Clogging is an American folk dance that has its origins in the southern Appalachian mountains. While it has strong ties to the step dance of the British Isles brought to the region by white settlers, clogging is also influenced by the traditional dance of native Americans and the solo "buck & wing" dance of American blacks.

Clogging is a misnomer, since in the U.S. it is not performed in clogs. Nevertheless the name persists, although in Appalachia this form of percussive dancing is often only known as buckdancing or flatfooting or just plain "dancing."

In the United States, clogging takes two major forms: traditional Appalachian flatfoot dance and precision (contemporary) clogging. Flatfoot clogging is found primarily in North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky. Cloggers in this style dance to live music, either string band music of the southern Appalachian mountains (featuring fiddle, banjo, and guitar) or bluegrass music. Interest in Appalachian dance was significantly revived in the late 1970's and early 1980's by the Green Grass Cloggers.

Precision clogging was developed around World War II and is danced to a variety of music, usually recorded, including rock, country, and bluegrass.  Contemporary cloggers often wear shoes with jingle taps and the emphasis is on everyone doing the same step at the same time as in line dancing.

Clogging has been steadily increasing in popularity. On any given weekend somewhere in the States or Canada, workshops are being held for cloggers and clogging group directors. Instructors and choreographers from around the world teach their clogging routines at these workshops, which are then brought back and taught to the members of local clogging groups.
 

Dancing at the 2007 Convention in Nashville