When Tammy Cohen was 8, her mom signed her up for a youth clogging class in Bloomington. Then, on a whim, her mom approached the teacher about joining the 8- and 9-year-olds.

"I asked if I could do it, and she said, 'Sure,'" said Karen Cohen of Rosemount. She's not even sure why she did it, other than it seemed like something fun to do with her daughter. "I can't say it was for the exercise because I was not even concerned about exercise at that time."

Both mother and daughter fell in love with it, practicing several times a week in the basement.

Thirty years later, they still clog together in the Wild Rose Cloggers, a group Tammy started in 1995.

The group will perform for the pre-fireworks show at Inver Grove Heights Days, which runs Sept. 6-9.

Tammy, of Minnetonka, used to perform with local clogging group the Royal Sil-O-Ets and started the Wild Rose Cloggers, she said, because she wanted to do more modern dances. She incorporates songs like "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train or Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" into the lineup and opts for costumes like brightly colored T-shirts and leggings instead of crinolines.

"We like to break the rules," she said.

The age of the dancers ranges from 12 to 72, and one of Cohen's main goals is to get girls like 12-year-old Jillian Jacobson hooked early.

"I've been clogging half my life," Jacobson said. "It's really fun, and Tammy's a great teacher. You can choose, if you want, to make it hard. You can choose to make it how you want it to be."

That low-pressure atmosphere draws newbies like Amy Pikkaraine, 29, of New Hope, to the group's practices at the River Ridge Arts Building in Burnsville.

"I set a goal for myself every year," she said, "and this year, it was to learn how to clog. It looked like it was doable. It's something that I think all skill levels can do."

"I think Tammy is known for starting new people and young people off," said Patty Morrissey of Apple Valley. After seeing some clogging seven years ago at the State Fair, she said, "my husband and I were just there with our mouths open." She asked the performers about getting involved, and they directed her to Tammy.

"It's really a lot of fun. I can scream and yell, 'Ye-haw!'" she said. Tammy asks them to punctuate each dance with a couple of hoots and hollers, Morrissey said, which "just kind of encourages us because we get tired."

Morrissey, a former nurse, points out that her resting pulse is 60 and her blood pressure is 90/60. "When I go to the doctor, they're like, 'Is your blood pressure always this low?'" she said. "There are so many health benefits."

That includes mental work. The troupe learned 17 new dances this year, and the sequences, said 57-year-old Holly Haglund of Eden Prairie, require ample memorization. "I don't like Scrabble," she said. "I think this is good brain work."

"That's one thing I liked about this group," said Judy Gould, a 72-year-old from Apple Valley who has been clogging for 24 years. "You are always learning. It's a challenge for me."

Last week, Gould made it to practice even though she has a stress fracture and her doctor told her to limit exercise. "The doctor said to do what I can tolerate," she said. "I'm tolerating. I feel good today."

A clear example of the motto on the back of some of the Wild Rose Clogger T-shirts: "If you can end your day dancing, you can't complain."

Liz Rolfsmeier is a Twin Cities freelance writer.