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The Official State Dance of South Carolina is the Carolina Shag. There are many stories of how it got started and where it got started. I know a lot of people that will say the first time they were exposed to shag dancing was at Fat Harold’s. I am positive all the clubs on Main Street Ocean Drive probably have helped introduce many shaggers to the community. I know there are a lot of great clubs ( past and present) that have helped build awareness for the dance and music we all love. I have a couple of different questions today. Answer either or both.
I would love to hear some more great stories like we had last week when I asked who taught you the basic step?
Do you remember which beach club you were in when you first saw the shag dance? How about the location of the first time you got on the floor after being asked “Do you Shag?”
Tell us in the Comments Below
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Crazy Zack’s in late 70’s when I was a student at UNC. Frequent Friday happy hour hangout. Great times!
When I was 10 years old (summer of 1957) our family was vacationing as usual with family friends who owned a home on Windy Hill Beach, SC. As was our habit, we set up on the beach in front of the pavilion beside the pier. For most of the week I spent our beach time at the pavilion watching the teenagers doing the “basic” to music from the jukebox. As a tap dance student I was fascinated with this dance and practiced the steps using the jukebox (no door knob in sight) as my partner. I returned home to Newton, NC and shared the steps with my girlfriends and younger cousins. Unfortunately the male step stuck and I spent the next 30-some years leading on the wrong foot!! After joining Lake Hickory Shag Club in 1989, I worked diligently to break this habit and relearn the lady’s step with the help of teachers Harold and Helen Beaver, Susie Beaver and Patty McIlroy among others. Shagging has been an enjoyable part of my life for 60 years now and has brought me incredible experiences with the best friends in the world!
In 1968 I was a soph at USC and myself and two friends came down to OD on Labor Day weekend, had $20 in my pocket when I left home, had never been to OD before, but what a time. Went to the Pad and saw the shag for the first time, didn’t even know what it was but it has turned out to be a life long fun event shagging since. Definitely not a high stepper, just good enough to really enjoy the state dance.
My initial exposure to Shag dancing was at Studebakers in MB. It was the mid 1980’s and I was on a golf trip with 7 other guys from York, Pa.
I was big fan of R&B and Motown music and while in high school in the late 1960’s, we did the jitterbug. I fell in love with the Southern version of the jitterbug immediately.
It took years before I returned to MB with my wife and together we learned to Shag.
In 1954 , I was at the O.D. Pavilion and was introduced to SHAG and dancing to the “best music on a jukebox”…in those days , I had grown up loving/ listening to “soul music” and dancing a style from American Bandstand….Immediately fell in love with and attempted to learn SHAG….at age 76 , I can make about every other song and last about 1/2 of it LOL. Eventually graduated/aged up to THE PAD across the street on Ocean Blvd. What a wonderful time in my life and the greatest of memories. Thanks for allowing me to have “Flashbacks” and keeping Shag alive!!!! “When I die , prop me up beside the old jukebox at OD…..
Thank you Ronnie for sharing that memory of the Pavilion and the Pad!
I was at The Barrel in OD . I also remember a club in Myrtle Beach at The Landmark Resort.