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Sunday Sept. 13, 2009
Rodney Sutton is a nationally known traditional dancer, caller, musician, storyteller, dance teacher and festival producer. He was both a member and director of the Green Grass Cloggers in their early years and currently dances with their reunion team. Rodney was a co-founder of and principle dancer with the Fiddle Puppets (now known as Footworks). He serves on the Boards of the Madison County Arts Council, JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) Regional Board and Asheville’s Folk Heritage Committee, which produces both Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Rodney lives with his wife, Jennie and his kids, Clay and Kelsey, in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
15 year-old Clay Sutton has been making a name for himself as a traditional Appalachian step-dancer. He is the caller for the Cole Mountain Cloggers, a team made up of some of the best young dancers from a 5 county area in Western North Carolina. Though CMC dances mainly for the fun of it, performing for many benefits and non-profit fundraisers, they have won first place for their age group at the North Carolina State Fair the past two years and the overall best clogging team both years. Clay has won first place at both the State Fair and the Mt. Airy’s Fiddlers Convention. His love of clogging is evident every time he hits the dance floor!
Here are a few facts from Rodney’s early life that folks might find interesting:
Many folkies think that all the clogging, buck dancing and flatfooting and string band music only occurred in the Mountains in the Southern United States. Not true! Folks all across the south in the mid to late 1800's were playing traditional string band music and dancing - learning new tunes by listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the Radio and cranking their Victrolas, playing all of the great string bands recordings. I will admit that due to the arrival of electricity and improved roads, these traditions did die out sooner than in the rugged Mountains.
I was raised in rural eastern North Carolina smack dab in the middle of the Bible belt, attending school with some kids whose churches did not even allow them to dance. My family were members of the small Outlaw's Bridge Universalist Church that my Great Grand-mother had co-founded in 1905, an open minded and liberal church surrounded by Baptist and Pentecostal churches. There was also a small school across the road from the church where my dad, starting in 1936, played both banjo (4 string), harmonica and piano for the Saturday night "square" dances- they really danced the Big Circle dances with the same call that most people associate with the Appalachian Mountain region. The school house had two big class rooms on each side of an auditorium that included a small stage. Folks would move all of the desk out of two rooms that were adjoined by a door between them and they would place the piano in the doorway, open the top and my dad would play while two different fiddlers and other musicians would play the same tune in each room - the piano keeping them all in time together. There would usually be a caller in both rooms or sometime they stood on the piano and called for both rooms of dancers. The school closed in 1956 when I was 6 years old and we held some dance in the rec room of our little church. There were at least 2 older fiddle players who attended church with us, plus Mr. Faison Smith, who was a clogger/buck dancer. Many other folks in our community clogged, including my uncles and aunts. I would watch them dance and I tried to pick it up, and kinda made up my own step, but believe it or not I was kinda shy back then! Somewhere around 1964, our youth group helped renovate the old school house into a community center and I took western square dance classes there with my parents. I was only one of 2 teenagers who took the class. On the final night at our "graduation" our caller was sick with the flu and his wife brought his record player and I was the only one willing to call the dances and so I called my first dance that evening, a singing call - "Just Because".
Sunday Sept. 13, 2009
Clogging Workshop with Rodney & Clay Sutton
Sunday Sept 13, 2009 11:00am to 12:30pm
Square Dance Workshop (for callers AND dancers) with Rodney Sutton
Sunday Sept 13, 2009 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Both at
Freight & Salvage
2020 Addison Berkeley
Click here for registration information; workshops are $25 apiece, and class size is limited.
Square Dance Workshop
For callers AND dancers who love the flow of squares. Rodney will lead you through some very fun figures. This workshop is intended for dancers who want to move through interesting figures (not necessarily difficult ones, but fun ones), and callers who want to expand their repertoire. Rodney will expound on his many years in the dance scene, great methods for teaching, along with lore and jokes.
