Clog dance is taken here in the generic sense, i.e. a solo or perhaps duet or trio dance in which the dancers beat out the rhythm of the dance with their feet whilst wearing clogs. These are best accessed by searching for “clog” the Dancers and Informants page, using the search box on the menu bar. Many published notations are available via the Newcastle Series page.
Revival dancers have been keen to categorise clog and step dances in a geographic sense. One often hears for example of “Lakeland Stepping” or a “Lancashire Hornpipe”. Although the percieved differences between these grouping of steps is often illusory (and for a critique of the practice see Metherell, C. “Clog dancing: An Analysis of Regional Differences” in Buckland, T. (ed), Traditional Dance. Vol 3, (1985), p1-16), nontheless these names do form a useful shorthand which dancers can use to refer to sets of apparently similar steps.
Accordingly the list below links to pages describing the ambit of this revival nomenclature. More importantly, revival dancers often refer to groups of steps as performed or taught by a specific dancer. These are not listed below but can be found by reference to the specific dancer’s page. Thus for example Sam Sherry’s Exhibition Routine is a set of steps taught by Sam Sherry under that name and normally referred to a such. However, one or two sets of steps have occasionally been given names and these are also listed below.
“Regional” Dance Styles
Dartnoor/Devon Stepping
Lakeland Style
Lancashire Clog Dancing
Nortumberland and Durham Clog Dancing
Westmorland style
Named Step Sets
Sunderland Hornpipe