Impress your friends at parties and build on your Appalachian dance floor cred

American Clogging is a percussive dance style that has roots in Western North Carolina where dancers added percussive footwork to group "big set" circle dances and square dances.  Today, mainstream cloggers use a common vocabulary of step names that grew from flatfoot dancing, buck dancing, Canadian step dance and tap, and they dance to music from fiddle tunes to hip hop and golden oldies. 

Andy Howard, 40, is an international clogging instructor living in Atlanta, Georgia. He holds a Master of Arts in American Dance Studies from Florida State University where he authored a thesis on the origins of American Clogging Teams.  

Andy works full time at Georgia Tech, and on certain evenings and weekends, he teaches clogging classes at the Frank Hamilton Folk School in Decatur, and travels throughout the country and beyond teaching clogging workshops and judging clogging competitions.  He is also the director of the American Racket cloggers, a troupe that has toured the Americas, Asia and Europe, and organizes a clogging weekend outside of Helen, Georgia, each September -- "Sautee Stomp" at the Sautee Nacoochee Cultural Center.  Andy himself learned to clog in LaBelle, Florida, in a community center after school program.

As more folks, including Andy, are working from and staying at home, Andy has launched a free online video series to allow youth and adults to learn clogging from the safety and comfort from their own home.  "The video format also allows people to rewind or rewatch sections of the lessons, and move on when they are ready." 
Andy's sees his contribution as an outreach activity.  The videos can be used to teach beginners "from scratch" but can also be used to teach dance studios or others how to teach the basics of clogging.  The classes are offered via a YouTube playlist also on a Facebook page. There is no cost to participate, and Andy plans to keep the videos up in perpetuity. While there is no sign up necessary, Andy and the American Racket Cloggers enjoy receiving feedback and even videos of folks learning to dance in the safety of their own home. 

YouTube Channel:youtube.com/americanracket
Specific playlist for lessons:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1-PC0PhKLn37dt1ZlSPoNxgqKpBgVvaP
My Facebook pagehttp://facebook.com/cloggerandy
Email:americanracket@gmail.com