For callers AND dancers who love the flow of squares. Rodney will lead you through some very fun figures. This workshop is intended for dancers who want to move through interesting figures (not necessarily difficult ones, but fun ones), and callers who want to expand their repertoire. Rodney will expound on his many years in the dance scene, great methods for teaching, along with lore and jokes.
Clogging
101 - The Basics
Let
Rodney show you that everyone can learn the Green Grass Clogger basic step.
This class is for the complete beginner. Rodney will have you dancing the basic
clogging step, plus a few rhythm breaks in less than one hour. He has
successfully taught non-dancers in his beginner workshops for over 35 years.
Even if you have tried to learn clogging before without results, come give him
the chance to prove he can teach anyone to enjoy this fun way of participating in
the Old-time Music and Dance Scene! Smooth soled shoes (leather is best)
are suggested - NO Taps
Rodney Sutton is a nationally known traditional dancer, caller, musician, storyteller, dance teacher and festival producer. He was both a member and director of the Green Grass Cloggers in their early years and currently dances with their reunion team. Rodney was a co-founder of and principle dancer with the Fiddle Puppets (now known as Footworks). He serves on the Boards of the Madison County Arts Council, JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) Regional Board and Asheville’s Folk Heritage Committee, which produces both Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Rodney lives with his wife, Jennie and his kids, Clay and Kelsey, in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
15 year-old Clay Sutton has been making a name for himself as a traditional Appalachian step-dancer. He is the caller for the Cole Mountain Cloggers, a team made up of some of the best young dancers from a 5 county area in Western North Carolina. Though CMC dances mainly for the fun of it, performing for many benefits and non-profit fundraisers, they have won first place for their age group at the North Carolina State Fair the past two years and the overall best clogging team both years. Clay has won first place at both the State Fair and the Mt. Airy’s Fiddlers Convention. His love of clogging is evident every time he hits the dance floor!
Here are a few facts from Rodney’s early life that folks might find interesting:
Many folkies think that all the clogging, buck dancing and flatfooting and string band music only occurred in the Mountains in the Southern United States. Not true! Folks all across the south in the mid to late 1800's were playing traditional string band music and dancing - learning new tunes by listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the Radio and cranking their Victrolas, playing all of the great string bands recordings. I will admit that due to the arrival of electricity and improved roads, these traditions did die out sooner than in the rugged Mountains.
I was raised in rural eastern North Carolina smack dab in the middle of the Bible belt, attending school with some kids whose churches did not even allow them to dance. My family were members of the small Outlaw's Bridge Universalist Church that my Great Grand-mother had co-founded in 1905, an open minded and liberal church surrounded by Baptist and Pentecostal churches. There was also a small school across the road from the church where my dad, starting in 1936, played both banjo (4 string), harmonica and piano for the Saturday night "square" dances- they really danced the Big Circle dances with the same call that most people associate with the Appalachian Mountain region. The school house had two big class rooms on each side of an auditorium that included a small stage. Folks would move all of the desk out of two rooms that were adjoined by a door between them and they would place the piano in the doorway, open the top and my dad would play while two different fiddlers and other musicians would play the same tune in each room - the piano keeping them all in time together. There would usually be a caller in both rooms or sometime they stood on the piano and called for both rooms of dancers. The school closed in 1956 when I was 6 years old and we held some dance in the rec room of our little church. There were at least 2 older fiddle players who attended church with us, plus Mr. Faison Smith, who was a clogger/buck dancer. Many other folks in our community clogged, including my uncles and aunts. I would watch them dance and I tried to pick it up, and kinda made up my own step, but believe it or not I was kinda shy back then! Somewhere around 1964, our youth group helped renovate the old school house into a community center and I took western square dance classes there with my parents. I was only one of 2 teenagers who took the class. On the final night at our "graduation" our caller was sick with the flu and his wife brought his record player and I was the only one willing to call the dances and so I called my first dance that evening, a singing call - "Just Because".