Home of Shag

Shag is a distinctive dance style long associated with the Cape Fear coast and the South Carolina Grand Strand. It evolved from early swing dances (possibly from the Charleston, the Lindy, the Varisty Rag and the Big Apple) in the mid 1930s and 1940s. There are reports that people were shag dancing at the Ocean Plaza ballroom (see pictures above) at Carolina Beach by the summer of 1948.

Choreographers today describe classic shag as a slotted swing dance (the couples tend to move forward and back on a track or “slot”). Considerable footwork and improvisation is involved.