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An Interview with the Barbary Coast Cloggers
How did your group start? It began 27 years ago by a group of men in San Francisco who were in a square dancing group and wanted to learn clogging. They hired Janice Yee Hanzel to teach them clogging. They then began to perform at charity and community events. We dance mainly to bluegrass music. The rhythms to bluegrass and clogging are fairly the same so they go well together. The music evolved from the times when the United States was beginning to grow and immigrants from all over the world were learning music from each other. It is a mix of Africa, Germany, Ireland and more. People of different backgrounds came together to party and their music became mixed and a new sound was made that had parts of every culture.
 What do children learn from your dancing? Kids love the boots, we get a lot of reaction to the boots and the noise our shoes make. Boys in particular really get excited about clogging because they rarely see men dancing. It’s a great influence for young boys to see men dancing in a way that isn’t ballet. |
Where do your costumes come from and do they have a historical significance? There really isn’t a costume for clogging so we decided to reflect a regional history of San Francisco. We picked to dress like Forty Niners. The main part are the double tap shoes that we wear riding boot “tops” so that we can dance and make it appear that we are wearing boots. Also, we wear pants that are held up by suspenders and long-sleeved collarless shirts. Sometimes we wear bandanas and hats, too. Do you teach clogging to people? What ages? We do teach clogging at a dance studio in San Francisco at Oberlin Dance Commons on Sundays from 3:30-5:30. We teach all ages. Though we haven’t had many children lately at out beginners class, we would love to have a class of younger children come learn clogging. |
Where have the BCC traveled? We’ve traveled all over California. The furthest east we’ve gone is Louisiana. We’ve been invited to Belgium and other countries but we are a dance group not a company so our dancers have other jobs. It’s hard to coordinate a group of men to take time off to travel and dance. Also, they usually ask for a live band which makes it even more difficult to travel. What do you feel clogging teaches? I feel the history of clogging teaches about a mix of cultures coming together in the beginning of America. We learn in class about America in the 1700’s and that there was a lot of hate and separation of people according to race. The music and dance we perform comes from that time and shows us that people came together and did get along in those times. The banjo is an African instrument and a lot of people don’t know that. Bluegrass and clogging show that there is a melting pot in America. It also teaches that there is a dance community of men that don’t dance aggressively. In ballet you see a lot of aggression in the male movements to make dance appear manly. Male dance doesn’t have to be aggressive. Gene Kelly was a dancer who was fun, happy and energetic. We show that type of dancing. We like to show that you don’t need be aggressive to show that male dancing is masculine. We hop and jump and act silly on stage and people see a group of men dancing in a fun and happy style. |
