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Jeff Atkins: The Colonel of Clogging
by Joey Wilson
Jeff Atkins
Jeff with the Cole Mountain Cloggers
Daughter Abbigayle at the North Carolina State Fair
Clair Atkins (left) and Tommy Miller do the Rise and Shine
Cole Mountain Cloggers dancing on the Biltmore Estate
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Jeff Atkins has accomplished much since graduating from Mars Hill College in 1994, but he has a big issue to fight for.
"The style and flair of traditional clog dancing is beginning to be watered down these days," he says.
Atkins teaches kids clogging, and teaches them to respect its history and heritage as well. He is a short guy, would not be the best guy to have on a basketball team, but he can move his feet faster than anyone you'll ever know.
Atkins learned his first steps from a man named Lester Cody in Marietta, Georgia. Cody had started a club, and one of Atkins' friends said he was starting up clogging. "I thought clogging was something that happened to pipes that run water through your house," Jeff recalls, but he gave in to the idea of it, tried it one time, and really enjoyed himself.
"I was getting to the age to where I found interest in girls, and there are a pretty good amount of girls who clog," he said. He soon discovered that his own family had a long clogging tradition but had not passed it on to his generation.
Atkins' parents had divorced by the time he reached high school in Marietta, and he found a foundation for his life in dancing. By the age of 19 he was on his own, living in Atlanta and working at Terminix. He had many friends that wanted him to start a clogging team, so he began the Foxfire Clogging Team, based in Woodstock, Georgia, and began competing.
The Bailey Mountain Cloggers had already established a reputation in the clogging world when Jeff entered Foxfire in a clogging competition in North Georgia. The Bailey Mountain Cloggers were also there, Jeff remembers. "They were a great dance team; however, their routines were not designed for competition clogging. Atkins had been involved in competitive clogging for many years, and even though Foxfire made some obvious mistakes that day, they still outscored BMC.
Richard Dillingham, the BMC coach at the time, remembers thinking, "How can this happen? How can such a little team do so many tremendous things?" He guessed who had made it happen and went over to talk to the Foxfire Cloggers, and sure enough, Jeff Atkins was their team captain. Dillingham told him that his dancing just might pay for a Mars Hill education, and a couple of weeks later, Atkins responded. He enrolled in 1990.
He soon found a work-study position teaching PE 188 - Clogging for Beginners. Among them was Angela Brown. He didn't believe a teacher should date a student, so he didn't until after she graduated in 1992. She is now his wife.
After joining the Bailey Mountain Cloggers, Atkins contributed to four straight national titles, and in his fifth year, the team swept every category in the nation. "I bet we had to have won a least a good twenty trophies the years I attended Mars Hill," he says.
Jeff Atkins was part of the first Mars Hill team to ever tour outside the country. "The team was dancing an eight-couple precision routine on a stage in a public plaza in a Guadalupe, Mexico, and it came time to do the Rise and Shine," Richard Dillingham recalls. "Rise and Shine is where the team splits guys on one side in a line and girls the same, and it came time for Jeff and his partner to go down the line. Jeff moved his feet so well that the crowd in Mexico went absolutely crazy.
"After Jeff was done dancing and left the stage, people were coming up and asking him for autographs. Women asked him to kiss their babies, and everybody wanted to shake his hand. All of this was because he looked like he was from there, because of his style of dance. He danced with such energy and such foot speed, and the crowd went crazy like no other time in Bailey Mountain Clogging history."
Jeff and Angela have four daughters ranging from 3 to 12. He insinuates clogging into their lives, and they seem to enjoy it. It's been in their genes for generations.
Atkins has a day job at Sara Lee Bakery in Spruce Pine, but is still dedicated to teaching clog dancing to the youth of North Carolina. He gives classes at Dimensions Studios on the north side of Highway 213 on the way to Marshall and coaches a team called the Cole Mountain Cloggers. He says the team has a ton of potential and believes that clogging can take them as far as they want it to take them in life, as it has for him.
Reader Comment:
Sable Adams, sophomore, 4/29/2008, 2:02 p.m.
I absolutly love the fact that you are keeping clogging up after graduating from college as a BMC member! I write for the Hilltop and am myself a BMC, and the tradition of clogging I see will never be left behind, even after you do graduate!!! 1-2-3 BMC!
Jeff Atkins, 4/30/2008, 9:36 p.m.
I am honored to have been part of the BMC family! It was a wonderful time and I am so thankful to see Daniele and the current team carrying on the tradition!
Maryjoyce Barton, parent, 5/1/2008, 1:06 p.m.
I am Jeff Atkins mother, and I am very proud of him and what he has done to keep REAL clogging alive. All four of my children clogged. Out of the four, three of them teach clogging. I have nine grandchildren that also clog. Go to the Hiawassie Fair and you will see most of them!
Some of your facts are incorrect, but you got the jest of it.
K Drew, 5/1/2008, 5:34 p.m.
Jeff has had such a wonderful talent for years. I was a Presidential Appointment in Washington and worked on events for four Presidents. I truly wish Jeff Atkins could have been available to perform for all of them. What a great credit for talent and sharing to the next generations.
Corey Sides, 5/1/2008, 6:54 p.m.
Jeff is an amazing coach. I still remember the day they needed someone to fill in at Shindig. No one can replace Jeff Atkins. He has taught me and most of the team everything we know about clogging. Jeff still loves getting on the stage and doing rise and shine with us, and the crowd loves him. I am one of the oldest members of the team, and Jeff makes sure we have fun, and I know I will never quit clogging. Finally the word about traditional clogging is out. 1-2-3 CMC!!!!!!!
David Stephens, 5/9/2008, 10:30 p.m.
As usual, I am way behind the times...sorry I'm just now getting around to reading this. I had the priviledge of dancing with Jeff in our teen years. I am so glad to see that Jeff has kept the TRADITION of this fun and healthy hobby. I hope to see everyone again one day...maybe in Hiawassee!
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