NORMAL, Ill. (AP) - Seventeen-year-old Stephen Auten double-steps his feet while walking through grocery store aisles. He taps his toes while he’s studying for school. He clicks his heel during violin practice.
These beats are no nervous tic. He’s practicing steps for competitive clogging routines. Auten has won more than 10 grand championships in national clogging competitions.
“Clogging is more than just a hobby to me,” said Auten. “It’s fun and it’s good exercise. I like that it’s different from other sports like football and basketball.”
Clogging is an American folk dance similar to tap dancing, using complicated steps to stomp in time to music. It’s a fusion of cultural dances brought from Irish, English and Scottish immigrants to the Appalachian Mountains.
While the word “clog” may suggest a clunky wooden shoe, the metal-tipped footwear closely resembles dress shoes.
Auten tried these shoes on for the first time in 2006, when a family friend asked if Stephen and his sisters would like to try clogging lessons with the local group, Sugar Creek Cloggers. The four of them decided to join.
“We had seen clogging at Silver Dollar City and we thought it would be fun to try out,” Auten said.
His parents, Julie and James, were happy to see their four children take up the activity together. At age 8, Stephen was the youngest member of the group.
“There were quite a few grandmas in the group when he started,” said Julie. “But it’s definitely something people of all ages can take part in.”
In 2008, Stephen began competing in regional and national championships. By 2014, he had taken home grand championship trophies from competitions hosted by Clogging Champions of America in Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana. Each performance is usually ranked by age, gender and overall.
In each competition, he dons his signature hat, a fedora.
“I have around 25 fedoras,” said Stephen. “Each one is special and I wear one every time I perform.”
While Stephen performs with Sugar Creek Cloggers at events and festivals, he clogs solo at competitions, performing in two divisions: challenge freestyle and a capella.
“In challenge freestyle, you go on stage and the judges play a song. You have 32 beats to freestyle a routine along to the music,” he said. “When you perform a capella, the judges turn their back to the stage and just listen. The only sound is your feet — no music.”
While the authentic clog dance is still popular at many folk festivals and re-enactment shows, Stephen and other cloggers his age are part of the world of contemporary clogging.
“The fact that clogging has become more contemporary has drawn more young people to the small community,” said Julie. “The groups clog pop music now.”
Contemporary clogging also got a boost from the clogging group All That. Based out of Myrtle Beach, S.C., the group of nine is deemed one of the best male clogging groups in the world, competing on “America’s Got Talent” and performing in Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Hong Kong and Japan.
In 2013, the group started a competition called the All That Challenge. They posted clogging steps online to be learned and recreated on video and submitted for judging. Out of more than 100 submissions, Stephen and nine others were chosen to perform at the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, S.C., alongside All That. Stephen also was selected in the 2014 challenge.
Mike Curtis, a member of All That, said the group believes Stephen is one of the most talented solo cloggers in his age group.
“Stephen has exceptional sound. The footwork we posted online is not easy, but he does the steps right and doesn’t fake anything,” said Curtis.
In 2013, when All That was asked to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, they needed a few extra feet to substitute for them at the Carolina Opry. Stephen was one of the first cloggers they called.
“We are extremely picky about who fills in for us,” said Curtis. “With Stephen, we don’t have to worry about him. He always learns the steps the right way.”
Stephen, a home-schooled high school junior, plans to continue clogging when he heads off to college.
“I’ve been looking at Mars Hill University in North Carolina. They have an awesome group called the Bailey Mountain Cloggers, who have won a lot of competitions,” said Stephen.
His parents hope Stephen’s love for clogging will continue to flourish.
“He has never had a personal instructor; he has only worked with Sugar Creek Cloggers. So who knows if he’s met his potential,” said Julie. “Ideally, as a mom, I’d love to see him go to college during the day and be a part of the clogging theater shows in the evening.”
Stephen is currently an instructor for Sugar Creek Cloggers, but he has bigger plans for his future clogging path.
“I don’t want to be an instructor forever,” he said. “It’s hard when I have to teach beginners the basic steps when I just want to jump right in to the complicated stuff. I like to perform most of all.”
Stephen hopes to perform on stage and turn it into a career.
“Many theaters require dancers to be at least 18, so a lot of things will open up for him once he’s that age,” said Curtis. “The fact that he is as good as he is proves that his future is bright. He projects well to the crowd and he is the epitome of a great kid.”
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Source: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, https://bit.ly/1ERs51t
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Information from: The Pantagraph, https://www.pantagraph.com
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