National clogging title winner keeps busy spreading her art

ROYAL CITY – You watch someone like Makynlee Miller clog on the community stage growing up, and you admire what she can do. Then you think it's too bad she can't go somewhere with it.

Hold on now.

There are places to go, and Makynlee, now 20, is finding them. For that matter, Makynlee is probably going to create places to display her art-form.

“Clogging is really big down south and it's growing up north,” Makynlee said.

Practice - hard work is the translation – has allowed Makynlee to develop. Even people who didn't know clogging understood she was doing great things on stage.

Makynlee climbed to the top last year when she participated with the Rockin' B Cloggers, of the Columbia Basin, at a national competition in Nashville. The team did not win the title, but individually, Makynlee won the Masters A Capella national championship at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

“It was just great,” Makynlee said.

Some time this year Makynlee will hit the road again to dance with “All That” of Myrtle Beach, S.C. That group has appeared on America's Got Talent.

When she learned of this opportunity, Makynlee was told the top 10 across the USA would be selected. She was told to submit a video of her choreography and footwork. She did and made the top 10.

Makynlee doesn't know what this all means. She doesn't know if she could she be getting a shot at a long-term gig or a one-time show. Either way, she's excited.

“These are pro cloggers, she said.

Makynlee started clogging because her older sister Cierra did it first. Makynlee wanted to “follow in her footsteps. Then, as she found other interests, Cierra dropped out.

“I think she liked sports better,” Makynlee said.

Makynlee was 8 when she started, and she was serious. She went to the well-known Toby Black of Moses Lake that same year and started taking lessons. Black is the only teacher she's ever had.

Makynlee doesn't know all of the history of clogging, but she believes it's a mix of tap and Irish dancing. She is taking tap classes now to improve her clogging.

Makynlee graduated from Royal High in 2013 and went right into career development. She moved to Spokane and attended Paul Mitchell, The School, Spokane.

Makynlee is still a hard worker. She starts at 9:30 a.m. daily at the Zen Hair Studio. She gets off at 6 p.m. Then she goes to the Dance Emporium, where she teaches clogging or works on her own dancing for up to two hours.

“My goal is to build the popularity of clogging in Spokane,” she said.