Clogging their way into history
Published 10:48 pm Monday, November 3, 2008
Donna Riley can kick up her heels.
More than 30 years after she discovered clogging, Riley, newly retired from Norfolk Public Schools, still tirelessly promotes the traditional dance that is rooted in Appalachia.
Riley, in 1983, was one of the founding members of the Peanut City Cloggers. She has been the clogging team’s volunteer managing director for the past 17 years.
The organization, which practices weekly at the Bethlehem Ruritan Club, teaches clogging — traditional and contemporary — to youngsters from across Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina. Over the years, the team has produced multiple cloggers who won national recognition for their dancing.
Last month, Riley was rewarded for her dedication to the Peanut City Cloggers.
Riley accompanied two Suffolk cloggers — Heather Wilson and Sarah Wollett — to Maggie Valley, N.C., the clogging capitol of the world, to celebrate milestones in their dancing careers.
Wilson, a 17-year-old Lakeland High School student, was named to the America’s Clogging Hall of Fame’s All-American Team. Wollett, 14 and a Nansemond River High School student, was tapped for the Junior All-American Team.
Unbeknownst to her, Riley was in for an honor of her own, too.
She was inducted into America’s Clogging Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed on no more than two people nationwide each year, according to the organization‘s Web site. Nominees have to have clogged for at least 25 years and to have been a “positive influence in the preservation of the dance” for consideration, the Web site indicated.
“Absolutely, I was surprised,” said Riley, watching teenagers stomp and click across the floor during last Thursday’s practice.
According to nomination materials, Riley has always worked hard for the Peanut City Cloggers.
“She has spent hundreds of countless hours at the sewing machine making sure costumes were made, repaired or altered so that the team looked their best. …Even when none of her children were on the team, she continued to support and volunteer for the team.”
Like most arts, clogging can be done to all kinds of music. But in Suffolk, Riley has always made sure cloggers learned the traditional hoedowns before advancing to more contemporary music.
That’s difficult these days, said Riley.
“Every form of entertainment must grow and change with the times,” Riley said. “But it is important to know where it all began … and the traditional (form) of clogging is the most fun and expressive.”