Our repertoire also includes Clog Dancing, with wooden-soled clogs adding percussive impact to the rhythms of hornpipes, waltzes and reels.

Clog dancing originated in the North of England over 200 years ago. Clogs were worn by workers in the cotton mills where the wet floors were unsuitable for leather soled boots. However, clogs perform well on damp surfaces. The mill workers began to imitate the rhythms of the new  weaving machinery, and the style also became popular outside the factories as “champion Cloggers” and music-hall turns adopted the style.

Pennyroyal performs clog routines based on steps from the North East and North West of England, and from Ireland.

Appalachian dancing from the southern Appalachian mountains of the USA is a mixture of many traditions from several different countries. English Clog dancing, Irish Step dancing and Scottish Highland dances have been combined with native American and African dance to give a unique rhythmic style, accompanied by music which draws on English, Irish and Scottish traditions.

Garland dancing is based on English Folk dance traditions, the dance patterns being echoed in our brightly coloured flowered garlands forming a spectacular display. The dances display the shapes made by the garlands in the figures of the dance with simple steps rather than the intricate footwork of the clog and Appalachian styles.

Garland dancing was popular with the mill girls in the North of England as an alternative to the Morris dancing of their men-folk. Hoops were decorated with flowers made from scraps of fabric or ribbon from the textile mills in which they worked.

Many of our dances are adapted from traditional dances, but some are “home grown” based on other dances we know and traditional figures and tunes.