Clogging is a popular American folk dance that originates in the fusion of African-American dances with the “Peruvian Zapateo”, which in itself might have derived from European clog dances.

The music that originally accompanied clogging was bluegrass, a kind of music that was based on English, and Irish fiddle tunes as well as African banjo tunes.

While many people confuse clogging with tap dancing, the two are not the same.

In fact, tap dancing evolved from clogging, but it developed to be a different kind of dance that has distinct moves and in its modern form is not to be confused with clogging.

More specifically, cloggers’ moves are distinct up-and-down moves with the sounds mainly coming from the heels of the dancers’ shoes. Unlike cloggers’ shoes, tap moves focus on the balls of the dancers’ feet and they tend to dance to the melodies of the music rather than the beats- which is what cloggers do.

What the two dances do have in common, though, is that they are popular competition dances.

One of the most popular clogging competitions is the Clogging Champions of America (CCA), which was formed in 1997 and has since been promoting clog dancing.

“The goal of CCA is to create an atmosphere of spirited and sportsmanlike competition, and to provide more opportunities for cloggers within the competitive and entertainment realms,” they write on their website.

This competition aims at making even amateur cloggers feel encouraged to keep up their work and feel they can compete against other cloggers no matter how experienced they might be. This safe environment promotes healthy competition and helps competitors enjoy their performances.

In the video that follows, you can watch a group of five female cloggers competing at the CCA a few years ago.

The young women are dressed in cute outfits and they are ready to steal the show with their performance.

Unlike what you might have expected, the whole performance is accompanied by the sounds of a remix of “Get Low” by Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz. The selection of the song itself speaks volumes about what is going to follow!

When the song starts playing, the women immediately get to it.

They start dancing so fast that we can’t even keep up with them. Their moves are super quick and, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say, if you blink you’re about to miss a move or two!

They follow the standard clogging pattern- mainly footwork, limited upper body movement- but their choreography is super modern and contemporary.

Their moves are perfectly synchronized and they don’t make the slightest mistake as far as we are concerned.

These girls are passionate about dance! You can tell by their faces- they are on fire!

Their smiles go so well with their impeccable performance that we can’t ignore them. Their moves are mesmerizing and we bet they had everyone’s attention when they performed live.

These girls did an amazing job. It was not the first time they were competing, as they earned the title Challenge Senior Grand Champions in November 2018.

You can watch the passionate cloggers’ extraordinary performance in the video below.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Clogging Champions of America, CCA, Wikipedia, LiveAbout