backgrounds and traditions living shoulder to shoulder with each other, it’s easy for practices to be borrowed, incorporated, and changed. Clogging is the ever-changing product of a merger of dance styles from several different cultures. 

Clogging is a uniquely American art form that combines influences of Irish jigs, English step dance, French cotillions, African rhythms, and Cherokee stomp dances. Some researchers trace the earliest clogging to dances performed in actual wooden clogs. Today’s clogging grows from a tradition that also fostered jazz and tap. 

What most people refer to as clogging today is a variation called precision clogging. In the beginning, it was very individualized. “A dancer could do anything they wanted with their feet as long as they kept time with the music,” said Jeff Atkins, who works with Asheville’s Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, in an interview on YouTube. Traditional clogging looked a lot like square dancing.  

Flat-footing is a precursor to clogging that looks similar in some respects but when it is being performed has the foot raising up and coming straight back down. It is most often performed in leather-soled boots or shoes. Flat-footing is a solo dance.  

Buck Dancing uses more toe-focused steps and can be a little more “stompy” than flat-footing. 

Also at the table are Mountain Smooth and Square Dancing, which both play a part in the evolution of clogging.  

When Did Clogging Become Clogging? 

According to an article from PBS Learning Media, the dance moves we think of as clogging today didn’t bear that name until 1939. The Soco Gap Dancers, a group based in Maggie Valley, went to the White House to perform for the King and Queen of England. The Queen said their performance reminded her of a dance performed in England by dancers wearing heavy wooden shoes. Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Sam Queen, who are both instrumental in the preservation of clogging, were a part of the group.  

About 10 years earlier, in 1928, Lunceford was concerned that traditional music and dancing in the Appalachian Mountains would be lost, so he established what is today the longest-running folk festival in the United States – the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Part of the festival was a dance competition pitting local dance groups against each other.  

Phil Jamison, a professor at Warren Wilson College, was quoted in an online article saying, “Although Lunsford’s original intent had been to promote and preserve the mountain square dances by putting teams of dancers on stage in competition, he inadvertently changed the tradition and created a new one.” His competition pushed the teams to incorporate new steps and moves, which ultimately led to a new clogging style. 

Clogging can be divided into roughly three styles – freestyle clogging, which is similar to square dancing with a caller and non-synchronized percussive moves; traditional precision clogging, which incorporates many of the square dance formations and couples moves and/or lines with synchronized footwork; and contemporary clogging, which uses many modern dance moves and also put a little more emphasis on the upbeat instead of the more traditional downbeat of the music. 

Another evolution was the addition of taps on shoes. As music became amplified in the 1950s, taps were added to showcase the fancy footwork. 

Photo above right: Soco Gap Square Dance Team dancing at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina. United States Asheville North Carolina, None. [Between 1938 and 1950] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2007660193/. Lomax Collection. 

Loved Locally, Nationally, and Internationally 

Many dance schools and clogging teams dotted the North Carolina Mountains in the mid-20th century. David Alexander was the leader of one of the top clogging teams in North Carolina – the Grandfather Mountain Cloggers.  

“I was truly blessed to do things that a little boy from a one-redlight town should never have the opportunity to do. My mom and dad were very progressive, and my dad worked four full-time jobs to help pay for costumes, lessons,” said David in a recent interview. “My mom was the business manager and did hair and makeup for the cloggers, and my dad did light and sound for the team.”  

Over the course of many years, David operated eight clogging schools and he and his students performed at the White House (for Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan), took part in the North Carolina governor’s inauguration parades, and danced as part of the World’s Largest Indoor Country Music Festival at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit (1978).  

The Grandfather Mountain Cloggers were undefeated state champions for six years in the 1970s/80s. We were the only team to be state, national, and world champions in smooth square dancing and clogging in the same year. Goodson-Todman Productions called with an invitation to be on the show To Tell the Truth because this honor had never been achieved before. 

“I would have 600 people audition for one spot on the team,” said David. It was a highly competitive time, and the cloggers knew that they would need to work hard, but their hard work would pay off.  

Charles Kuralt, a journalist and later travel journalist for CBS, featured the Grandfather Mountain Cloggers in his On the Road with Charles Kuralt news feature. (If you'd like to watch the feature, which is about a clogger from the NC School for the Deaf, it's the first segment HERE.) And the cloggers performed as opening acts for Kenny Rogers, the Oak Ridge Boys, and Bob Hope, to name a few, and also appeared on Hee Haw and the Grand Ol’ Opry.  

David and his troupe also engaged in cultural diplomacy, being called on to represent the Great State of North Carolina at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, the United States at the International Folk Festival in Sidmouth, England in 1973, and to perform for Soviet diplomats and the U.S.S.R. Track and Field Team in Raleigh in 1974. 

Many of his students and those he clogged with and competed against have gone on to share North Carolina’s State Folk Dance across the nation and the world. 

