Lesson Three: The Basic

Add the shuffle you learned in Lesson Two to the basic motion you learned in Lesson One.

Do the basic motion you learned in Lesson One really slow. When your knee goes down call it "1" and up call it "2", so down-down on one leg becomes 1-2-3-4. Your knees go down on the 1 & 3, the downbeats. The 2 & 4 are the upbeats. The "4" beat leads to doing the motion on the other foot.

Do the scuff or kick you learned in Lesson Two on the "4" beat from the cadence above.

Figure that out

Add the kick or shuffle you learned in lesson 2 to the basic motion. The shuffle goes on the 4, the upbeat before the first step. The step becomes the 1, the first down beat of the repeated motion.

Each repetition of the basic motion is led with a kick with the foot that will bear the weight of the dips.

After the kick, as you pull the foot back to bear the weight of the dip, tap or brush the toe to complete the shuffle, then step onto the heel.

Finally, to fill out the basic clogging step, on the 2 beat, touch the toe of the other weightless foot.

This completes the mechanics of the basic clogging step

Two down beats and two upbeats: down-touch-down-shuffle down-touch-down-shuffle with the weight shifting between legs via the shuffle on the 4th beat.

Now all you really need to get clogging in your blood is some live music at a local old-time jam!

See the Jams section to find a jam near you!