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Littleclogs

Littleclogs is the youngest member of Addison Rapper and Clog Dance Team, aged 7 years. She has been learning to clog dance since May/June 2011.
Her motto has become 'keep your feet still Geordie hinny' as she just can't stop her feet from dancing!

Addison Rapper and Clog Dance Team

Videos of traditional North East rapper and clog dances performed by members of Addison Rapper and Clog Dance Team.
Addison Rapper and Clog
Formed in 1977 by a group of friends who met at a folk club. The hotel in which the folk club was held had been in its former days offices to a colliery known as the Addison. So the team took their name from this colliery. The Addison stood on the banks of the Tyne at a place known locally as Hedgefield in the County of Durham. At this time there was not much left of the Addison, so the pithead winding gear, the focal point of any North East pit, was adopted as the team's logo. The team consists of around 30 members. We dance primarily around the North East at fetes, flower shows, pubs, civic events, everywhere and anywhere, including chip shops. At weekends we often manage to get further afield, travelling to Yorkshire Lancashire, or even as far as Norfolk. Recently we have been lucky to be invited abroad when we danced in France and Belgium.
The tradition
The heyday of rapper came between 1850 and 1930, during that period a large number of pit villages in Northumberland and Durham had their own teams and their own style of rapper dance performed only by their village. Most of these dances are now lost, but of the few which still survive Addison regularly dance three, the dances of Winlaton, Swalwell, and figures from the High Spen dance. It has always been associated with miners, and the modern kit still remains similar to pit clothes of the past. Clog dancing was introduced in the 19th Century (from at least 1870) when miners and mill workers wore clogs. Even small children used clogs for every day footwear. Tapping toes and heels eventually creating dance steps, became a popular pastime and so Clog Contests began. A Championship Belt would be the prize, although often a Purse of Coins would be the prize for the Challenge. We not only enjoy doing these dances, but feel that we are helping to keep alive some of the traditions of our area.

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