-[Woman VO] Nestled in the remote corner of southwest Virginia, this region captivates with its rugged landscapes, natural wonders, cultural attractions and outdoor adventures.

Experiences you'll only find in the heart of Appalachia.

Adventure guides available at heartofappalachia.com.

[♪ ♪ ♪] -[Male Narrator] In the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, a dance tradition as old as the hills keeps time with the rhythms of fiddle and banjo.

This is flatfooting-- an expressive, percussive dance deeply intertwined with old-time music.

Unlike clogging, which often features high-energy group performances and more rigid choreography, flatfooting is free-flowing, individualistic, and deeply connected to the pulse of the music.

For generations, dancers have passed down this tradition, refining their steps on wooden porches, in community halls, and at country stores where live music fills the air.

It's a dance of improvisation, where each step taps out a rhythm that blends seamlessly with the tune.

We step into this rich tradition-- meeting the people who keep it alive, witnessing its magic at the Floyd Country Store, and even learning a few steps ourselves at the legendary Galax Old Fiddler's Convention.

So put on your scootin' boots and join us on this journey into the soul of Appalachian dance.

[♪ ♪ ♪] ♪ Reuben had a train Ran from England to Spain ♪ ♪ You could hear that whistle Blow a hundred miles ♪ ♪ Oh lordy me, oh lordy my ♪ ♪ You could hear that whistle Blow a hundred miles ♪ -[Gina Dilg] We have played as a duo for pretty much as long as we've known each other, and when I started doing a lot more flatfoot dance-- which I think of as just kind of another percussive instrument to play-- we started to do more banjo and dance, or mandolin and dance, and have it as-- it kind of works almost the same way as like a fiddle-banjo duet, except for banjo feet.

There are a number of different styles of kind of percussive dancing in this music, and everyone will tell you different definitions for different things.

[♪ ♪ ♪] [Gina] Flatfoot, clogging, buck dancing-- they're all ways to participate with old-time music, and I think of flatfoot and buck dancing as being a lot more percussive.

It's a way, kind of-- you mark time.

You start with, like, a really simple step.

Has a lot of influences from, you know, English and Irish dancing, African American-- there's definitely some, like, Indian, Native American, influences in there, for sure.

The simplest way to do it is just to kind of, like, step-rock-step, right?

And that's kind of a clogging basic, and that's what you'll see.

I think they would call it more like freestyle clogging, and you'll see it if you come to the Friday Night Jamboree or any of the other kind of dances around here.

It's just this kind of step-rock-step in time to the music, and it's a way that people-- like little kids and all the way to people in their 80s and 90s can dance all night on the floor.

And so I think that's the most basic way to kind of participate with it.

And then you start to pick up a little bit more-- the sounds and the beats and the kind of the syncopations that you hear in the tune.

The goal is just to get people comfortable with moving to music.

For me--and Jason has said this so much-- that, like, old-time music is dance music.

And so if there aren't people dancing, then I don't feel like my job is done, like, as an old-time musician.

So I love teaching people to flatfoot and clog in order to get them to come out and participate and just liven up that music in the way that we love.

-[Jason Dilg] I think about how dance sort of evolved along with the music.

And so one of my favorite things has always been playing for dancers, because the things that we think of as fiddle tunes and instrumental old-time music is dance music.

And so when Gina started to dance and we started to work it into our performances, it elevated that a bit for me, because I've always enjoyed playing for dancers and square dances and barn dances and things like that.

It's so much a part of the culture and the music that it was fun to be able to be able to add that to what we do too.

-[Becky Hill] So, oftentimes I hold clogging, back-dancing, jig, hoedown... say, flatfooting.

You'll also just hear "dancing," and people be like, "Well, I just dance."

And I think what I love about all of those terminologies is that it reflects the sort of improvisational nature of these dance traditions.

With your dancing, most often you're improvising.

And so those are going to change-- those names are going to change regionally.

And I think that that kind of like, yeah, I think it encapsulates like, "Oh, this isn't just a static thing."

