Tutors and Classes

• Jane Sheard - 1st Steps in Clogs (for absolute beginners).

  We have been asked for a 'starters' level, and this year we have co-opted some of our members to help teach the individual who has done no clog dancing at all. The workshop will cover the shuffle, changing weight from one foot to the other, timing, and notation. We will see how we progress, and, using these basic skills, will teach some simple steps that are easy to learn. The emphasis will be on fun and we aim to dance the steps to music.

  Clogs will be available to borrow on the day. First come first served.

• Alex Fisher learnt her first steps with Furness Clog Dancers in Ulverston. She also attended the late Sam Sherry's classes in Galgate before moving across to the North-East where she joined Newcastle Cloggies and the Instep Research Team. Now living in Lancashire, she is working with schools and community groups teaching and performing Clog and Step Dance. She runs a regular class, Eccleston Heritage Clog, where ages range from 5 to 60+.

  St Agnes Waltz is a set of six classic 'music hall' waltz steps specifically designed for beginner / improver level. They make a short but very engaging routine and will be easily mastered in a day. For those who have been attending the beginners���� workshops over the past few years, know how to shuffle and are familiar with the basic routines, we hope you will enjoy stepping up a beat and join this workshop.

• Julie Williams will be teaching the exhibition hornpipe steps of Samuel Bell (or Sammy Bell as he was more commonly known). Sammy was a champion clog dancer in the 1930s, winning the Northumbrian contests three years in a row. He and his four brothers were also variety hall performers who did amazing stunts and acrobatics in their shows as well as clog dance routines.

  This set of hornpipe steps was the routine that Sammy would have danced on a pedestal (similar to the old miners' pit props) to show off his prowess, and it is likely that he would have danced them for the championships as well. Julie first met Sammy when they were both members of the Reading Traditional Step Dance and Clog Group in the early 1980s. He taught her this set of hornpipe steps as well as his waltz steps from his championship days. There are six steps in the sequence each with a lot of beats, each having a different break, but they should not be beyond the reach of any competent intermediate level clog dancer.

• Jo Harmer has been step dancing for nearly thirty years: her husband Simon introduced her initially to English clog steps and since then they have been enjoying performing and teaching Appalachian style clogging with their team Chequered Flag, as well as Canadian steps from Quebec, Ontario and particularly Cape Breton Island.

  Cape Breton step dance is a dynamic Canadian percussive style firmly rooted in Scottish music and dance, which continues to express the rich and evolving traditional culture of the island community. The steps are freestyled to jigs and reels within social set dances by dancers aged eight to eighty, and soloists perform to Strathspey and reel time medleys. Jo will be teaching steps learned in Cape Breton directly from Jean MacNeil, one of the most influential dancers and teachers on the island, and the mother of the family group, the Barra MacNeils.�� While not suitable for complete beginners to step dancing, the steps will be accessible for those new to the style, and interesting for more experienced step dancers. She will cover both Strathspey and reel rhythms, using steps which can be developed into more complex combinations as appropriate.

  Hard soled shoes for this class please. No taps or clogs.

• Ednie Wilson - Traditional dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer has been dancing since she was 5. She has performed in contemporary dance and musical theatre, and after leaving university worked professionally as a traditional dancer, choreographer and traditional dance adviser. She is a founder member of the Newcastle Cloggies and the Instep Research Team helping to revive and promote the step dance traditions of the UK and most especially of the North East of England. Professionally she works to promote arts and culture in the North East including our rich traditional art forms and is the Mayor of Gateshead's Piper.

  Ednie will be teaching a slip jig routine - a set of six steps which are part of her own repertoire created and refined as performance steps to allow the dancer to explore and play with the slip jig rhythm, making an exciting interplay between the inherent rhythm of the tune and the visual impact and steps. The routine is short and intricate, challenging the advanced dancer to consider not just new ways enhancing the music but also to develop the dynamic patterns of the steps. It would help dancers joining this workshop if they could listen to some slip jigs before the session to get a feel for the music.