Last weekend, 300 or more Carolinians and guests got together in Santee to dance for two nights and an afternoon. They did the Shag.

The annual “Shaggin’ on the Santee” is hosted by the Orangeburg Area Shag Club, a longtime member of the Association of Carolina Shag Clubs. Some of the members are from Clarendon, Calhoun, Dorchester, etc. Guests came from other clubs in Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, N.C. and S.C., all to liven up the new ballroom at the Quality Inn.

Started in 1982, the club met in members’ homes to dance the night away. As the crowd grew, they moved to the old Ramada Inn at Santee. When it closed, the shaggers moved to LT’s Nite Life Club, where it still is.

Always played by disc jockeys, the music includes longtime favorites: “Just A Gigilo” by Louis Prima and Keely Smith, “Green Eyes” by the Ravens and “Annie Had A Baby” by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. Could our teenagers match that?

Nor is this a one-time-a-year frolic. Club President Judy Russ from Clarendon County says the members dance it up every third Wednesday night at LT’s. For more, the most enthusiastic head off to one of the association’s dozens of statewide bashes.

Where did this “Shag” come from. When did it start?

The answer’s not totally clear. Lewis P. Hall, author of “Land of the Golden River” wrote: “During the winter of 1927, weary of the fox trot and the waltz, I began giving thought to a new dance geared to a different tempo. Assisted by a lady friend, I worked out a pattern danced to a double-time beat. We named it ‘the Shag’ and introduced it to the dancing set during the second Feast of the Pirates Festival in Wilmington, N.C. in 1928. One of Lewis’ friends remembered that everybody at Wrightsville Beach learned the Shag fast.

Jim Bowers, disc jockey extraordinaire from Mt. Pleasant, says it has to be danced 130 to 140 beats per minute or isn’t authentic. He should know. With 28 years of his trade behind him, he now plays nearly every night at some function from Canada to the Bahamas.

WWII G.I.’s recall “jitterbugging” to Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller, etc. before heading to Europe or Japan. It’s 1,2,3, followed by a quick double step (a ball-chain), fit right into “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” But if the bandleader sped up the rhythm, it turned into a race. After a few years, dancers began slurring over step three, requiring less foot work. It caught on big! Ask today’s 30-year-old crowd what kind of dance they learned and they’ll say, “The Shag.”

Linda and Jimmy Joyce of Summerton served as co-chairmen of this year’s blowout. With Friday’s music (and dancing) by the pool in the afternoon and in the ballroom that night; Saturday afternoon’s free workshop with Barbara and Jerry Wade; pool games; womanless beauty contest; and that night’s dinner and grand ball, they raced to keep the pace.

Linda happily remembers her 15th summer at Ocean Drive five decades ago. That’s where she learned it.

Author “Fesaa” John Hook says: “The Shag didn’t show up in Carolina newspapers until September 1932, although other papers had featured it. Finally, the Wilmington, N.C. paper came out with a story saying the dance had become so popular that young people were shagging in tobacco warehouses as well as beautiful hotel ballrooms.

“It isn’t the smooth ‘flat on the floor’ steps of former years but a basic, bouncing tap, a combination of the Charleston, trucking and the Varsity Drag. Vacationing Yankees took it back north.”

And so it went on from then until today. Too bad teenagers don’t seem to be enjoying dance steps of any kind anymore. On TV we only see them standing crowded in concert halls, holding their hands high above their heads and jigging to the uproarious sounds on the stage.

This may be wilder but has little effect on the shaggers. Through the late 1900s, Ann Moore of Holly Hill and her late husband taught dozens of people the steps. Forty years later, she still comes to one of the club’s third Wednesday night get-togethers in Santee occasionally and relishes every step. Ethel and Robin Hood from Elloree are long-timers too.

Besides dances, the club has special events. In the fall, Mickey and Al Wilkerson host a big oyster roast at their Rocks Pond home. The Christmas party, which features a holiday feast followed by shagging, is held at Santee Cooper Resort’s clubhouse.

Members emphasize that their organization isn’t all frolic. They are proud of the group’s charities. Last week’s ball raised several thousand to help finance the Parker Miracle House in Charleston, a home for cancer patients and families.

Frieda and Reese Earley of Orangeburg joined in all the stomping about ten years ago. Now regulars, they say: “It’s fun, gives you exercise and a whopper of a good time.”

Ask Jim Bowers which shag tunes have been the most popular of all time and he has a ready answer: “Sixty-Minute Man” by Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “Carolina Girls” by the Chairmen of the Board, “I Used To Cry Mercy, Mercy” by the Lamplighters, and “Miss Grace” by the Tymes. If you have other favorites, come and Bowers will turn them.

Note: Many thanks to Reese Earley for his help in gathering all this history.

Happy shagging!

T&D Correspondent Thomas Langford can be reached by telephone at 803-534-2097. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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