The Floyd Country Store is well-known for the traditional music played in and around the Store and on occasion you will find someone holding a wooden doll by a stick from its back, making it dance in time with the music. These dancing dolls, or “Limberjacks,” swing their legs and tap their toes on a flexible wood board balanced and tapped on a knee. Their arms and legs swing freely with limbs attached by wire, pins or eye hooks at the shoulders, hips, knees, and sometimes ankles. The movement of their limbs allow these dolls to dance to the music, with a little help, of course! Limber Jacks, (or Limber Jills) are also known as Jig Dolls in the UK and Australia, and they have been popular with street performers for hundreds of years. Older versions of the dancing dolls looked more like marionettes, dancing with the help of a string attached to the performer’s leg. Sometime in the mid-19th century this string was swapped for a held stick, and the dancing dolls became popular homemade toys in Appalachian homes where there was often music played by families for entertainment.
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Whether you call them Limber Jacks, Jig Dolls, or Dancing Dolls, these wooden dancers are lots of fun to play with and personalize! The Floyd Country Store carries both plain, undecorated Limber Jacks and customized dolls from local Floyd artist Linda Ray. Linda creates these dolls to look like musicians you might see at the Store or other popular figures (like sharp-shooter Annie Oakley). If you are feeling creative, grab a basic Limber Jack to decorate yourself! We’ve held a few decorating workshops at the Store in the past, and have a few tips if you are looking to create your own personal dancing doll:
- Clothes made for small dolls (like Barbie clothes) work well on the plain Limber Jacks available in the Store, and can be an easy way to customize your dancing doll.
- Yarn works well to create hair, as is or unwound depending on the look you’re going for. You can also find doll hair affordably at most craft stores.
- Fabric pieces glued to your doll make for easy clothing
- You can also use acrylic paint to color on clothes, shoes, and facial features. Markers might bleed on raw wood and aren’t recommended.
No matter how you decide to decorate your Limber Jack, we encourage you to get creative! We would love to see where your imagination takes you, so please be sure to share your creations and tag us on Facebook or Instagram @FloydCountryStore.
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