The Morris Federation launched a series of online workshops, talks and demos over Winter 2020-2021. Here is a review of a 2-part Clog Stepping for Beginners workshop run on 2nd and 9th January by Georgia Shorrock of Hadrian Clog, based in Northumberland.
“I’ve been a Cotswold dancer for more than 40 years, I dabbled in North West at University and have danced rapper intermittently for 20 years. However learning clog stepping has passed me by. They say you should start something new in lockdown so I dusted down my rapper shoes, cleared the rug from the conservatory floor and took part in the beginners clog stepping workshop.
“The classes were taught, in 2 sessions, by Georgia Shorrock of Hadrian Clog over Zoom. There were over 80 participants at both sessions, from the UK Netherlands and USA, and she taught us a Lancashire Waltz.
“The first thing that struck me is that it must be so difficult to teach dance to a virtual class when you can’t see how well the class is doing. Also you have to keep up a monologue and draw that fine line between following the slowest learner and the fastest learner – neither of whom she could see! Georgia was brilliant. She would teach us a step and then we would communicate with thumbs up (or down). The chat function was used to ask questions and make comments. Again, usefully, Pauline (MF President) relayed some of these so Georgia could concentrate on the teaching.
“The second thing I noticed was that the good thing about learning this way, in isolation, is that I could hear my own stepping. It wasn’t drowned out by others stepping around me. I could hear whether I was in time with Georgia and adjust accordingly.
“After the first workshop, we were sent a video of Georgia stepping together with notation and music. This meant I was able to practise (and correct what I had not learnt properly) before the second session. We learnt the final 3 steps in the second week and managed a run through of the whole routine.
“My expectations beforehand were to get a flavour of clog stepping and the workshops definitely delivered this. Congratulations to Georgia for a brilliantly taught workshop and please, if possible, would we be able to do another.
by Jill Griffiths of Windsor Morris and Insword Rapper
Resources
After the workshop Georgia Shorrock kindly donated these resources to help participants practice the dance:
- to our YouTube channel: Lancashire Waltz danced by Georgia Shorrock (YouTube)
- to our Notation Library: a folder containing Lancashire Waltz Dance Notation & Music (PDF), and Mrs Parker’s Waltz audio (MP3)
“Teaching – some sides had developed ingenious ways to cope with the vagaries of Zoom
“Week one was fairly gentle, with a group of over 70 participants, mainly dancers in other traditions – although several people commented that they had lost fitness due to lack of dancing opportunities. Andrew and Lin took us through the basic steps that are the backbone of the dance, as well as emphasising the importance of warming up and stretching out at the end of a session.
“Andrew also impressed some style points upon us, including posture, owning the space and the importance of buying your musician a beer! I think all of us owe several pints to Tony, who sat in his car outside Andrew’s house so that they could hear each other and still not “meet” as per requirements. What a hero!