The story of clog and step dance is, at heart, the story of the people who learned, danced and performed the material.
If you know the name of the dancer you are searching for, try typing it it into the search box at the top right of the page. Alternativley You can access a full list of names below.
Clog Dancers 1900-2023
These are the stories of dancers for who we have the most information. Many have been interviewed as part of the clog dance revival. In some cases they were integral players in that revival, others had fascinating stories of their dancing careers to tell, steps and styles to transmit. Some became household names, in the folk world at least! Some others you may not have heard of but nonetheless played an important part in expanding our knowledge of the dance.
Clog Dancers 1700-1899
Yes, there really were dancers performing in what were then termed "wooden shoes" back in the eighteenth century. Almost all the early dancers we know of were either professional or amateur stage dancers. Some such as Dan Leno became world famous. Others although well-known in their own time have faded into osbcurity. Many appear only once in our records and then disappear, but they are part of clog dance history nonetheless.
Step Dancers - England
Not everyone step danced in clogs. In many areas of the England it was usual to dance, in the vernacular rather than stage style, in hard shoes. The Instep Research Team have recently begun a project to gather together information on these dancers and their repertoires. This is a developing area and we hope that the information available on the site will expand as time goes by.
Step Dancers- Scotland
The classic Scottish dances - the Highland Fling and Gille Calum are well known, at least in modern terms if not historically, however there exists a wealth of solo step dance collected from dancers in many parts of Scotland, some of which continue to be performed today. Much information on the dancers has remained unpublished in manuscript collections. Explore their stories here.