‘Good ol’ boogie woogie’: Columbia celebrates ‘Year of the Shag Dance’

Who can resist a good shag?

You know – dancing.

Any self-respecting, rhythm-having South Carolinian can’t, for sure. (Though, let’s face it: Some of us just don’t have the rhythm, do we?)

The mood was loose and fun – just like the state dance – as Columbia kicked off its weekend-long celebration of South Carolina’s “Year of the Shag Dance.”

“It’s all about swinging and spins and just going with the music,” said 26-year-old Corey Boyer, whose mother, Ann, pulled him out onto Main Street’s makeshift dance floor Saturday afternoon. He was up from Atlanta visiting her in Columbia for the weekend. “You can shag to rap. You can shag to hip-hop. You can shag to whatever. Just go with the music. It’s a very universal dance.”

Ann Boyer had the enthusiasm, but it was her son, she insisted, who had the shagging talent. He first picked up the skill as an eighth grader at Hand Middle School in a swing-dancing class, he said.

“You’re lifting your feet up, moving around, and it just feels like you’re out on the beach dancing on the beach every time you do it,” Corey Boyer said. “And that’s why it’s fun to me.”

The official dance of South Carolina since 1984, shag is a type of swing dance with beach-music roots planted along the Carolinas coast. Earlier this year, the state General Assembly passed a resolution declaring 2015 the “Year of the Shag Dance” in the Palmetto State.

“It’s just good ol’ boogie woogie, blues and beach music,” said Michael Kelly, a DJ for the Capital City Shag Club. “(You just have to) be able to count to six.”

Once you’re settled with the six-step foundation, it’s all about feeling the music and letting yourself relax, Kelly said.

The key to learning how to shag, he said, is to let yourself forget that you’re trying to learn anything.

Kelly and Andy Kalata were just beginning to settle into a shag rhythm Saturday, taking first-time dance lessons from shag experts (shagsperts?) who included the well-known local dance team of Breedlove and Richard Durlach.

The Kalatas, who live in Lugoff, had been wanting to take dance lessons together for some time, they said.

“It was something that we could enjoy together and relax, and it was fun,” Kelly Kalata said.

“It will change your life,” Durlach told the pair. “If you stick with it, you’ll love it.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2015 at 9:55 AM with the headline "‘Good ol’ boogie woogie’: Columbia celebrates ‘Year of the Shag Dance’."