THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409210142
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
THE 20 MEMBERS of the Peanut City Cloggers competition team know the dance steps to success.
They are in a happy rut - dance and win, dance and win, dance and win.
The latest collection of trophies came from the Sept. 10 Mid-Atlantic Clogging Competition in Maryland. The Suffolk guys and gals competed with other teams from Virginia plus teams from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
There were five categories, and the Peanut people won first place in each one.
There's more.
``We won grand champion and we won in precision,'' said Donna Riley, assistant manager of the Peanut City Cloggers. ``We also had five solo winners - two in first place, three in second.''
The story was similar in July at the East Coast Clogging Championships at Indian River Middle School in Chesapeake.
``We took four first-place wins in four different categories - country hoedown, Kentucky hoedown, open hoedown and the line dance,'' Riley said. ``It was the first time we entered in country and Kentucky. You have to have boys for those, and we now have five.''
Four of the five boys entered that competition.
At first, as with many dance groups in the area, clogging was a strictly feminine endeavor.
``We're in our 12th year. Last year was the first time we had boys for our competition,'' said Riley, who credits the dancers and their instructor, Kelly Bowen, who teaches at Simonsdale Elementary School in Portsmouth. He has attended and taught clogging workshops and has judged competitions. Bowen began dancing when he was 9, starting with the Dixie Gold Cloggers of Portsmouth, later switching to the Flatland Cloggers, to many the most prestigious group in Hampton Roads.
Speaking of prestigious, Bowen is a former member of the All-American Clogging Team of 10 men and 10 women - dancers from across the country.
The dancers from Portsmouth next perform at Sleepy Hole Park on Saturday, during the National Hunting and Fishing Days celebration.
The Peanut City Cloggers will also perform at Peanut Fest, holding forth Oct. 8, on the Family Stage.
You can see them perform both modern and traditional.
``We still hold fast and true to traditional. The footwork is a lot more intricate,'' Riley said.
``We're getting more modern costumes for precision dancing,'' Bowen said. ``They're jazzier. For the traditional dances, traditional costumes.''
Speaking of tradition - the Peanut City Cloggers will try to uphold their winning tradition when they enter a national competition in Maggie Valley, N.C., Oct. 23.
``We were there in '91,'' Riley said, ``and we got two trophies.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
Instructor Kelly Bowen, center, leads two of the Peanut City
Cloggers, Shamus Riley, left, and Judith Mabe, through a routine.
The dance team won first place at the Mid-Atlantic Clogging
Competition in Maryland.
by CNB