• HOME
  • FEATURES
    • Best Of Cover Shoot
    • Pet Owner’s Stories
    • People
    • Places
    • Issues
    • Remembering
    • Things
    • To Do
  • DEPARTMENTS
    • Finance / Real Estate
      • Financial Articles
      • Top 10 Most Expensive Homes Sold
      • Real Estate
        • Real Estate Experts
        • Articles
    • Attorney Directory
    • Ask the Experts
    • Business
      • Belle Hall Shopping Center
      • Lowcountry Women in Business
      • MP Business
    • Entertainment
      • Golf
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Food & Drink
    • Giving Back
    • Health & Wellness
      • COVID-19 Articles & Resources
    • House & Home
    • Learning
      • Wando High School
    • Love & Marriage
    • Pets
    • Relax & Retire
  • Read Magazine
  • MORE MAGS
    • Charleston Women 👩‍🏫🏢
    • Lowcountry Cuisine 🧀🍷
    • Best of Mt Pleasant Mag 🏆🏆
    • Charleston Women in Real Estate 👩🏘️
    • MP Business Mag 🏢
    • MP Pets 🐶🐱
    • Charleston Independent School Directory 🏫
    • MP Senior Living 👴👵
    • More Mags
      • IOP Mag
      • SI Mag
      • MP Town Hall Magazine
  • OUR TOWN
    • MP Town Hall
    • MP Town Council
  • DIRECTORIES
    • East Cooper Church Directory
    • East Cooper Fitness Directory
    • Local 2019 CPA Tax Directory
    • Mount Pleasant Apartment Directory
  • SUBSCRIBE

Mount Pleasant Magazine

Mount Pleasant Magazine (Mount Pleasant, SC) informs residents and visitors about people, places and happenings around our area.

Vote in Charleston's Best in Health
  • Best of Mount Pleasant
    • Best Of Winner Articles
    • Best Of Results Current & Past
    • Best Of Winner Articles
    • Best Of Magazines
    • Best Of Videos
    • Best Of Party Photos
    • Best Of Plaques
  • Podcast
  • Local Events
  • Our Winners
  • Advertise
    • Advertise With Us
    • Media Kit
    • Video Testimonials
  • MORE
    • MP Neighborhoods
    • East Cooper Online Network
    • Real Estate Experts
    • Attorney Directory
    • News
    • Contact

Shagging – Myrtle Beach, SC – Mt. Pleasant, SC

Posted by MPM 2 Comments

Shaggin’ on the Cooper is a spring and summer tradition at Mount Pleasant ’s Memori a l Water front Park pier.
Across the country, at weddings near and far, folks flock to the dance floor for the Electric Slide. The YMCA sends party-goers’ arms flapping into the air. The Twist makes even the tamest wallflower bloom to the occasion.

Here in the Lowcountry, there is a dance with an absolutely passionate following, and those who take to the dance, live the dance. It is the Shag. In 1984, with the stroke of Gov. Richard Riley’s pen, the Shag became the official dance of South Carolina. Its roots burrow deep beneath the Lowcountry. According to various accounts, The Shag, or Carolina Shag, evolved in the 1940s and 1950s as a mutation of dances such as the Jitterbug and the Lindy Hop. It also bridged the divide – sort of – between “white music” and “black music.”

For years, people had danced to swing and big band music. Even after the rhythm and blues music of black artists crept into dance halls, it remained taboo on most radio stations. Nevertheless, white teenagers gathered around coastal jukeboxes to embrace the new and exciting sound.

Since 2009, when the Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park pier opened, live bands have delighted dancers at Shaggin’ on the Cooper.
Some swear that Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, is the birthplace of the Shag, while others argue that it was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Regardless of where the Shag drew its first breath, most people agree that teens felt the jerky movements of prior dances did not fit the relaxed beach life, so they created a smoother version. Referred to as “beach dancing,” it gained traction in the Carolinas.

“Most instructors today, if not all of them, use a sixcount basic, which is a triple, triple, rock step,” explained Ellen Taylor, a well-known personality in the Shagging world. “The Shag is a smoother version of the old Jitterbug. Instead of heavy footwork and busy upper body movements, it is a calmed down, softer, sexier style.”

Taylor lives in Edisto Beach, southwest of Charleston. A North Carolinian by birth, she grew up in Winnsboro, South Carolina, just above Columbia. As a teenager in the ’50s, during family outings to Myrtle Beach, she visited the Pavilion Club, where the Shag reigned.

