Summertown Bluegrass Festival

     Clogging is a type of folk dance in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms. As the clogging style has evolved over the years, many localities have added local steps and rhythms to the style. The dance has origins in Wales and England.
     In later periods it was not always called "clogging", being known variously as foot-stomping, buck dancing, clog dancing, jigging, or other local terms. What all these had in common was emphasising the downbeat of the music by enthusiastic footwork. As for the shoes, many old clogging shoes had no taps and some were made of leather and velvet, while the soles of the shoes were either wooden or hard leather.
     Clogging shoes are, in a lot of ways what makes clogging clogging, so choosing the right pair of clogging shoes is very important.  Clogging shoes have special characteristics engineered specifically to suit this style of dance. Unlike single tapped tap shoes, the unique percussion of the clogging dance comes from the double taps on the soles of the shoes. Typically, clogging shoes have two taps on the toe and two on the heel.
     Some shoes come with clogging taps already attached, although many are designed to have separately bought taps attached. Taps are either nailed on or glued in place.  There are a number of different types of clogging taps available, each suiting a different dance style as well as dance floor surface