Tony Isenhour, who clogged with the Daniel Boone Cloggers, another team based in the North Carolina High Country, shared, “To say God had blessed me is an understatement, and without clogging I would’ve never gotten to go and see as much as I did. It opened so many doors for me. It will always be in my heart.” Tony clogged at the Grand Ol’ Opry, at Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee, and went on tour with the USO to seven cities in Germany and two in Switzerland before ending up in Paris. 

The High Country Cloggers just returned from France, where they performed at the 80th D-Day Celebration. The group also represented North Carolina in President Biden’s Virtual Inauguration Parade. Many of this group’s routines are to modern country or popular music. 

As mentioned before, clogging has changed and evolved over the years, but as Michelle Curry shared, "I coached a clogging team for a few years at Whitnel Elementary School and we used modern bluegrass or country tunes. I had more of a line dance approach instead of couples. As a kid, we wore swooshy skirts, but my students wore jeans and matching t-shirts. All fun, all good, I think it’s all great.” With a follow-up about moving away from the art form’s roots, she countered, “No. When we were clogging in the ‘70s, there were complaints that we weren’t ‘flat footing.’ By adapting to the present, it’s keeping the dance alive.” 

Photo above left: Grandfather Mountain Cloggers and Charles Kuralt, in the Hugh Morton Photographs and Films, Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.

See It for Yourself 

This list includes places to enjoy both music and dance. Venues like fiddlers’ conventions, state fairs, and sanctioned competitions have strict rules to level the field for groups that are competing in different categories. Traditional clogging teams must meet different criteria than contemporary precision teams. David said in his interview, "It's important to keep the traditional forms of clogging and mountain dance alive. We have to remember our roots, where we came from, to know where we are going."

Shindig on the Green – July 13, 20, 27, August 10, 17, 24, 2024, at the Pack Square Park in Downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The performances begin along about sundown (7 p.m.) and include traditional Americana music and big circle, smooth, and clog dances. You can learn more HERE. 

Ashe County Bluegrass & Old-Time Fiddlers Convention – July 26-27, 2024 – Dance competition is on Saturday before the band competition. Learn more HERE.  

Mountain Dance & Folk Festival – August 1-3, 2024, at the Kittredge Theatre at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. This is the longest-running gathering of its kind in the country and plays a big part in keeping many of the Southern Appalachian Mountain traditions – like clogging – alive. Get tickets and find out more HERE.   

Old Fiddlers’ Convention – August 10, 2024, at Felts Park in Galax, Virginia. The flat-foot dance competition starts at noon. Learn more HERE.  

NC Mountain State Fair Clogging Championship – September 6-7, 2024, at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, Fletcher. You can learn more by following this LINK.  

Mountain Home Music Anniversary Celebration - September 7, 2024, at the Apple Barn on Highway 194, Valle Crucis. The anniversary celebration will include music, storytelling, and dancing. More information will follow on this Facebook event or you can visit their website HERE to learn more. 

Mars Hill Clogging Classic – September 21, 2024, on the campus of Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The host group of this competition is the university’s own Bailey Mountain Cloggers. This high-energy group has an impressive resume and competes in both traditional and contemporary clogging. They sometimes perform at the Shindig on the Green and/or the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. 

Mountain Heritage Day – September 28, 2024, on Western Carolina University’s Main Campus in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The festival includes crafts, Cherokee games, music, and more. Learn more HERE.  

Clogging Champions of America Showdown of Champions – November 15, 2024, at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium & Coliseum in Knoxville, TN. The competition starts at 7 a.m. Follow this LINK to learn more. 

Appalachian State University Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention – February 2025 at the Plemmons Student Union, Boone, NC. Free and open to the public. Get the date and more information HERE. Watch the Flat-Footin' competition from a prior year at this LINK. 

Photo above right: The Cole Mountain Cloggers perform at Mountain Heritage Day on the Western Carolina University Main Campus. Courtesy of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

Want to Try It Yourself? 

Mountain Street Dance – July 12, August 9, 2024, on Main Street in Downtown Waynesville, North Carolina. The music and fun starts at 6:30 p.m. and everyone is invited to join in. After the dance groups strut their stuff, they bring everyone into the street for a Paul Jones or other easy-to-do dance to get their feet moving. These square dances are called by Joe Sam Queen, the grandson of Sam Queen, who helped introduce the world to clogging. Joe Sam helped with the formation of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, which spans the mountains of North Carolina, and helps steward many links to the region’s past through craft, music, and culture. He also established the Smoky Mountain Heritage Festival in Lake Junaluska. 

The Stompin’ Ground Dance Hall is the self-proclaimed “Cloggin’ Capitol of the World!” On Saturday nights from April through October, folks can grab a seat to enjoy live music or head out to the dance floor to line dance, two-step, or show off their own moves. Several times each night, the dance floor is cleared so local dance groups can wow the crowd with their routines. If you go, remember to take cash because they don’t take credit cards. Learn more HERE.  

Photo above left: Clogging at The Stompin' Grounds in Maggie Valley courtesy of the Stompin' Grounds.