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Got all that? That’s the gist of two basic clogging moves, the basic step and the double toe. It reads like a complicated recipe, but when the music is playing and there are others doing the same thing, the basic dance step of clogging gets easier. One of the easy things about clogging is it is good with most kinds of popular music, whether hip-hop, country, jazz, bluegrass, rock, blues.
But, easy isn’t one of the reasons cloggers Penny Dillon of Holmen and Marcee Peplinski of Onalaska, Becky Crowley and others stay with it. From 10-year-olds to retirees, people of all different backgrounds are enjoying the social benefits and mental challenges of clogging as well as the physical exercise.
With the popularity of clogging increasing, there are now two dance groups in the Coulee Region where beginners can attend lessons. ClogJam is a group operated by Tracy Mullaney and Christi Pfaff.
They not only lead a performance group that visits nursing homes or puts on shows at Riverfest, Irishfest and other celebrations, they also give lessons for beginners or intermediate learners in the Doerflinger Building in La Crosse. The group has about 50-60 members and has a core performing group of about 15 dancers.
Another group that provides lessons and makes appearances is operated by Tim Bluementritt who gives lessons in the Concordia Ballroom in La Crosse.
Dillon, 52, has been clogging for at least 14 years, learning it from her sister before moving from Oshkosh to this area and joining ClogJam. Dillon is an autism education assistant at Sand Lake Elementary School.
Peplinski, 53, hasn’t danced since she was 7 years old in ballet and tap. She joined ClogJam three years ago. She works at the Mississippi Valley Archeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a business manager and development director.
They clog for the social benefits and mental challenge just as much as the physical activity. “You can burn a lot of calories,” said Dillon. “I encourage others to come.”
Chelsea Ritter, a fifth-grader at Cashton Elementary has been dancing since she was three years old and clogging since she was 7. She enjoys tap dancing more, but sees a lot of similarity between tap and clogging.
Molly Mullaney, the daughter of instructor of ClogJam Tracy Mullaney, has been dancing since she was 5 years old and clogging since she was 7.
The two younger girls say clogging and dancing is a big part of their lives and they keep coming because “we’ll dance every chance we get — clogging or whatever.” They said if they weren’t clogging they’d be with friends or playing outside. “But that gets boring,” Ritter said. “There’s always something new in clogging.”
The young cloggers provided some education about the difference between tap and clogging. “You don’t need to know tapping to be able to clog,” Ritter said. “Clogging is on the balls of your feet and tapping is with the toe and heel.”
“Tap is usually with Broadway or jazz music,” 13-year-old Mullaney, a seventh-grader at Aquinas Middle School chimed in. “Clogging is pretty much for any music.”
The girls said there are usually two other girls in the group, 13-year-old Katie and 11-year-old April and sometimes there are two boys.
Why don’t more boys come? After explaining that the dance started as a dance for males only, it turned into a dance for girls, Mullaney speculated: “I think they either think it’s too easy or too hard for them. Whatever. It’s not macho enough.”
Becky Crowley, 25, of Onalaska loves clogging so much she and her husband built a dance floor in the basement just so she can dance when not with the group. She missed her dance team after graduating from college and looked for something to do. “I’ve taken tap before. I saw an ad for these classes and I came to try it and now I’m hooked,” she said.
Like most of the others, Crowley likes the mental challenge. “It challenges my memory. Sometimes it can give you a headache because it is such a mental activity, more than a physical one.”
Crowley works in the payroll department for Rottinghaus Company and finds clogging a fresh break from work.
Julie Mack, 62 of Coon Valley agrees about the mental challenges and benefits. “It’s like learning a new language. It’s translating what’s going on in your brain into your feet. It’s like a puzzle and the fun is in making it all work. The biggest challenge is sequencing the steps.”
The social connections is a big part of the group’s motivation. Everyone in the group says it is like a second family. They sometimes go out for drinks or other social get-togethers when not practicing or performing.
“You just wait,” Mack said. “It gets in your head. If you stay in it a little while you start clogging or practicing steps while you’re in line at the grocery store.”
Kick, one, two, three. Step, step, step, rock...step, step, step, rock...
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