We investigated cluster and toroidal aspects of isoscalar dipole excitations in 12 C based on the shifted basis antisymmetrized molecular dynamics combined with the generator coordinate method, which can describes 1p-1h excitations and 3α dynamics. In the E = 10 − 15 MeV region, we found two low-energy dipole modes separating from the giant dipole resonance. One is the developed 3α-cluster state and the other is the toroidal dipole mode. The cluster state is characterized by the large amplitude cluster motion beyond the 1p-1h model space, whereas the toroidal dipole mode is predominantly described by 1p-1h excitations on the ground state. The low-energy dipole states are remarkably excited by the toroidal dipole operator, which can measure the nuclear vorticity. For compressive dipole transition strengths, a major part is distributed in the 30 − 50 MeV region for the giant dipole resonance, and 5% of the total energy weighted sum exist in the E < 20 MeV region.