The Instep Research Team

Researching and Encouraging Clog and Step Dance

Clog Dancing

Find out about the history of clog dancing in the UK. From the 18th century stage through to the clog revival of the 1950s onwards, clog dancing has fascinated and entertained us. Find out about where it was perormed and who did it. Investigate competitive clog dancing going back over a hundred and fifty years Watch films of the dancers and learn about their histories.

Step Dancing

Step Dancing is perhaps best known from Scotland where it has been widely adopted as a national image, but stepping in hard shoes , rateher than clogs, was found in several other parts of the UK, many of the dancers becoming popular in their local communities. The full extent of step dance within vernacular culture is only now becoming understood.

Social Dancing

Stepping, whether in clogs or shoes, has an important part to play in the enjoyment of social dances. Find out about the steps which were used and the dances they are found in. From Scotland to Cornwall dances with a stepping element have formed an important part of the content of vernacular dance.

Competitions

Clog dancing competitions probably existed as long ago as the 1840s, but reached the heyday of their popularity in ther 1880s and 1890s following the first "World Championships" held at Oldham in 1880. They continued sporadically after the First World War until taken up by the clog dance revival in the mid 1970s. Find out about who competed and more importantly who won!

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ABOUT US

Researching and Encouraging Clog and Step Dancing

The IRT is registered charity which exists to further participation in and research into clog and step dance in all its forms and to make the results publicly available free of charge.  In recent years we have been able to provide bursaries covering not only research but education and performance based projects with a step or clog dance element.

PUBLICATIONS

The Newcastle Series in the 21st Century

The Newcastle Series began publishing dance notations in 1981.  Since then many dancers have become famijliar with the “blue books” and the IRT’s Newcastle Notation system has more steps published using it than any other.  These (and more recently online publications, but without the blue covers!) are now all freely avaiable.  These, combined with access to countless unpublished steps from all parts of the UK, make the IRT website an invaluable resource for dancers and researcher alike.

Archives

The IRT Webpages are the Home of the UK's Largest Collection of Clog and Step Dance Archives

Even in this digital age some published references continue to be difficult to find and of course many manuscript collections remain unavailable online.  The IRT website hosts thousands of pages of printed extracts and handwritten collections with more being added all the time.  So if you need to go back and look at original source material we have the resources for you.

DANCERS

Recording the Lives of Dancers and Performers.

Collecting and publishing dance notations is a fascinating and rewarding activity but it is the recollections of the dancers themselves which brings the whole think to life.  So whether you  want to find out about the dancers who won the World Clog Dance Championshis of the late 19th century or listen to the reminiscences of one of the dancers who entertained the troops in WW2 Instep has the resources.