Imagine a whirlwind of rhythm and energy, where dancers come together to execute this uniquely American folk dance form known as clogging. It incorporates elements of Irish jig, English step dancing, African rhythms, and high-kicking steps. The Orlando Cloggers are a group of senior citizens that have clogged for years and years. Some have been clogging for decades.
Pasty Wagner, 88, has clogged for over 35 years and doesn’t see herself stopping anytime soon. She loves the wonderful exercise, fun people, and thrilling routines, making clogging a wonderful outlet.
“I’ll tell you I’m very blessed that I still am able to kick it up a little bit. A lot of folks my age, ya’ know, just have medical conditions and all that they aren’t able to have the movement to be able to do it,” Wagner said. “If you are still physically active you should do it because it’s wonderful exercise.”
At the Orlando Cloggers, the dancers wear clogging shoes that are similar to jazz shoes with taps on them. Angela Reasoner, director and instructor of the Orlando Cloggers has been clogging for close to 40 years now and notices common misconceptions about the clogging shoes.
“People think it’s the wooden clogs if they just hear of it but it is not. We wear shoes with taps on them but our taps are different then tap dancing. Tap dancing has a single tap and ours has a double tap to make more of a jingle sound,” Reasoner said.
Not only is clogging a fun way to get your blood flowing and body moving, but it is also a hobby for families that can bring together a special bond to be carried down.
Senior citizen Karen Bryan has clogged for over 30 years and got into it because of her daughter. She signed her daughter up when she was very young to get her involved in an activity. She started at Yogi Bear Park and became the mascot of the group. After her two other daughters started attending practices, Bryan found herself picking the moves up as well, and it became a mother and daughter activity.
After several years, the Yogi Bear Campgrounds closed down which caused them to join a new group in Pine Castle where they danced until that group retired. As of today, Bryan has been with the Orlando Cloggers and loves it. She said her daughters are in their twenties, thirties, and forties now so they are busy with life but they still know how to clog.
“I’ve been around a while but I didn’t want to quit clogging because I love clogging. There’s a lot of families involved which makes it nice,” Bryan said.
Clogger Joe Vanhorn has clogged for over 44 years and has been with the Orlando Cloggers for four years now. Over time he has seen clogging change and evolve to a more diverse medium.
“In the 80s clogging was associated with square dancing and you would see the big frilly skirts on the women and since then it's really evolved and picked up different pieces of other dancing,” Vanhorn said. “We now see the influences with tap and Irish dancing which adds more variety to the dancing and offers more opportunity for dancers to pick up on other things.”
Even though most of the members have been dancing for decades, the Orlando Cloggers are always looking for new people of all ages to take up this craft. For more information check out their Facebook page The Orlando Cloggers.