Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
Date:         Mon, 23 Nov 1992 10:51:28 MST
Reply-To:     Folklore Discussion List <FOLKLORE%TAMVM1.BITNET@idbsu.idbsu.edu>
Comments:     Resent-From: Dan Lester <ALILESTE@idbsu.idbsu.edu>
Comments:     Originally-From: JULIE MANGIN
              <jmangin%ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV@idbsu.idbsu.edu>
Comments:     Warning -- original Sender: tag was
              FOLKLORE%TAMVM1.BITNET@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU
From:         Dan Lester <ALILESTE@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU>
Subject:      Talking Feet: the book
Comments: To: All fellow wordslers <words-l@uga.cc.uga.edu>

for the info of any wordslers of the clogging and dancing types, who may
have missed it on folklore.....    dan, the non-dancer
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
                              BOOK REVIEW
                  TALKING FEET: BUCK, FLATFOOT AND TAP
            SOLO SOUTHERN DANCE OF THE APPALACHIAN, PIEDMONT
                    AND BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN REGIONS

More than three years ago, Mike Seeger and Ruth Pershing released a
wonderful video, called *Talking Feet*, about solo step dancing in the
Southern mountain regions.  This book is a companion volume to the
video, and provides invaluable information on the dancers, their steps,
and the communities where they learned their dancing.

Both clogging enthusiasts and serious scholars of vernacular dance will
find this book enlightening and entertaining.  It contains a complete
background to the making of the video, including the project
methodology, explanations of the type of dance that was documented, and
advice to future dance documentarians.  Information is provided on the
sites of the filming, including the Mabry Mill in Meadows of Dan, VA,
the Carter Fold in Hiltons, VA, and The Stomping Ground in Maggie
Valley, NC.  Biographical sketches of each of the 24 dancers filmed
appear in the book.  Like the video, the book has the dancers speaking
in their own words about their dancing.  The book contains many remarks
by dancers that did not appear in the video, and which further
complement it.  Ruth Pershing has compiled "style profiles" of most of
the dancers, and "footlature" indicating characteristic steps of the
various dancers.

A surprisingly wide variety of dancing is found among the dancers,
considering the relatively small
part of the country that was studied.  Differences and similarities are
noted, especially between the buck dancing of the black dancers of the
Piedmont region and the dancing of the mostly white dancers of the
mountains of Western North Carolina.  Attention is also paid to the
contributions of Native Americans to this form of dance.

Interviews and panel discussions include some better known dancers,
such as Rodney Sutton, Burton Edwards, and John Dee Holeman.  Just as
important, however, are the remarks of people such as John Reeves, Fris
Holloway, and Eula Rogers, who grew up in communities with generations
of dancing traditions.

Both the book and the video are musts for the clogging enthusiast's
personal collection.  Both are distributed by:

    Flower Films
    10341 San Pablo Avenue
    El Cerrito CA 94530

Talking Feet, the video is available for $49.50 + $5.00 UPS (+8.5% tax
in CA).

Talking Feet, the book is $12.95 + $1.50 UPS (+8.5% tax in CA).



This review originally appeared in the October issue of The Daily Clog,
a newsletter devoted to old-time music and dance of the Southern
Appalachian mountains.  For more information, or a sample issue,
contact me at the address below.


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Julie Mangin                       The views expressed here are my
Publisher & Editor                 own, and do not represent those
The Daily Clog                     of the U.S. Government.
95 E. Wayne Ave. #312
Silver Spring MD  20901            Internet: jmangin@asrr.arsusda.gov
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