It's a living, breathing, changing, improvisational dialog.

I'd also say that oftentimes the term "clogging" would be centered on, like, team clogging.

So there's like a clogging basic, and maybe you're doing something in unison, and maybe you have a costume, maybe you don't, but it's like this unison sort of choreography.

There's also a whole genre of contemporary clogging, which is competitive often, and so that's in that world, whereas flatfooting tends to kind of be more labeled as, like, improvisational-- the same as buck dancing.

And like Lou Maiuri says, "It's a feeling that comes from within," is flatfooting.

And I kind of love that as a description, because it shows that it's slightly vague and that it is about this improvisational dialog.

[clapping] -[Jason] It is one of those things that, if you like ask 50 people, you get 50 answers, and it changes from region to region too.

Like, in one place they might call something, you know, a style "buck dancing."

In another place, they might call it "clogging."

-[Gina] Clogging is often done, like, in groups for performance groups, and there's still a number of them around.

The Green Grass Cloggers-- I think this-- they're like in their 53rd year, and they still have a group that's down in Asheville doing it.

And so that's more taking that percussive step that's kind of got a walking movement so that they can all do it together and then incorporate them with other moves.

-[Jason] I think that one of the things that I think of with clogging is, like, a lot of the steps involve getting the knees kind of high up.

And so, like, if I think about sort of the archetypical sources that old-time music and dance sort of came from-- like the Irish step dancers-- you know, the upper body stays pretty stiff, but the knees are coming way up off the ground, you know, and it's a pretty active, you know, acrobatic kind of dance.

And I feel like that carries through in the clogging a bit.

Like, what we think of as clogging, I feel like, bears a little bit more of that... aspect of the history of the music-- maybe a little closer to some of those Irish dance teams-- to what we talk about when we talk about flatfooting, which is, you know, a focus on sort of dancing the tune.

And, you know, Gina talked earlier about, like, the rhythms are pretty fast-- the tippity-tappity, you know, kind of stuff that you're trying to get a lot of times.

I think as the music evolved, with a lot of influence from African dance too-- I feel like if you were trying to do more of the tune you have to keep your feet lower to the ground.

There's not as much time to do the bigger steps.

And so if the flatfooting rhythms tend to--my ear-- tend to be a lot finer, like there's a lot more going on where you can actually, like, kind of hear the tune being danced.

-[Gina] So, clogging has always got this, like, [rhythmic gibberish] thing.

And whether you're doing it in a group or not, it may or may not be high or low.

Flatfooting is always pretty low.

Buck dancing, to me, is, like, even lower-- it's a lot more driven by the sounds that you get.

I think a lot of people that do buck dancing have learned that from Thomas Maupin, and so that's a step that I have.

And so I've definitely danced somewhere where I consider my style more flatfoot, where I think what Thomas says is he does buck dance with a flatfoot style, which I'm not really sure what that means.

I mean, all of this is folk dance, right?

So it's moving to the music and getting sounds out, and a lot of it has been passed on from people to people, so it gets distilled into whatever.

I feel like in this area where we are, it's so borrowed from everything, because people just kind of get out and they do what they want.

And so if you watch people on Friday night dance here they are doing a lot more of the-- I see a lot of, like, the clogging stuff.

But then there's also other things, because people are just moving how they feel, and that's how, you know, it should be.

[♪ ♪ ♪] -[Becky] The Floyd Country Store, for instance, is such a great example, because I feel like the role of that Floyd Country Store isn't about virtuosity.

It isn't about, like, the most virtuosic performer getting out there and owning the space.

It's about, like, one dancer kind of sidling up next to another dancer, and then they have, like, almost a little conversation on the dance floor.

And they might shuffle or do a little basic and then they go over and move over to somebody else who's doing it, and then move over, and so, like, throughout the room during the Friday Night Jamboree, people will dance with each other, and they're also sharing this really powerful unison of, like, shuffle-step-rock-step, shuffle-step-rock-step-- like this down-up-down-- that's happening to you, especially that sort of Virginia-style old-time music, which is hard and fast and driving, and everyone's accenting the downbeat.

