Erie Canal Cloggers Instructor/Director Aliccia Clark was inducted into the Western New York Cloggers Association Cloggers Hall of Fame at the annual Nickel City Clogging Festival held in Grand Island, N.Y., the weekend of April 14. She received the recognition in the company of her fellow Jordan cloggers, who took part in the festival. “It is such an honor to be inducted into the WNYCA Hall of Fame,” Clark said. “It was definitely a surprise and I am very grateful. Clark said clogging is her passion.
“I love every aspect of it- the exercise, the fun, the people, the experiences and the joy it brings to me and others.” Aliccia has been clogging with the Erie Canal Cloggers and attending the Nickel City Clogging Festival for the past 18 years (since age 2). She has taught at festival workshops for the past two years. The four-day weekend in Grand Island brought together 650 cloggers from across the nation and featured all-day workshops, seminars, exhibitions and no shortage of fun dancing. Clark has been with the Erie Canal Cloggers since its inception. Her grandfather, Richard Hawker, along with Dale Burl and the late “Phylla Mae” Antos, founded the group in 1994. “I now teach all three levels of clogging as well as choreographing routines,” she said. “I consider members of the Erie Canal Cloggers my ‘clogging family’ because we all have so much fun together. I can’t imagine my life without clogging or the ECC.” The Erie Canal Cloggers’ next performance is from 1 to 4 p.m. May 14 at Marcellus Lanes, 4325 Slate Hill Road, Marcellus. To learn more about the cloggers, go to eriecanalcloggers.com or follow them on Facebook.