January 2007

- By Donna E. Duke -

Act Three refers to seniors of any age who are happily engaged in activities that keep them youthful and enjoying life to the fullest. For some this is their chance to fulfill life-long dreams or ambitions.
 by Donna Duke

One look at Jackie Eagle and you know she loves to dance as much as she loves to teach. She has a smile that lights up her eyes and her enthusiasm for dance is immediately communicated to her students. Clogging must be very good exercise because Jackie is not only slender and fit, but also light on her feet as she demonstrates the many various dance steps.

Jackie is a perfect example of a person fully engaged in Act Three. At age 76 she is still instructing clog dancing. A person needs a lot of energy to take a group of people in their third act of life and teach them a new way of dancing. It takes a special kind of patience, as well as commitment, to endure the stomping and clomping that passes for dancing by the energetic and youthful seniors in her class.

Clog dancing has been around for hundreds of years. Its North American roots are in the Appalachian Mountains. The term 'clogging' comes from the time when the dancers wore heavy wooden shoes. Today, dancers wear shoes similar to a tap shoe with steel plates on the toe and heel. There is a second, loose 'clacker' on the toe that strikes against the fixed steel plate. The footwork is fast, the torso is quiet and the knees move up and down. It can be an individual dance but is often done as precision dancing by a group cued by a caller. This is what the group of fifteen seniors is learning at the Water Street Senior Centre. In ten weeks they have learned about ten steps and been introduced to six dances.

For Jackie, life as a clog dancer began in 1980, when she saw a demonstration by the Stony Mountain Cloggers at a square dance. Immediately smitten, Jackie sought instruction. After only two lessons and no teacher with whom to continue, Jackie armed herself with a book of instructions and set about teaching herself. No doubt her background in tap and square dancing contributed to the level of clogging expertise she was able to attain. Friends soon wanted to learn the dance that she had fallen in love with and so she began to teach in a church hall.

Unable to find instruction for herself in her home city of Vancouver, Jackie went south of the border in 1981 to California and the Southern California Clogging Association Conference. She attended these workshops for several years until she found a class in Seattle and drove there once a month. Jackie moved to Kelowna three years ago and has continued to dance with the Brightside Cloggers at the Westside Seniors Centre.

Jackie will be continuing with clogging dance classes at the Water Street Senior Centre in January. For info: 762-4108, check the website at www.waterstseniors.com or pick up a brochure.

Donna Duke  Act III