So there's also this amazing chemistry that happens when it's [indistinct]-- when it's just kind of locking into the rhythm, locking into other people, sharing this unison but also inviting individual dialog while sharing unison, which I think makes it interesting.

Like, people aren't doing the exact same footwork, but they are accenting the same rhythms often, and so there's this little dialog that happens.

Also as a dancer myself, I really enjoy those moments when you're one-on-one with another musician and you can kind of lock into the melody.

Or as a percussive dancer, I could play the melody, or I could play the rhythm, or I could play a counter melody.

And I love when it's a one-on-one exchange, but I wouldn't want to be in a vacuum-- like, I wouldn't want to only do that.

I think that this tradition thrives and breathes and lives in that communicative dialog.

I think what I love about this dance is that it owns, like, right now.

I feel like my body and my dancing is a collection-- it's like an archive.

It's a collection of multiple people and voices and people that come from different regions.

And a lot--because it's kind of an oral tradition, both the music and the dance and the vocal traditions as well-- like, you get it from interaction.

You get it from community.

You get it from sitting across from somebody and eating a meal as equally as you get it from, like, dancing the corner at a square dance or sitting knee-to-knee playing a tune.

It's about that human connection, and that's what really draws me into it.

There's many people that I can credit from giving me that kind of one-on-one attention-- Eileen Carson, Sharon Lee, Leahy, Lou Maiuri, Thomas Maupin, the list goes on and on.

And I think what's also beautiful about it is that it's an intergenerational conversation.

So, like, I'm dear friends with people in their 80s and 90s that I call on the phone, and we talk philosophically about the meaning of dance.

And that is equally as important as learning their steps.

It's like you're learning who they are, you're carrying on their stories, you're carrying on their origins, but then you're also welcoming in your own interpretation into that dialog.

So you're passing it on, but it's also living and breathing.

And so there's change due to the world that we're in, or the world they were in, who taught me-- and that's what kind of makes it beautiful to me.

[lively folk music] -And if I'm dancing, I always get in the rhythm.

I always get in the rhythm with the band.

That guy right there does the same thing.

If he's dancing on the floor and the fiddler and the band's playing, you know, you get in a four-beat measure.

And I don't know how to explain it.

But the band-- I call it "drivers," a band-- they drive a tune, you see: and-a-one-and-two- and-three-and-four, and-a-one-and-two- and-three-and-four.

And then I always do my steps in four- and eight-beat measures.

And if I change a step, I change it when the band changes-- goes from one four-beat measure to the other.

And I'd always dance in time with the music-- always dancing to measure the music.

And I'll do steps that usually-- if I'm just dancing-- I'll do steps that are in four- and eight-beat segments so that I can change steps when the music changes.

And if you're dancing in competitions, you know, you have to do that.

You know, the judges will throw you out in a minute if you dance out of the measure of the music.

You get off time.

And I've danced in competitions all my life.

Won lots of World Championships too.

My age division.

[♪ ♪ ♪] -[Jason] But a fiddlers convention is all about the local folks and regional folks who show up to participate in the contests that happen.

And so there'll be fiddle contests and banjo contests and band contests and dance and flatfoot contests.

During a lot of the instrument contests, there'll actually be dance boards and people flatfooting along the sides of the stage during the contest, which shows how integral, you know, the community becomes around these things.

There aren't just audience members, but there's people that are participating as dancers, in addition into the music and dance contests on stage as well.

[♪ ♪ ♪] [Jason] I was going to say, like, Galax is probably, like, one of the best known of the fiddlers conventions, and one of the longest running.

[♪ ♪ ♪] [laughter] -[Brett Morris] I have been flatfoot dancing since I was a little girl and grew up in a musical family and going to Galax Fiddler's Convention, as well as all the other many events that we have around southwest Virginia and North Carolina.

Just picked it up through osmosis.

We are known for it, and for a good reason.

There's about somewhere you can go every evening or day of the week and find people dancing, anywhere from ages of toddler to up to probably 90-some.

