Director Linda Carolan writes:
Clogging is a pastime that carries the mind and feet back in time to the days of our forefathers.
Fire-on-the-Mountain performs to bluegrass music. Both clogging and bluegrass are art forms that developed from traditional folk music and dance in the Appalachian mountains.
There are many
versions of the history of clog dancing in the United States. Clogging is
generally thought to be a combination of the various native dances that
settlers to the Appalachian region brought with them. As the different cultural
groups mingled and combined so did their dances, until what we now know as
clogging was formed.
One of the contributing cultures was the Cherokee
people, who lived in the Appalachian area when European settlers arrrived.
Dancing was very much a part of their culture, and they would beat the drum and
make music for various ceremonial dances such as the hunting dance or rain
dance. European settlers brought their own dances, including the Lancaster Clog
Dance from England (which at least gave the dance its name). The polka step,
from Czech and German origins, is the basic rhythm for clogging. The most
influential of the European cultures is that of the Irish, with the Hard Shoe
dances that bear a striking resemblance to clogging. The other most important
influence were the dances of the African-Americans who were brought to the
region.
Elements of all these various dances combined as people living in the Appalachian mountains taught one another what dances they knew. The different dances gradually blended together to create a new dance form—clogging.
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