The Camp Clog Team

Toby Bennett

Toby is a well-known clog dancer who also plays fiddle. He started with clog dance in the 1980s and quickly moved through other forms of dance, including Appalachian clogging, west-coast swing, morris, rapper, ballet and contemporary dance. After a career as a professional dancer in Belgium, and teaching dance for many years in higher education, he has now turned his focus back to step dancing. He is particularly interested in working closely with musicians.

Toby was a member of the, recently disbanded, folk band Stepling (playing floors with his feet!) and is currently working with Simon Harmer as dancers in Lewis Wood’s show Footwork Live. He also teaches at a regular class in Derbyshire where he lives, at festivals, and in recent times on Zoom! www.tobybennett.org.uk

Jen Cox

Jen is the current Chair of Open Morris, with an extensive background of morris of every kind! She came to clog and step dance relatively recently, and dances with Theale Tattoo and Mabel Gubbins Rapper, along with many morris teams. She is a whistle player, singer and percussionist whose proudest lockdown accomplishment has been learning to play a tune and clog dance at the same time!

Jen has organised the dance content at Wallingford BunkFest for over 20 years, and this year has joined the Folk Weekend: Oxford committee. She is also involved with organising Oxfolk Ceilidhs, and creating opportunities for people to dance (and eat cake) is her raison d’etre!

Jo Taylor

Jo discovered folk music at university in Sheffield where she enjoyed ceilidhs as well as sessions and played for Eastwood Rapper. In subsequent years she has been a happy musician in ceilidh bands and sessions particularly around Adderbury where she met Jen, whose persuasive skills and enthusiasm eventually encouraged her to start dancing again by going to Oxfolk Ceilidhs.

Jo attended the first Camp Clog as a complete beginner to step dance. She is now the proud owner of both dance shoes and clogs and is enjoying the journey to find exactly which bit of the step dancing world is her thing. She had such a wonderful time at Camp Clog that she found herself volunteering to help organise the next one so that even more people can enjoy the opportunity to make music and dance together.

Sara Rose

Sara started clog dance in her teens with Turnberry Castle a North West morris team, who also performed step clog. She later went on to become a founder member of Applejacks where she developed her passion for Appalachian and flatfoot stepping, later becoming a founder member of City Clickers where she extended her stepping dialogue. She went on to create Oracle a youth Appalachian dance team in Reading and currently leads and choreographs for Restless Soles and Willington Morris who are based in Derby.

Sara is best known as a Flatfoot dancer and has twice won the Gainsborough Old Time festival dance competition. She was a member of the Buffalo Gals Stampede and continues to perform with the Buffalo Gals.

Sara has a rich background in dance of all flavours including contemporary and social dance. She is passionate about dance being inclusive, accessible and an opportunity for creative expression.

Sara is also an experienced musician having played melodeon in a small ceilidh band and is now indulging in the art of playing old time fiddle.