A free public intro to clog dancing during the three-day Clogover Vine event will dispel misconceptions about the fun dance form. The non-profit clog dance club known as Okanagan Cloggin’ will present the chance to try the dance form at 1 p.m. Saturday June 7, 2025. The free, one hour lesson will take place while a large number of accomplished clogging enthusiasts tap away nearby in the same venue, the Westbank Lions Community Centre, 2466 Main Street in West Kelowna. (Website: www.okanagancloggin.ca).
Curious public participants will learn that, no, clog dancing isn’t tap dancing and it’s not done in wooden shoes. Clogging is a rhythmic, percussive, flat-footed dance done in unison to live cues. The footwear includes double stainless steel taps (called “Jingle Taps”) mounted under low-heel shoes at the front and back. It’s generally a low impact dance form but those with high energy can put more into it. A dance partner is not required.
Clog dancing is enjoyed in several parts of B.C. including the Central Okanagan Valley, Fraser Valley, Victoria and Nanaimo.
Cloggers from all those regions will converge on West Kelowna June 6 to 8 to learn and have fun at the annual weekend clog dance workshop, now marking its 10th year. Some dancers will attend from cities outside the province.
While the weekend event is primarily for accomplished clog dancers, the free public intro is a notable exception. All ages will be welcome with the only guidelines being to wear comfortable casual clothing and flat-soled shoes with a firm back.
A bonus to participation in the free Intro is that newcomers are welcome to stay on-site through the Saturday afternoon and/or evening to see the accomplished cloggers learning and having fun at the larger workshop. Except for the free public introduction, the clogging workshop relies upon the pre-registration of those accomplished dancers. The 2024 event was very well-attended.
Newcomers will learn that a clog dance is led by a “cuer,” who prompts the steps over a p.a. system. For special exhibition clogging, routines are generally memorized. The event name, Clogover Vine, is actually one of many steps to which clog dancers respond.
The featured instructor for Clogover Vine will be a very energetic and engaging professional, Darolyn Pchajek of Winnipeg, who has conducted workshops for the club before. Accompanying her will be Andy Howard.
For accomplished cloggers, the dancing starts Saturday with a program that’s packed with clogging fun from 9 am to 9:30 pm with meal breaks at noon and 5 pm. The workshop will include various levels of accomplishment from beginner through intermediate. Saturday night is primarily 2 ½ hours of fun dancing. Participants return Sunday morning for another 3 ½ hours of casual dancing.
In the Central Okanagan, weekly clog dance lessons for newcomers are planned to start in September this year with a choice of 3 different days at 2 venues. Public inquiries are welcomed at these contacts: [email protected] – “Barb:” 250-768-8557
The clog dance is considered to have its roots in Ireland, Scotland and England. It was during the Industrial Revolution of 18th Century England that English clog dancing originated. Notably, workers in the cotton mills of Lancashire would put aside leather-soled shoes in favour of wooden-soled clogs. The reason was that cotton mills of the day had wet floors in order to maintain a high humidity for cotton spinning. While on the job, those workers would rhythmically tap their clogs.
When Scots emigrated in the early to mid-19th Century to the mountainous geographic region in the eastern United States known as Appalachia, they introduced early forms of clogging.
