LEWISBURG, WV (WVNS) — Lights, Camera…Clog! Those are the things that come to mind when seeing the Lincoln County Cloggers Dance Team perform.
The U.S. Cellular Stage at the State Fair of West Virginia was packed as crowd-goers filled their seats to see this incredible traditional Appalachian dance team perform.
59News was able to get a word with this traditional Appalachian Dance team about their whereabouts and to learn more about them.
Liza Joan Hofmann, a Lincoln County Clogger from Lincoln County West Virginia, along with Tosha Smith, another fellow Lincoln County Clogger both from the Lincoln County Cloggers Dance Team were excited to share their love and history of the sport and what they and the rest of their team have brought to the State Fair of West Virginia.
“I personally have clogged for approximately 17 years , and my former clogging team director has since retired, so this is a continuation of that group,” said Liza when asked about her history of the team.
Tosha then added, “This is my fifth year, and Liza and I have took it over [the team] from the previous teacher, 3 years ago, and we have been building our team ever since.”
The fair isn’t the only place they’ve performed. They’ve performed locally in West Virginia and out of state as well.
“We have performed at the Tamarack, we have performed at the Sternwheel Regatta…we have performed in Ohio at several fairs there, we will be at the Pumpkin Festival this Fall and we have a complete line up of festivals and things around the state,” Tosha said proudly.
Liza also ecstatically shared, “Next weekend were going to be at out local community, the Lincoln County Hillbilly Days. We will be performing there, and then the following week in Hurricane, West Virginia at the Cupcake Festival.”
The team keeps growing as well, with Tosha and Liza as their veterans. They have dancers as young as 9 years old who are on the team and excited to perform at shows. As of now, it has a total of nine people, which include both children and adults.
“Liza is our veteran. She’s been here with us for 17, 18 years, [Liza chimes in, “I’m 52″], and I’ve been clogging for 5 years and I am 47. My daughter Anna has been clogging, this is her ninth year. She is [almost] 17. Ava has been clogging for 5 years as well. She is 11. Abigail has been clogging for 4 years and she’s 10. Addie is 9, and she began this past March with us. Her brother James also began in March, and David as well. James is 12, and David is 14, and Brandy began in March too and those are her 3 children,” said Tosha, who explained the history of their growing dance team family.
Liza also added that Tosha sews all of the outfits, from dresses to aprons, and the boys vests and ties as well, which shows the love and dedication they have for each other, as a growing family and team.
Occasionally, they offer classes in the Fall or right after the beginning of the new year, which they advertise on their Facebook page at Lincoln County Cloggers. This includes a line up of festivals and other places they’ll be performing around the Mountain State.
You can contact Tosha on her cell phone at 304-688-5637 to book performances as well, which include mini Christmas programs, Halloween performances and Irish performances, or anything that they’re available for.
They were recently at the Celtic Calling this past March in Charleston, which Liza happily shared that she is 6 and half months pregnant with a little boy and in his very first days of conception he was in the Celtic Calling festival dancing with her, so with that message, she hopes the tradition of this Appalachian dance team goes forward into the future generations.