(Music playing)
Speaker: From the Appalachian region of the United States, the melting pot
of old dances was born.
Female: Clogging is actually the truest American folk dance. And it comes
from all of the different countries immigrating into the United
States through the Appalachian Mountains. It has its history in
English dances, Scottish dances, German, Irish, a little bit of
influence from African Culture.
Speaker: Clogging is a traditional type of percussive folk dance associated
with a number of different countries around the world. It’s been
called Flat Footing, foot stomping, butt dancing and jigging.
Female: I’ve been clogging since I was nine years old. I’ve been clogging
for about 24 years now.
Speaker: Clog dancing was a common past time in 18th Century England.
The Appalachian style of clogging developed as Europeans
immigrated to the United States. Dancers wear white shoes to say
‘look at my feet’. There’re a lot of tap shoes accept in clogging
but taps are loser. And that results in more of a jiggling sound.
Female: America as we know it today is truly a mixture of multiple
different ethnicities, different countries. Coming into America
could have be one United States of America. And that’s fully this
dance is all of the different countries coming together as one or
that has a mixture of so many different people, different ethnicities
but the one dance brings us all together.
(Music playing)
Linda Goodrich: The people danced more in the sense of partner dancing like Salsa
dancing. When you’re dancing all night long, you know, you don’t
have time to think about being mean spirited because it is really
about unity and unification.
Speaker: Frequently flashy, Salsa is making a comeback in a big way.
Male: There’s a long history of Salsa. It’s a type of music and
contemporarily it’s a type of dance. And today, Salsa is a fusion of
a lot of things. It’s Afro-Cuban-based. Contemporary Salsa was
really born in New York. It was some late artist who really honed
the music. Dancers and people who were cultural artist really,
really fell in love with it. It was really something that inspired a
lot of young people. Back in the cultural hay days, which was like
‘70’s and the ‘80’s when Salsa was being derived. It really took a
new life. And today, I mean, there’re still tons of young people
who would fall in love with Salsa not only for the music. There’s
a communication. It’s a partner dance.
Linda Goodrich: The cultural significance of Salsa is the coming together and the
harmony and the unity of these two people. Really, it’s a cultural
significance to the whole community. It’s a coming together, a
unification. If you go to Salsa dances, there’s a way to dress.
There’s a way to act. There’s a way to be. And there’s a social
etiquette. There’s romance out there on the floor.
I think I’m a very powerful woman. Okay? And I like exuding
my power and my control and all of that. But when I do Salsa
dance, I want to surrender to what that man is giving me or what
my partner is giving me. But in Salsa, I have to give up the control
and surrender to the man. They have to surrender to their partner.
And it’s his job to make her look good.
Speaker: Now, the origin is based on Cuban Puertorican and Afro-Caribbean
dancers. Salsa has evolved into one of the most talked about
movements in the country. The dance has a side to side feel in
terms of lips or flamboyant. Years ago, New York gave it the
name Salsa.
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