Patricia Tracey nee Jordan ( 1927- 2/2/2008)
Pat tracey was born into a family from Nelson, Lancashire, many of whom were dancers. She initailly learned from her mother Sarah (Sallie) Jordan who had aquired her steps from her father, Henry Nutter and an uncle, always known in the family us “Uncle Ernest”. The exact identity of this individual is uncertain!
Pat’s mother was able to write down the steps she knew and passed this skill, along with her steps, onto her daughter. Pat also danced occasionally in local shows put on by her mother.
Initially Pat confined her dancing and teaching to the heel and toe steps which were to become her trademark, however by the 1980s she was working up many of the other steps which she had learned from her mother and collected. In later years she found it helpful and artistically satisfying to dance and teach these in set routines which, although both demanding and of great chroeographic merit, probably do not represent the original style of performance of her informants. Pat probably had more steps within her repertoire than any other dancer. We consider these separately below.
Pat was probably the first person to make the crucial distinction between the vernacular heel and toe steps (Christened by her “Old Lancs” or “East Lancashire”) which were her grandfather’s stock in trade and the shuffling stage style steps acquired from her great uncle.
Pat was such an important force in the clog dance revival that we consider several aspects of her career as discrete topics.
The IRT are presently working with Pat’s family to make a digital copy of her huge archive available online.
