2021 Buck dancing Contest
Categories, Judges, & Criteria

Buck Dance Contest Categories
Junior Buck Dance - 25 & Under
Adult Buck Dance - 26 to 50
Senior Buck Dance - 51 & Older
National Championship - All Ages
(pre-submitted video required - see below)

Buck Dancing Judges for 2021

Rebecca Stout - Los Angeles, California
Kory Posey - Knoxville, Tennessee
Hillary Klug - Nashville, Tennessee

2021 Buckdancing Contests

Maupinfest is excited to host the Old-Time Buck Dancing National Championship contest in the home state of Thomas Maupin and Robert Spicer, whose preservation of buckdancing earned them each National Heritage Fellowship awards from the National Endowment for the Arts.

This year the NATIONAL CONTEST will be a VIRTUAL EVENT judged by Charlie Burton, Phil Jamison, and Ira Bernstein. We are honored to have these three highly esteemed and titled dancers from across the nation to fairly judge the contest.

Eligible contestants must have previously placed in any buck or flatfoot dance contest in the U.S in any year. We are looking for the best of the best from every county and region!

To enter the contest, please email your video submission to tnoldtimemusicdance@gmail.com now through midnight August 7, 2021 (Central Time).

In your VIDEO SUBMISSION please include the following:

your name, where you are from, title of past contest you won, AND the contest name, “2021 National Buckdancing Championship.” The video must be made specifically for this contest.

(Ex: My name is John Smith from Louisville, Kentucky. I placed 1st in the Kentucky State Fair Flatfooting Contest in 2010. I am competing for the 2021 National Buckdancing Championship.)

Contestants should choose music within the old-time tradition. You may use live accompaniment or a recorded track if necessary. Contestants should dance through the tune TWO TIMES. You may choose to dance with or without taps, but hard-sole shoes are encouraged.

By submitting a video, contestants must agree and be willing to have their video shown at Maupinfest.

The 1st place winner will be awarded $250 along with a plaque!

A description of buckdancing is given below:

Buck dancing, also called flatfooting, is an ancestor of clogging but is a distinct dance. Ira Bernstein states in his book, Appalachian Clogging and Flatfooting Steps, “Clogging is more visual. It includes large, visually flashy movements such as high kicks. Cloggers lift their feet high off the ground. Flatfooting, on the other hand, emphasizes the rhythms of the steps. Flatfooters usually keep their feet close to the ground and are mostly concerned with making clean sounds that fit the music to which they are dancing.

Recommended resources:

Ira Bernstein’s book mentioned above

The documentary Talking Feet

Flatfooting Workshop by Ira Berstein

Flatfooting with Charlie Burton.

Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance by Phil Jamison.

Please note that fiddle, banjo, old-time band, and age categories for buck dancing will be held at Maupinfest on August 14, 2021 in Unionville, TN for all who wish to travel and participate. If you are entering the National Buck Dancing Championship you must submit a video by the deadline. All other contests will be held in person at the festival.

*The video shows 6 time National Champion Old-Time Buckdancer Thomas Maupin dancing to Terry Pierce & Summertown Bluegrass Reunion Band at the Museum of Appalachia during the 1998 Tennessee Fall Homecoming.