Stomp to Clogging

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

If you are interested in joining Clogging, then come down to the Lambert Centre to learn the dance every Thursday night starting at 6 p.m.
Clogging is a folk dance where dancers use the heels on the bottom of their footwear to create a beat to a specific music.
Anne Godsman has been doing this for 25 years, nine of them here in Strathmore, and thoroughly likes teaching a passionate dance to people who are starting out and those who are experienced in clogging.
“When I saw people doing it, it just looked like fun because they really have all different kinds of upbeat music. In a way like square dancing it’s also queued, to me it was good easy exercise, you don’t need a whole lot of fancy shoes or clothes until you’re into it,” said Godsman.
“So I had done it off and on for considerable time and just had enough time to do it regularly in Calgary and we moved out here and there’s no way I was going to drive into Calgary in the winter time for an hour or two of dancing. Somebody said to me, start your own group (and) I’ve never taught anyone but my family in my whole life.”
Godsman and her group call themselves the Strathmore Stompers because, essentially, stomping is their approach to dancing with the beat.
“So I started then with a couple of ladies that knew a little bit about clogging and they told some friends. We’ve got a group of eight to 10 of us that have been together almost from the first year,” said Godsman.
“It is one of the most appealing things, it’s something you can do without a partner. There are a lot of ladies on their own that would like to do some kind of dancing.”
There are two clogging classes that are run with a beginner session followed by a more experienced one.
“I get the beginners who have never done this before to come in at 6 p.m. and then they learn the steps for about an hour. The experienced dancers come in (7 p.m.) and go until 8:45 p.m.,” said Godsman.
When you attend these classes, the group just simply enjoys dancing and having fun.
“We make lots of noise (and) really just have fun. I always do a demo to let new people sort of see what it looks like and I use the same piece of music all the time because there is a lot of stomping in it,” she said.
Godsman uses a wide range of musical genres to stomp to, including country and Irish dance.