While in the
Java Chatterbox,
ThePope mentioned the
klompen dance, which reminded me of a
style of
dancing we had in upstate
New York, called a clog dance. This was many years ago and I doubt that there is anyone up there who knows how to do it now. Unlike the
Dutch who klompen in
wooden shoes, our clog
dancers didn't wear special
shoes, as I
recall. But, the
floor boards were
loose so that they
rattled with the stamping feet. The object was to stay pretty much in one place, with the
arms held at the side while
beating out
complicated rhythms with the feet. The
music, of course, was
live and quite
lively.
The only thing I've seen like it is the
Irish jig, but of course the music was quite different. In
Appalachia there is a
style of dancing called flatfooting, which is sometimes called buck dancing, or step dancing. It developed from an
informal fusion between the
music and
dance of
Native Americans and
African slaves with that of
English,
Irish, and
Scottish immigrants.
Clog dancing came into its own when Frederick Ashton's he included a clog dance in his production of
La Fille mal Gardée in 1960. It subsequently faded back into near
oblivion from which it has been saved by small groups of amateur enthusiasts throughout this country and the British Isles. There are even clog dancing groups in
Japan.