English Step Dancing Emigrates to America by Zina Abbott

Once again, I used an incident from one of my ancestors’ histories to inspire my upcoming release, The Bride Who Step Dances. The following is my book dedication:

 

This book is dedicated to my second great-grandparents, George Sellman Fox and Elizabeth Mary Jones Fox. This snippet from the family history of Elizabeth Fox is the inspiration for my heroine. At the time, the couple lived in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England:

“…George and Elizabeth enjoyed dancing. In the summer of 1846, when they had two children, they were entertaining at a party in their home. …George was performing a step-dance for the guests when they were interrupted by a knock at the door that was to change their lives….”

What is step dancing? Many cultures throughout the world have developed step dancing styles which have emigrated to North America. Even the dances generally performed by the Native Americans may be considered step dancing.

 

The English form of step dancing performed by my great-great-grandparents had its origins in Northern England in the sixteenth century. From there, it spread south and east. By the seventeenth century, step dancing became quite popular in Scotland and then in Ireland.

This dance style is also called the jig. In England, the name “jig” is believed to have come from the French word gigier, meaning “to jump.” (The French-speaking Normans were already in the British Isles by then.)  In Ireland, the word jig was probably derived from the Irish Gaelic word jigeánnai, which had its origins in the Old English word, giga, meaning “old dance.”

 

Even in today’s Ireland, the Irish Jig—which has developed into a highly stylized dance form with elaborate footwork, a stiff torso, and arms held rigidly downward—is the second most popular form of folk dance. In contrast, the Scottish jig dancers use a lot of arm movement.

English step dancing was not a partner's dance. In fact, the church at the time opposed dancing, especially when men and women partnered. The objective was first, to distance the common folk from their previously-held pagan beliefs. Also, there was a concern that partner dancing was too suggestive of sexual intercourse. Keep in mind that when the waltz first became popular--lace cravats and rich silk gowns notwithstanding--the dance was considered scandalous. It took some time before waltzes were finally allowed during the Regency era--with conditions attached.

English step dancing is a individual performance dance. Often dancers took turns, each entering and leaving the center of the dance area--often a platform--in time to the music. Sometimes, several dancers might perform synchronized steps at the same time, but seldom did males and female perform at the same time and the dancers did not touch hands or arms. 

Step dancing is a percussive form of dance. To be effective, step dancing requires three important elements.

Red Lancaster Clogs

One is hard-soled shoes, such as the wooden-soled work shoes worn in the Lancaster mills, although any heavy, hard-soled shoes like my ancestors would have worn work well, too. 

Charlwood Music Festival 2024 Surrey England Anocalypse Now Appalachian traditional step dance

The second element is a hard wooden platform—preferably slightly raised—that allows the dancers’ steps to echo. The percussion comes from strikes against the dance platform by the heels, toes, and foot sole.

The third element is that the steps are synchronized with music with specific tempos traditionally played on instruments like a fiddle, pipes, whistles, or other mouth instruments. 

 

(In my book, the step dancers performed to music created by either a fiddle or a jaw harp.)

 

Kickapoo Cloggers at the International Culture Festival, Hammond IN 2014

Clogging, often associated with the Appalachian region full of descendants of early Scots-Irish and English settlers, is a form of step dancing. Like has often happened with the passage of time, cloggers have added other musical instruments to accompany the performers. The dance routines might include more arm movements. Also, unlike step dancing of an earlier era, today's clogging routines include elements of couples pairing off similar to round or square dances.

(In my story, a recently hired ranch hand from the Ozarks asks the English immigrant step dancers for a turn to dance. He uses more arm movements, plus adds a bent-knee ankle twirl sometimes seen in American step dancing.) 

For an example of contemporary clogging performed by couples, please click on this YouTube link by the Feet First Appalachian dancing Red Arrows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZK8hVO8Aeg  

  

Clogging at Texas Folklife Festival 2013

Clog dancers still use the elements common to the step dancing brought from the British Isles—an emphasis on percussion created by the feet, hard-soled shoes on a raised wooden platform that allows the sound to resonate, and steps synchronized with accompanying instruments. In many parts of the world, the term clogging or clog dancing has become synonymous with step dancing. 

Here is another example of clogging which more closely resembles how English step dancing performances took place in my great-great grandparents’ era. Please enjoy watching The Red River Jig!! The Nothern Prairie Dancers at Molanosa Cultural Days 2013 (That "Nothern" might be either a typo or a nod to the dancers’ Southern origins, but that is how it is spelled on YouTube.) Either be patient through the three minute, ten second introduction, or move your time slider to 3:10 before starting the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMqBCFzvUEU

Other than clogging, does step dancing still exist in America?

Yes.

 

Just like much of the world, in recent decades, Americans have enjoyed line dancing. So, grab your cowboy hats, step into your cowboy boots, and join the line dancing crowd. One of my daughters learned clogging while attending college, but I suspect line dancing would be more my speed.

 

 

My next release, The Bride Who Step Dances, is not on pre-order, and I do not have a firm release date. I am shooting for sometime in February. The best way to receive notification of when this book releases is by either "friending" me on Facebook, or signing up to receive my NEWSLETTER.

For an excerpt from a dance scene in the book, please CLICK HERE 

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step_dance

https://musictales.club/article/jig-dance-tradition-five-centuries-old-and-still-counting

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Line_dancing_troupe_at_Esino_Lario,_Wikimania_2016,_evening_of_Day_1.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Texas_folklife_festival_clogging_2013.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kickapoo_Cloggers_0103.jpg

https://www.carvedculture.com/blogs/articles/mouth-jaw-harp-the-complete-guide

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Concertina_and_fiddle_(26549694562).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WroughtIronJewsHarp.jpg