Buck Dancing and Flat Footing | Appalachian Dancing

Appalachia (App-a-latch-i-a) is named for the Appalachee Indians.  The Appalachian Mountains begin in Belle Isle in Canada and continue to Cheaha Mountain in Alabama.  

Appalachia is not only a physical region, but also a cultural region, usuallyreferring only to the central and southern portions of the range.

The Southern Appalachians are in eastern Kentucky, southeastern Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Image and Information from Wikipedia

Buck dancing is freestyle solo dancing. Many of the buck dancer's steps are similar to basic clogging steps, but buck dancers add in more stomps and shuffles in order to make more sounds per beat than in regular clogging.

Irish, Scottish and English immigrants shared their dance steps, which evolved into Appalachian dancing.  Later, Cherokee Indian ceremonial dances and black minstrel shows probably  influenced dancing styles, too.

In buck dancing, steps are danced on the balls of the feet, then the heel clicks on the floor, and back to the ball of the foot. A buck dancer doesn't often wear taps like cloggers do. There aren't many documented buck dancing steps so people learned the dance by watching and imitating.

Buck dancers usually dance alone and in a small area of space. A buck dancer might even bring his own portable dance board. If other dancers join in, each one dances individually to the rhythm of the music without trying to imitate the dance steps of others.

  Photo by Arbogast Inn on flickr creative commons.

Flatfoot is a freestyle solo dance where the dancer keeps both feet close to the floor. There aren't many standard steps; each person just dances to the rhythm of the song. Flatfoot dance steps are made by sliding the feet with a shuffling movement. The shoes do not make a loud noise, like in buck dancing and clogging.

The body stays erect but loose, and the arms move only slightly to help with balance. If more than one person wants to dance, they each dance individually, but still to the rhythm of the music.

Flatfoot dancers dance in a small area; some even bringing their own portable dance board. Years ago, houses had small rooms. In order for several people to dance at once, especially in winter when they couldn't go outdoors, dancers had to dance within their own space and without swinging their arms.

You can flatfoot dance on any hard floor, on a porch or deck, or if you have a piece of plywood or your own portable dance board, you can dance anywhere you like.

Photo by EadaoinFlynn on flickr creative commons.