Loy Sampels (Powell Butte) was raised in North Carolina near the home of American clog dancing, the hollows of Appalachia. For the past thirty years as an instructor, choreographer, and cuer, she has championed the contemporary clogging dance form across the US and Canada. Sampel’s Sunshine Exchange, now with second and third generation dancers, is based at The Clog House in Redmond.
Bio
Loy Sampels was raised in North Carolina not far from where clog dancing originated in America, the hollows of Appalachia. In her youth tap, ballet, ballroom dance, along with piano lessons, gave Sampels her first exposure to the arts. She became immersed again in the late 1970s and early 1980s—the “formative years” of clogging in central Oregon—when she and a friend signed up for a beginner’s class in clogging. Her life changed forever. All the skills she had been exposed to in the arts soon fell into place. Not one to delay, Sampels along with a few of her classmates began traveling to workshops elsewhere to get ahead. They soon outgrew their instructor. At one point Sampels traveled with a small group from Oregon to the National Clogging Convention in Texas. This group returned to forge the clogging tradition in Oregon. All this newfound exposure set Sampels on a new course. Now, some thirty years later, she continues her work as an instructor, choreographer, and cuer at workshops and dances across the US and Canada. Samples’ Sunshine Exchange cloggers, now with its second and third generation dancers, is based at The Clog House in Redmond. “Clogging isn’t just a dance form,” Sampels explains, “there’s a whole community of people, and there’s a whole activity that provides relationships. And the best part is the personal growth that you can get for yourself if you invest in it time-wise.”
