History of IRT

The Instep Research Team was formed in 1980 by six members of the Newcastle Cloggies who, living in the north-east of England,  felt that there should be older clog dancers surviving in the area who remained to be discovered.  They set about systematically searching for dancers and recording their findings.

From 1980 until 1988 the IRT published the magazine INSTEP, devoted to clog and step related material.  These are now available here as a free online resource. 

The team’s main outlet is, however, the Newcastle Series, which over the years has published over 40 titles.  The steps published in these booklets are all notated using Newcastle Notation, a robust system for accurately notating step and clog dance. The system is available here as a free online resource.

Likewise, the complete  Newcastle Series has been digitised and is also available here as a free online resource. It is not intended to produce further hard copy notations and future collections will be made available online.

Over the years the personnel and methodologies of the IRT have of course changed; however the basic ethos has not.  The aims and objectives of IRT are:

  1. To undertake research into clog and step dancing;
  2. To publish the results of that research and, as appropriate, the research of others;
  3. To teach clog and step dance and to encourage participation clog and step dancing generally.