Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Nelson. She shared her story with us below:
The All-American Cloggers are a percussive rhythm dance team who have performed together since 1984!
Founded by Cindy Metcalf, originally as The Kids of Zion and then, with the popularity of Clog dancing in the Mountain West region, the Southern Utah Stompers, changed their name officially to the AAC to more accurately depict their role as ambassadors to Japan in 1988 where they performed as part of a political campaign and shared American patriotism and culture with the Japanese population. Since this first international tour, the All American Cloggers have furthered their goal to spread patriotism and preserve the heritage of America through traditional percussive dance in Mexico, Canada, Germany, and throughout the United States.
Cindy Stirland Metcalf was a master tapper and protege of the original Step Brothers member Maceo Anderson. She won numerous talent competitions including the finals of The Eugene Jelesnik Talent Showcase television hour which often featured acts from The Osmond Brothers.
For four decades, the AAC has taught students the history and technique of the American heritage dance styles of clogging and Tap. They offer students opportunities to share these unique styles with their community and offer a traditional and refreshing alternative to modern dance.
Cindy’s legacy is continued by her daughters who direct the AAC as a nonprofit organization with the mission to nurture, promote, and advance American folk and percussive dance in the City of St. George to preserve and perpetuate American heritage dance as part of the lives of its residents.
Current classes include beginning through championship levels and are influenced by Tap, Clogging, and Irish Step dancing. The technique is taught from a musical and rhythm foundation to students who range from ages 3 to 81!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The popularity of Tap dancing diminished in the 1950s as every little girl’s dream faded from a new pair of Tap shoes on Christmas morning like those of Shirley Temple, to ballet slippers. The big MGM studio productions that centered around Tap disappeared and rhythm dance receded into the pockets of the Jazz clubs and Harlem street corners where it grew up. But there were those of us in love with Tap who carried the steps and rhythms of the original Copasetics forward and preserved them for future generations.
For decades, we were often the only ones in Utah who were Tapping or even knew about the history and authors of Tap. When everyone else jumped onto the Modern dance wagon, we were reverse engineering Ann Miller’s syncopated rapid-speed musical epitaphs and memorizing Fred Astaire’s Begin the Beguine. We were and are different and for a long while, swimming against the current was lonely.
But it was worth it.
In the 2000s, rhythm dance made a tremendous cultural comeback. Acts like Micheal Flatley’s Riverdance and Savion Glover’s Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk marked a tidal wave of interest, appreciation, and spark for a new wildfire of percussive dance, and we were ready.
Tap dancing is the story of American History and Clogging is the heritage dance of immigrants who settled in the West. Because we were Tapping, Clogging, and Irish stepping when no one else was, we were able to meet and take lessons from the originators of Tap before they died. Today, we get to pass steps from the founders of Tap to the future.
We had to travel across the United States to workshops and festivals. Take copious notes. Rewind and re-rewind countless VHS tapes to perfect our craft. Now, Youtube and social media connect hundreds of thousands of percussive dancers and help us protect our history and share it with the world.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Nicole is the current consecutive champion of the Utah Tap Fest cutting contest (2021, 2022). She grew up in a culture of percussive dance styles including Tap, Irish, and Clogging, and spent her childhood and youth touring, performing, and attending rhythm dance festivals with her mother, renowned Southern Utah hoofer, Cindy Stirland Metcalf. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Advertising, a Bachelor of Arts in English, and studied Spanish at the University of Granada, Spain.
Nicole lived in Manhattan taking regular classes at the Broadway Dance Center from Tap masters including Shea Sullivan, Avi Miller and Ofer Ben, Germaine Salsberg, and Randy Skinner before returning to St. George in 2006 to teach middle school. Along with directing the AAC, she instructed Tap courses for Diamond Talent Studios, and the dance department and Tap faculty member at Dixie State University.
Nicole attends Tap clinics and workshops across the country including the famed St. Louis Tap Festival, the Big Apple Tap Festival in New York City, and Soul to Sole in Austin, Texas. Her favorite instructors include the world’s fastest tapper, Anthony Morigerato, Brenda Bufalino, and the legend Jason Samuels Smith. As a private student of Tony award-winning Henry Letang in his last years, she reached an advanced level and performed his original choreography at Miss Utah 2000. She learned the Shim Sham Shimmy from Professor Robert Reed and an original set from the Lawrence Welk show from Arthur Duncan.
Her mission is to bring Tap education to broader audiences in Southern Utah, connect hoofers in her state, and offer Tap performance opportunities for audiences and rhythm dancers. She is also a champion of bringing independent Tap films to the DocUtah film festival and collaborating with local artists and dancers to celebrate the origins of Tap as music.
Performance credits include Disney Magic Music Days in Disneyland for 25 years, Disney World’s 25th-anniversary celebration, the Calgary Stampede, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and Ixcarat in Cancun. She has also performed in Japan and Germany. With her sister, she was a senior finalist in the 2017 & 2018 Dixie’s Got Talent competition.
Meg is an advanced specialist in Tap and clogging.
She studied ballet, jazz, tap, modern, and musical theatre at Diamond Talent Studios in St. George, Utah for more than ten years where she now teaches advanced tap classes.
Megan graduated in April 2015 with a BS degree in Human Development from Brigham Young University.
Megan was the winner of the New Jersey Tap Festival Scholarship, a worldwide contest. She has been a guest performer with the Dixie State University Dance Company, a three-time finalist in Dixie’s Got Talent, and an instructor at the Utah Tap Fest. She hopes to promote rhythm dance in southern Utah and share the joy of tap and clogging with any student whose idea of fun is putting on a pair of tap shoes.
Performance credits include Disney Magic Music Days: Disney World’s 25th-anniversary celebration; the Asparagus Festival in Nienburg Germany; and Ixcarat in Cancun.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
We are musicians and we work with world-famous musicians!
Even though Tap, Clogging, and Irish stepping are categorized as dance, we create music before we create dance.
When done correctly, percussive dance is taught first through bars and notes which we translate into complex rhythm with our feet and bodies. We are a dance that is heard as well as seen and our routines contain so much more content than other dance styles. Often, it is more natural for us to collaborate with music departments than dance departments and the best of our dancers must understand, be able to count and translate music theory to be successful.
Tap in particular developed alongside Jazz and the best Tappers are brilliant savant musicians whose ability to improve alongside remarkable Jazz musicians defies comprehension.
Recent performance collaborations include Riverdance with the Utah Tech Symphonic Band, Joy to the World with Jenny Oaks Baker, and Irish Christmas in America.
Contact Info:
- Website: AllAlmericanCloggers.com
- Instagram: @AllAmericanCloggers
- Facebook: AllAmericanCloggers
