Clog dance (British)

English clog dancing began in 19th century England during the Industrial Revolution. It is thought to have developed in the Lancashire cotton mills where wooden-soled clogs were preferred to leather soles because the floors were kept wet to help keep the humidity high, important in cotton spinning. Workers sitting at the weaving machines wore hard-soled shoes, which they would tap to the rhythms of the machines to keep their feet warm. At their breaks and lunches, they would have competitions, where they were judged on the best rhythm patterns. By the late 1800s they clog-danced on proper stages at competitions. In these competitions, the judges would watch the routine and judge it according to footwork, precision, and technique. Clog dancers were a common sight at music halls throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century. One such group was The Eight Lancashire Lads which included a young Charlie Chaplin as one of its members.Dan Leno became the world champion clog dancer in the 1880s, and records show that competitive clog dancing was a frequent occurrence throughout the 19th century.

Cecil Sharp frequently encountered step dancing, clog dancing and North West morris dancing (a type of morris often performed in clogs, but not the same as clog dancing) in his search for folk dances in England. Maud Karpeles documented some of these dances. She encountered groups of North West morris dancers in the North-West of England. Her book The Lancashire Morris Dance was published in 1930. In 1911 John Graham had published Lancashire and Cheshire Morris Dances from the same area. Both in the USA and in England clog dancing was also known as "buck and wing" dancing. The "wing" referred to is the step where a foot is kicked out to one side, striking the ground as it goes.

Clog dancing traditions still exist in some festivals in Northumberland, and are danced to the traditional music of the area. Clog dancing is also still practised in parts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Derbyshire and there are teams dancing the Northern traditional dances (and newer ones) in many other parts of England. British clog dancing, unlike most types of clog dancing practised in the US, is usually done with traditional wooden-soled clogs. Clog dance competitions currently held in England include the Lancashire and Cheshire Clog Dancing Contests (focussing on Lancashire style clog dancing) held every September as part of the Fylde Folk Festival in Fleetwood, and the Northern Counties Clog Dancing Championships (focussing on Durham and Northumberland style clog dancing) held every year in Tyne and Wear.

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