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Styles of Clog Dancing
The Ellwoods - Johnson Ellwood (centre), Mary Ellwood (right), Angela Ellwood (left) |
In and around Tyneside, two families have dominated clog dancing for many years. The Ellwoods and the Farrells. Most traditional dancers on Tyneside can trace their steps back to either Jimmy Ellwood or Dickie Farrell, both of whom were in their dancing prime at the turn of the twentieth century. Here are some of the names you may hear of, divided by descent from these two.
Jimmy Ellwood: Johnson Ellwood (son), Mary Jamieson (grandaughter), Hyltom Pomeroy, Doris Hawkes, Brenda Walker, Sam Bell
Dickie Farrell: Tiny Allison, Jackie Toaduff, Ivy Sands
The Ellwoods
The Ellwood family's steps are perhaps the most commonly seen 'North East' steps. There are certainly a large number to choose from ... The Ellwoods have always favoured a 'competition' style in which the dancer's upright posture and ability to dance on the spot are all important.
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Sam Bell learnt to dance from Jimmy Ellwood and had two routines, one in hornpipe time and a set of particularly fine waltz steps which have become rather popular in recent years.
The Farrells
Dickie Farrell's daughter Lily has taught a few of his steps and a larger repertoire has been collected from Kit Haggerty who died in 1982. Mrs Ivy Sands has been a major source of information on the Farrell steps and has taught a 'single hornpipe' (6 steps), and 'double hornpipe' (8 steps) and about a dozen exhibition steps.
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Tiny Allison after winning the Hexham Championship in 1940
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Tiny Allison, a dancing teacher from Stanley, Co. Durham, taught many local dancers until her untimely death in 1982. Pre-eminent among these was Jackie Toaduff, who later performed professionally. On this clip we see Jackie Toaduff performing at the Albert Hall in 1956.
This short video clip is in RealMedia format and you will need to have RealNetworks RealOne Player installed for playback. | 
Click here to play video.
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To download free RealPlayer click here.
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For further reading on stepping click the link to the right to download our article.
Photographs reproduced by kind permission of the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum; Text reproduced by kind permission of Chris Metherell.
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