The Carolina Shag

The Carolina Shag

With all due respect to Austin Powers and our friends across the Pond, Shagging is a form of ballroom dance. The Carolina Shag, for example, is a partner dance with six counts. Danced to a moderate tempo, the goal is to look like a Saturday morning cartoon where the characters are stationary from the waist up while the legs are going crazy as they dance. The male leads his partner through a series of spins, kicks and fancy footwork. If someone calls you a showoff, you're doing it right.

Note that it is not called the North Carolina Shag or South Carolina Shag, partly because it is the official state dance of both, and the citizens of both states still perform it proudly. An American creation, the dance began in the early 1930's with newspaper articles first mentioning Shag parties (not to be confused with a "Stag" party, as one article points out) in 1932. Hod Williams and his orchestra (is "Hod" really a name?) provided the music for numerous "Shaggers Nights," with tickets costing 40 cents for men, 20 cents for ladies, and 10 cents for children. Helon [sic] Powell Poole, quite the dance expert of the day, wrote an article called The Carolina Shag stating, "The shag originated in the South. It is danced mostly by the younger generation, the high school and college set. There are perhaps a hundred variations, some of which are very intricate." She goes on to outline the basic steps: the Kick Step, Box Step and the Triangle, and describes no less than seven combinations in detail. She is the first person to name the dance the Carolina Shag, no doubt because she proudly lived in North Carolina.

According to Ms. Poole, the basic Kick Step is performed by stepping forward with the left foot, kicking with the right foot, stepping back on the right foot, then ball change left to right. The Box Step begins with the left foot then drop the heel, step to the right, close the left foot to the right. Step back on the right then drop the heel, step to the left, close right foot to the left. Except for the heel drop, this is the standard Box Step that is the basis for many other ballroom dances. The Triangle is interesting. The left foot steps forward diagonal to the right, ball change right to left, step to the right and close left foot to the right. The right foot then steps back diagonal to the left, ball change left to right, then step to the left and close the right foot to the left foot.

It is interesting to note that Helon mentions there are "hundreds of variations" in her article, which is the first to even mention the dance. The term Shag by itself referred to a number of swing-type dances that were popular at the time, and continues in popularity although it is one of the lesser known dances today. There is a Carolina Shag dance scene in a 1989 movie about four high school buddies on a road trip called Shag that starred Bridget Fonda and Phoebe Cates.

So if you feel like dancing, don't be embarrassed about shagging your partner. Yeah, baby!