There's still some old dance halls left, and the music just lends itself to flatfoot dancing.

It's what it makes you want to do if you're really into it.

Flatfooting is more about being yourself.

A lot of folks make up different moves, or they have their own signature moves that they're known for, but there are, you know, a couple of basic moves that do have technical names.

[Brett] I think it's hard to have a bad time if you're flatfoot dancing or square dancing.

I've said that forever.

It's impossible not to smile while you're engaged in that.

It's just a great way to be part of a community.

It's a lot of fun, it's great exercise, it keeps people young, keeps people healthy, and a great way to socialize.

This is the 88th annual Old Fiddler's Convention here in Galax, and it's been going since 1935.

They've only had to shut it down twice: once during World War Two and once during COVID.

So it's full speed ahead, and people come from all around the world to see friends that they only see once a year and play music and dance, and we have the greatest time.

It's the best celebration of old time and bluegrass music out there.

My older sister, I can remember when we were really little, I can remember her showing me the steps that she had learned, and I can remember us practicing at home.

But it was just the thing.

If you'll look around, you'll see all kinds of kids, gangs of children, just out there dancing and having a good time.

And that's my childhood.

[♪ ♪ ♪] So this is another easy step that will get you dancing really quick.

And for anyone who can remember as far back as the '80s pop culture, if you can remember the Running Man and get that in your mind, it's basically that, but much less exaggerated.

But it's sort of like a skip step.

And if you can learn to scoot your feet back-- and by the way, slick-bottomed shoes work best.

These are leather-soled.

So if you have a lot of tread, you're not going to be very successful with this sort of thing, because it's all based on sliding your feet back.

But this is just the basic sort of a buck dance step, is what I've heard it called.

But you'll start with your right foot again, and you just slide it back while picking up the alternate foot, and then again with the left.

So it's just basically this.

And most people can do that.

It's a great workout.

And then you'll see a little bit of that sometimes too, which can be a lot of fun.

[♪ ♪ ♪] -[Gina] You put yourself in the music as much as you can.

Go to things.

Come support the dances that happen, the jams.

You can show up with an instrument.

You can show up just step left to right, kind of thing.

The nice thing about the jamboree or the other kind of dances that happen around are the people will really bring you in and be really excited that you, you know, one, are there and want to be involved a little bit.

And you don't have to do very much and don't have to feel very self-conscious, because everyone's putting themselves out there, and it's a goofy-- you look goofy no matter what.

So you just start being comfortable with looking goofy.

[chuckles] And listen to a lot of it too.

Like, find bands that you like.

There's lots of playlists of old time music and find out, like, what tunes grab you, and it'll start getting in your head.

It's like anything.

You know, we teach a lot of kids music, and some of the first tunes I teach them are like "Twinkle Little Star," because it's in your head so you can bring it out in your fingers a lot easier.

So once you hear this music enough, it'll start to come out in other ways.

But if you are totally unfamiliar with it, then it's hard to connect your body to it if you're dancing, or if you're kind of learning an instrument.

So you can get really, really far along with it just by having it playing.

[♪ ♪ ♪] -[Jason] So, you know, just like not being self-conscious, no, not letting the ego get in the way of having a good time, you know?

Because really, there's a freedom in this community that is really not so available in a lot of creative communities or creative spaces, where we are doing something that's traditional in the sense of, like, traditional music and dance.

But there's a lot of freedom in the learning of it, you know?

There's a lot of freedom to make mistakes.

There's a lot of freedom to just have fun with it and not necessarily worry about whether it's perfect, you know.

It's really more about having fun with your friends and in community than it is about, you know, seeking perfection in music or time or anything.

[rhythmic tapping] [clapping] [♪ ♪ ♪] -[Female Narrator] Nestled in the remote corner of southwest Virginia, this region captivates with its rugged landscapes, natural wonders, cultural attractions, and outdoor adventures-- experiences you'll only find in the heart of Appalachia.

Adventure guides available at heartofappalachia.com.