Rebecca Marine, of Gatlinburg, Tenn., and a clogger at The Comedy Barn, was recently named the Female Overall Grand Champion Clogger of 2004 at the American Clogging Hall of Fame Championship Competition held in Maggie Valley, N.C. Oct. 23 and 24. There is only one female clogger a year chosen for this award.
Marine also won the prestigious Melvin Sloan “Best of the Best” World Champion Female Clogger of 2004 and came in second in the Flat Foot competition. As a recipient of this award, Marine will travel to Nashville where she will have the honor of performing at the Grand Ole Opry on March 5 or March 12 clogging with Melvin Sloan.
Marine, 24, is the daughter of Robert and Debbie Marine of Gatlinburg.
“I enjoy when children come to the theater and tell me, ‘you are such a good tap dancer,’ or ‘you are the most wonderful dancer in the world,” she said.
Marine has dedicated most of her life to dancing. She has been performing since the age of 2. She has trained in all types of dance including tap, ballet, jazz and her passion of clogging. She trained locally in several dance studios and is currently a member of The Power Dance Factory where she trains under the instruction of Kevin and Janna Griffin.
“This title is the world championship of clogging,” Marine said. “I am pretty excited about it, I have been striving to dance at the Opry since I was 17 so this competition was a good day for me. This is about as exciting as it gets. This is a wonderful, wonderful award for me personally. This is a very big deal.”
David Fee, Owner of the Comedy Barn said, “Becca is a creative professional and is very passionate about her clogging. We are thrilled for her receiving this prestigious award. She is a wonderful entertainer and we are proud to a have her as part of our cast.”
Marine has competed in several competitions this year. She has won numerous solo grand champion awards as well as numerous duet grand champion awards with her duet partner Kevin Griffin (a former Black Bear Dancer). Through the years she has competed in hundreds of competitions where she has placed Grand Champion Solo Overall numerous times as well as Grand Champion duet many times with Griffin. She also won the coveted Ben Smathers “Best of the Best” award in 1997. As a recipient of that award she appeared on TNN’s Club Dance Show and she has also appeared on the Wild Horse Saloon Show. Marine was chosen in 1997 as a member to represent the America’s Clogging Hall of Fame Team. She is also a member of the Hall of Fame International and Millennium Teams.
Other titles Marine has won in the past include America’s All American Hall of Fame Clogger, American’s International Hall of Fame Clogger, America’s Hall of Fame Team of the Millennium, Numerous Overall Grand champion Solo Awards, Numerous Overall Grand Champion Flat foot Awards, Numerous Overall Grand Champion Duo Awards, Numerous Overall Grand Champion Team Awards, Overall Grand Champion Show Duo Awards and Overall Grand Champion A-Capella ‘Golden Tap’ Award.
Marine has been a clogger at the Comedy Barn for the past two years. “I have wanted to perform all of my life and I want to dance all that I can,” Marine said. “I am thrilled to be a performer at the Comedy Barn. I was born to dance and I enjoy learning something new every day.

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