Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine, "Charmaine 'Lady Li-Lei' Slaven / Leaps into life with happy feet", by Paula Bock, Sept 17 2006
After careers as tattoo artist, veterinary assistant and office manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, 26-year-old Charmaine "Lady Li-Lei" Slaven decided to devote herself fulltime to her true love: Appalachian clog dancing.
With her banjo-playing sweetheart, Charlie Beck, and the Tall Boys Old Time String Band, she kicks up her heels and clickety-clacks on homemade wooden taps at weddings, square dances, farmers markets and the Pike Place Market. Depending on weather and the stars, the buskers take in between $5 and $100 in tips but give and get a lot more in joy.
"I grew up in Montana, a little town near Missoula. My dad's from the hills in Tennessee, and he used to listen to old country — Hank Williams, Patsy Cline — and he loved to dance. He'd take my mom out dancing a lot and dance with me when I was little.
I thought it was weird when I moved here; people were embarrassed to dance! I'd go to clubs and be the only one.
I never got formal dance training. Me and my sister would do the jitterbug, and we'd watch videos and try to figure out how to do the moves.
I first got interested in Appalachian clog dancing when a friend who played Irish fiddle showed me some steps. I practiced all the time, even when I was doing dishes. At the grocery store, I'd hear a song and sort of dance down the aisles. Some people call it buck dancing or flat footing. In tap dancing, they'll be going up on the beat while I'll be going down. It all ends up sounding the same, but techniques are totally different. Tap dancing and Irish dancing are more specific steps. Clog dancing, anything goes. You feel the music, change it, no song is ever the same.
When there's a live musician, you can feel the beat more and the energy of the musicians and make eye contact. When you dance, you're an instrument! The energy becomes almost circular if your body is loose and your technique is good.
I love going to the farmers market and all these little kids started dancing, and it turns into an impromptu dancing street fest. It's just an exciting thing to make people smile.
When you go, all you leave are memories, and you should just try to be happy every day of your life. Dancing makes me really happy. My dad passed away a few years ago. He had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, which is too bad because he would have really loved this."