Flat Footing at FSU

By Kelli Wilhelm, 336.001

The cool September air did little to deter attendance at this year’s Appalachian Festival. College students walked in and out of their dorms, dogs strained at their leashes, and community members of all ages wandered among the tent exhibits. Amidst the chatter and the faint strains of bluegrass music, the ringing sound of tap shoes against a wooden platform and a lone fiddle had drawn a small crowd to the tent standing at the far end of Frostburg State University’s upper quad.

Becky Hill’s Appalachian Step Dance Demo held the attention of the small audience. Becky Hill danced on a narrow wooden dance platform to the left of the fiddle player. Her brunette hair swung in time with her steps, and a bright smile lit her face throughout the presentation. The bulk of Hill’s demonstration consisted of a traditional Appalachian dance somewhat like clogging called flat footing. Quoting from a worn leather volume, Hill described this dance as one which “was caught not taught.”

Following a jig to the accompaniment of a song originating from Edward Isle, Hill invited audience members to learn some basic flat footing steps. The group who ventured to the front was a clear mix of college and community. Hill first instructed the small circle of participants to bounce up and down adding that “All flat footing is dealing with this kind of bounce.” The group quickly moved on to other specific steps, such as the step-slide. The mixed sounds of the heavy clack of tap shoes, the hard thud of work boots and the soft shuffle of tennis shoes beneath the steady tempo of the fiddle filled the small tent space as the group moved on to the square dance. Hill reminded the now more hesitant participants that “The whole origin of this dance is just having fun and being silly.” In the above image, Becky Hill (in back) instructs participants in the square to "swing their partners." The resulting square dance was not without its fumbles, but it was also not without laughter.

Following the participants’ dance, Hill reclaimed center stage and described a new program she is helping to start, Mountain Dance Trail, which will attempt to preserve the unique and/or traditional dance steps of the Appalachian area, because “That’s what [this dance style] is about, having that freedom, that safe environment to do whatever you want.” In order to further emphasize this statement, Hill demonstrated the unique Juba dance or hambone. This technique consists of patting the arms, legs, chest and cheeks to create a rhythmic sort of music. To accompany the movement, Hill sang a song to match the rhythm:

Juba dis and Juba dat,
and Juba killed da yellow cat,
You sift the
meal and ya gimme the husk,
you bake the bread and ya gimme the crust,
you eat the meat and ya gimme the skin,
and that's the way,
my mama's troubles begin

Hill quickly had the audience mimicking her movement in a simple hand to leg rhythm as well as singing the song. The final dance Hill demonstrated was the Shim Sham, a common tap dance. This lively dance was performed a cappella.

In her final remaining minutes of the show, Hill once more picked up her book of quotes. Choosing one spoken by a dancer named Pauline Zimmerman, Hill said, “This is how I approach dancing: ‘Flat footing is a jubilant spirit within me— my own style of dancing.” In smiles and steps this jubilation was present throughout Becky Hill’s Appalachian Step Dance Demo.