Cloggers are really happy hoofers

By NICK PISTOR

Special to the Post-Dispatch

08/12/2004

 from Columbia are happy hoofers

 They like the friendship, the performances in front of crowds, the travel and, most of all, the dancing.
Formed just two years ago in Columbia with eight people, the Thunder and Lightning Cloggers have grown into a well-known regional dance organization.

The group, which has 25 members ranging in age range from 12 to "older than baseball," performs more than 20 shows a year at music festivals and homecomings.

On Sunday, they will perform at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.

Lindell Webb, 66, of Columbia, president of the group, was introduced to clogging by his son, who also dances with the group along with his wife.

"In the late '80s, our son joined a group called the Happy Tapper Cloggers, which was a youth group that clogged to square dance routines," Webb said. "Clogging looked like fun, so my wife and I took some lessons and joined a clogging club. We have a great time with this activity."

The group practices once a week.

Clogging, a traditional American dance, is performed by dancers wearing a specially modified tap shoe, known as a stomper, which raises the sound of the shoe hitting the floor.

Each shoe has a metal plate sandwich fastened to the toe and heel. With each synchronized dance step the clogger takes, the metal plates strike against each other, making two noises instead of one, causing members of the group to say they "have lightning in their feet."

The Thunder and Lightning Cloggers dance to the music of the world: Irish, Latin, rock and traditional bluegrass. The group was the host club of a clogging extravaganza in St. Louis at the 1904 World's Fair Celebration at Forest Park in April.

They perform tap dancing numbers ranging from the Tennessee frontier anthem "Rocky Top" to the saucy Latin flavored "Viva La Fiesta."

For Susan Kennedy, 50, of Cahokia, the reason to join the group was simple. "I love to dance," she said. "Being a part of this group has allowed me to get a chance to dance all of the time."

She added: "It's a very rewarding experience to perform in front of a crowd."

Some members enjoy traveling Southern Illinois and Missouri meeting new people. Emily Webb, 28, of Waterloo said, "I love traveling to all of these great places and meeting new people. I've made so many friends since getting involved in this."

The group also gives her an avenue to continue her childhood love.

"I started dancing when I was 11 years old in a youth group," Webb said. "I'm extremely excited to be in a group where I can keep on dancing."