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Do you shag? I mean Carolina style?

The Beginning (Lindy Hop)

My wife and I have spent the last couple of years learning and exploring the world of Carolina Shag, the official dance of the state of South Carolina, and what a journey it has been! We started our dancing adventure a little over 5 years ago through some Lindy Hop classes in Williamsburg, thanks to Wendy Lang Craighill and the lindy101.org group. After traveling weekly over to Williamsburg each week, we moved a bit closer to home with what became the Jazz Dance Education Council (JDEC) in Richmond, VA. Although short-lived, this group had a great impact on the vintage swing dance movement in the greater Richmond-metro area by adding many classes and live band swing dances once a month, calling them the R-Town Strutters Ball!

JDEC, as the group became known, held classes in several venues throughout Richmond, Va, and offers lessons in Lindy Hop, '20s and '30's Charleston, Balboa, and many other offshoots of swing dances originally performed in those eras. You can find swing dances on the first three Saturday nights of each month at the Dance Space in Richmond, VA. Each night has its' own flavor depending on the DJ and crowd and on the third Saturday there is always a live band playing authentic vintage jazz from the '30s, '40s, and early '50s!

Back to Dancing...

The instructors, at the time that we entered the group, were John Ennis and Ruth Brown (shown above) and they taught us how to enjoy the dance through good training, technique, and practice. But then, probably most importantly, they taught us how to make it our own and play with it...that is where the real fun begins. Like John said to me one day, "Learning to dance is like owning your own amusement park!". In many ways it is!

It's The Music (Carolina Shag)!

Although I am still a great fan of the Lindy Hop, I am not a great fan of vintage jazz. Much of it lacks a syncopated rhythm that I crave in dancing. As I was perusing through different genres on Google Play Music I came upon the likes of Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the James Hunter Six. I found that these types of groups were in rotation by the DJ's in North Myrtle Beach, in places like Fat Harolds Beach Club, Ducks Beach Club and the OD Pavilion. Not only that, but the other tunes that I discovered, through the website of the Association of Beach and Shag Club DeeJays, in their rotation took me back to my days as a young kid and the music that my Mom loved. It hit a spot, somewhere deep in my soul...that rhythm and blues of the late '50s and early '60s and the early days of rock n' roll!

Dancing to this music is like falling in love all over again. It takes me back to the fun and carefree days of my youth. The interaction that my wife and I experience during these dances and events is, at times, otherworldly! 
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