DUKE’S DANDY

Step Clog Dance Team

View Video -Skipton Clogfest 2010

Duke’s Dandy started in Retford, Nottinghamshire, in January 1981 after a group of ladies had seen Penny Smith demonstrate step clog dancing at a local ceilidh andwanted to have a go. Penny had learnt with Greenwood Clog in Nottingham and was happy to start a local team – three of the original members are still dancing today.

The first booking was for a fund-raising event for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and the team were dancing in“dandy” – or “Sunday best” – clogs, so that was how the name developed. The team have taken their dancing to community and celebratory events, festivals and workshops both locally, nationally and some of them, internationally too.

Duke’s Dandy’s original repertoire grew to include clog dances from the traditions of Lancashire, the North-east, Cumbria, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and USA. For many years Glyn Smith supported the team excellently with his melodeon music, but Ken Watson, from Grimsby, does a fine job of keeping us in time now. Several years ago, Duke’s Dandy team joined forces with Green Ginger  and have been sharing knowledge and dances ever since. They have also been joined by Jill Blackwell, who originally danced with Charnwood Clog.

Step Clog Dance

Step clog dancing, English style, is a percussive form of rhythmic dancing where the body does little but the feet – in their wooden-soled clog shoes – do a lot of interesting things with movement and sound. Percussive wooden-shoe and clog dances are known to have been around in the theatre from at least the 17thC and later on the music halls and American vaudeville. They were the inspiration for the rise of tap dancing, which usurped clog dance in popularity in the early 20thC just as clogs were becoming unfashionable and associated with dirty work and poverty.

Clog dancing nearly died out but was revived particularly during the late 1960s-early 1970s when enthusiasts tracked down many of the original clog dancers, collecting material from them and ensuring they were able to pass their steps on to a new generation. We owe our great enjoyment of this traditional art form to those wonderful original dancers, such as Pat Tracey, Sammy Bell, Sam Sherry, Johnson Ellwood and many more - as well as the researchers and the revivalists.

It is known that wooden-soled shoes - clogs - were provided for agricultural workers as far back as the 15thC, but they came into their own as cheap and sturdy footwear as people moved into the towns from the 18thC on to work in industries like the massive textile mills of the north of England. The rhythmic clattering of the machinery is said to have inspired many of the steps, which were danced for both personal and professional entertainment. Whilst most of the steps Duke’s Dandy dance have come from across the north of England, records have been found of clog dancing being performed in our region in the 19thC, in Retford, Worksop and across in Lincolnshire – but the style and steps are now lost.

The music used is usually traditional hornpipe- or waltz-time tunes, with some jigs, reels, schottisches and slip jigs, but need not be restricted to those. Members of Duke’s Dandy have danced accompanied by song, percussion and contemporary music too.

Step clog dance is primarily a solo form, but nowadays is often choreographed to work in team formations. In the English tradition, it should not be confused with the north-west style of group dancing also known as “clog morris” which is – well – morris dancing in clogs! And Appalachian “clogging”, although also percussive, is not done in clogs and may have developed from step dances from across the British Isles, but is from the USA.