Celebrating the Shag.
Dubbed as the “swing dance of the South”, the Carolina Shag relies on beach music. It is a partner dance. And, it is the State of South Carolina’s official dance. It started along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in North Myrtle Beach.
The Technique
The basic step in Carolina Shag is a six-count, eight-step pattern danced in a slot. The rhythm is similar to six-count Swing in that it is triple step, triple step, rock step or counted as “one-and-two, three-and-four, five-six”. Eight shag dance steps are in the basic pattern. The “one-and-two” and “three-and-four” steps should take about as much time to complete as the “five-six.”
History of the Carolina Shag
The term “Carolina shag” originated along the Atlantic Ocean in Cherry Grove Beach, during the 1940s. The CarolinaShag is a descendant of Carolina Jitterbug, and its predecessor, Little Apple. Little Apple which was the white version of the Big Apple. Its origins came from Columbia, South Carolina in 1937. Whites sat in the balconies in the black clubs, after “jumping the Jim Crow rope” to watch the dancing.
Fun Facts about the Carolina Shag
The 1989 film, Shag, starred Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates, Annabeth Gish, and Page Hannah. It follows four high-school friends on their last road trip together before graduation. Filmed on location in Myrtle Beach, the movie, of course, features the dance.
In 1997, the country music band Alabama recorded the single called “Dancin’, Shaggin’ on the Boulevard” referencing this style of dance and the band’s own history of playing at the Carolina shore where the dance originated.
In mid- to late August 2018, SiriusXM satellite radio added a channel called “Carolina Shag.” SiriusXM describes the channel as being “dedicated to the vintage R&B sounds that have meant Summer in the Carolinas for decades”.
From Wikipedia.com, the free encyclopedia.