Groups from Canada, Mexico, Finland and Holland gathered on the steps of the Tennessee state capitol with the Cripple Creek Cloggers in 1993. Photo Submitted
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When settlers from the British Isles sought refuge on the distant shores of North America, they brought more than just themselves.
They also brought English, Irish and Scottish folk traditions in the form of song and dance. Those traditions were preserved for generations in isolated sections of the Southeast, including Middle Tennessee.
“The Appalachian Mountain region is rich in folk traditions,” Steve Cates said. “The hills and valleys of Middle Tennessee have been a part of all this since the late 1700s.
“On the ridges round and about Rutherford and Cannon counties, we had communities that were isolated and where dances and songs and stories were preserved simply because these folks did not mix and mingle,” Cates continued.
For 42 years, Steve Cates has preserved the folk traditions brought by the early settlers to the Southeast with the Cripple Creek Cloggers, in which more than 2,000 dancers have learned and preserved the old-time traditions.
The dance group formed as a 4-H Share the Fun Activity at Kittrell School in 1967, after Cates began teaching there in 1963. He retired from Rutherford County Schools after 40 years in 2003.
Initially, the group was only open to Kittrell students but was opened to the community when Cates transferred to Bradley Middle School in 1969.
Ten years later, the group began traveling the world taking the uniquely American clogging dances with them. Cates took the group a step further in 1982 and started the International Folkfest to bring dances of the world to Middle Tennessee, as well as introduce local folk dances to new generations of cloggers.
“This began for us in 1978 when we were invited to such a festival in San Juan,” Cates said, adding the group will return to the same festival this summer. The cloggers then traveled to Spain and Portugal in 1981.
“We wanted people here to have the ‘international festival experience’ and since we could not take them there, we brought it here,” he said.
Thus began the Murfreesboro summer tradition of International Folkfest.
Since it’s humble beginnings, Folkfest has brought more than 2,000 dancers from more than 100 different foreign lands to Murfreesboro, Cates said.
Groups from Belgium, Germany and Italy will be added to the list when Folkfest takes to the streets of the ‘Boro Sunday through Saturday, June 14-20.
The groups, along with the Cripple Creek Cloggers, are slated to perform for clubs, civic organizations and the public throughout the week.
The Center for the Arts stages the first public performance at 6:30 Tuesday night with the main performance beginning on stage at 7:30 p.m.
A second public performance is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Central Christian Church on East Main Street for a musical interdenominational service.
Friday night, the old street festival returns to downtown with an international theme.
“Locals enjoyed and truly missed the street festival so much that we brought it back,” organizer Sharon Petty said.
Beginning at 5 p.m., musicians will stroll the sidewalks and the groups will stage performances throughout the night. A Lil' International Parade of local children in their native traditional dress will delight the crowd, as will a performance by the Rigney Family Bluegrass Band from Normandy, Tenn.
Local international groups will have “pride booths” of their homeland, some with music and dancing in the streets, all in clothing of their ancestry.
“Everyone has roots and we want everyone to show pride in their heritage,” Petty said.
In case of rain, the performances will be held at The Vine at 118 W. Vine St., one block off of the square.
The groups will also start some knee-slappin’ fun Saturday at the Stones River Mall from noon-7 p.m. in the lifestyle courtyard with a full performance and vendors.
Cates said some of his favorite memories of the past 40 years with the Cripple Creek Cloggers have been at public performances.
One of Cates’ favorite memories is of dancers from Latvia, “who came at a time when they were first being allowed to be a ‘country’ again.
“The singing of their national anthem, which they had been forbidden from singing for more than 40 years, was really emotional,” he said.
The group also performed a “weaving dance,” which Cates considers one of the all-time best dances performed in Murfreesboro.
Cates also likes to hear from locals about how the dances were done years ago.
“I remember our group performing at Stones River Manor and Mrs. Maude Youree Brainerd, a native of the Cripple Creek Community who was then a resident, telling us about playing a game called ‘Rosabethalina’ and actually demonstrating how it was done,” Cates said.
Cates also recalled his cousin Lena Alexander Hunt and her husband Bob talking of “old-time parties,” called candy breaks, where the dancers got so raucous they actually broke floor boards and joists in cabin floors.
“If some semblance of these traditions is not preserved, then they are lost,” he said.
And he is doing his best to pass along the cultural heritage to the next generation and beyond.
“Our group prides itself on helping not only to preserve them here, but also to helping others around the country and the world to know of them,” Cates said.
“Often, as we travel, we hold workshops where we teach our form of traditional dance,” he continued. “And, if we are lucky, we have some great hoedown-style music, as we have this year for Folkfest and for our trip in July from the Rigney Family Bluegrass.”
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com. |
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