(RUTHERFORD COUNTY) Founder Steve Cates announced that Cripple Creek Cloggers begin new season of teaching and rehearsing at the Smyrna Senior Center (100 Rakes St.). The first class is at 4:30PM Sunday afternoon, July 16, 2023.
After the fun enjoyed by all at the recent International Folkfest, many members of the public first got interested in this as exercie, then the colorful costumes and of course the opportunity to travel. With the Cripple Creek Cloggers new season of teaching and rehearsing there is no charge and no dance experience is necessary. Plus, they always finish by 6:00PM. This will also kick off their 57th year with Steve Cates, director and caller, still at the helm.
The troupe was organized in 1967 as a part of a 4-H Share the Fun activity at Kittrell School, performs traditional Appalachian style square dancing with a clogging step. Their purpose is and has been to preserve this dance tradition, demonstrate it and teach it. They perform in costumes traditional to the early part of the 1800s in Tennessee and accompanied by music of the period, usually including guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, and/or fiddle.
The performances of Cripple Creek Cloggers have taken them to most countries of Europe, North Africa, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and 48 states of the U.S. They have traveled by automobile, bus, train, airplane, and ship. When traveling outside the U.S., they are most often representing TN and the U.S. in international folkloric festivals.
In 1982, they helped organize and remain the host troupe of International Folkfest. This event will be June 2-9, 2024 and members of Cripple Creek Cloggers and others in the community are working now to organize all of the activities. Among the countries who have shown interest in coming for 2024 are England(UK), Chile, Poland, France, Ukraine ( Canada), Latvia, Puerto Rico and Portugal.
Current members include Nathan Horton, Chad Kress, Spring Nelson, Sarah Elrod Roberts, Ann Mattox, Susan Mellantine, Matt Davis, Freida Sage, Savannah Nelson, Chase Kress, Jennifer Bates, Pam Thompson, Cassandra Dotson, Michael Graves, Michele Gourley, Sheila Morgan, Katherine Harrison, Gloria Cardiel, Jerry Cardiel and Jacob Fennell.
Again, the free teaching and rehearsing classes for the Cripple Creek Cloggers begin at 4:30PM Sunday afternoon, July 16, 2023, at the Smyrna Senior Center.
For more information, visit their website at Cripple Creek Cloggers, Murfreesboro TN - Preserving Our Tradition Today In Dance, Costuming, & Spirit!