“Once you dance the Shag, it becomes part of a lifestyle and you just have to,”

South Carolina’s first lady of Shag, ellen Taylor, and husband Carl dance at the Pad in Myrtle Beach.
Taylor said. Taylor honed her Shagging skills in North Myrtle Beach – at places such as Robert’s Pavilion, Sonny’s Pavilion and the Pad. In the late ’50s, when she and her husband moved to the Charleston area, she continued to follow her passion – dancing regularly at spots such as the Folly Beach pier.

“The people you meet and the friends that you make when you Shag become part of your family,” Taylor noted. Taylor has been inducted into the Shaggers Hall of Fame, recorded instructional DVDs and advised Julia Roberts and other actors about the Shag for the filming of “Something to Talk About.”

In recent years, she established the Ellen Taylor Foundation for Junior Shaggers and performed at the Grand National Dance Championship in Atlanta with “So You Think You Can Dance” winner Benji Schwimmer.

“The Shag is what I grew up with and is in my soul,” Taylor explained. “For me, to live is to Shag.”

Shagging is both a hobby and a passion for many Mount Pleasantarea residents. Disc jockey Jim Bowers, music director at 1340 AM The Boardwalk, started Shagging in the early 1980s, when a school friend invited him to a Shag class in Santee, South Carolina.

“I soon became drawn into the Shag and got caught up in the music,” Bowers recalled. ”The Shag is a joyful dance that the young and old at heart can enjoy without being judged.”

He has played beach music for Shag clubs from Pittsburgh to the Bahamas.

“The Shag is great since it has many ties to the Lowcountry and particularly the coast. People in Charleston grew up either Shagging on the Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island or Folly Beach,” he explained.

For years, groups such as the Charleston Shag Club, the Islanders Shag Club of Folly Beach and the Summerville Shaggers have preserved the dance and music they love. In 2010, Bowers co-founded the East Cooper Shag Club. Members meet two Fridays a month at Zeus Seafood Grille in Mount Pleasant.

“Sometimes we actually don’t have enough dance floor since our club has over 300 members,” Bowers noted. “We have the largest Shag club in Charleston.”

From late April to early September, the pier at Mount Pleasant’s Waterfront Park comes alive with the sounds of beach music. Shaggin’ on the Cooper, organized by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, began in 2009 soon after the pier opened.

“All ages are invited to let loose, breathe in the ocean breeze and dance the night away under the stars,” said Sarah Reynolds with the CCPRC.

Live music is performed at the foot of the pier on a Saturday night each month and at the town’s Uncle Sam Jam on July 4.

The Mount Pleasant Recreation Department offers periodic Shag lessons, as do the local Fred Astaire Dance Studio and Elite Dance International.

“The Shag is being carried all over the country, from the West Coast throughout the Central and Eastern states and becomes more popular each year,” Taylor noted. “Our dance, the Shag, is very secure.”

By Amy Kehm

Sharing is Caring

Possibly Related:

Charleston Blues. Painted by Dana Coleman.The Art of Dana Coleman: Growing Up Gullah

Filed Under: Entertainment Tagged With: Summer 2012

Comments

  1. Ish Beverly says

    October 7, 2012 at 11:25 pm

    With a club of over 300 members, I think you should have a dance-night at least once a week. It would make it easier for us from out of town to visit.
    Thanks, Ish and Joan

    Reply
  2. Eileen Wiesmann says

    March 11, 2014 at 12:12 am

    When is shag week this spring in myrtle beach. I went last yr and I hoping it is april 22-27 2014.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search the Site


We're on Facebook We're on Twitter Mount Pleasant Magazine Youtube Channel We're on Pinterest Mount Pleasant Magazine Facebook Community We're on Instagram
READ ONLINE
Read the digital magazine now.
GRAB A COPY
Where can I pick up a copy of Mount Pleasant Magazine?
GRAB A COPY
At Welcome Centers & Airports
SUBSCRIBE
Get Mount Pleasant Magazine Delivered.
Pamper your pets at Hairy Winston Pet Boutique and Grocery!
Ascue’s Auto Body & Paint Shop, serving East of the Cooper for 50 years
Enter your pet in the East Cooper Favorite Pets Photo Contest
Read Charleston Women Magazine online now.
Suzie Smith, pet-friendly real estate agent/Realtor


Online Magazines

Mount Pleasant

Lifestyle Magazine

Read Isle of Palms

Magazine Online

Read Sullivan's Island

Magazine Online

Take a Bite

Lowcountry Cuisine Magazine

Georgetown, SC. Yummy Day Trips
Isle of Palms Magazine - family of sites logo
Mount Pleasant Magazine - family of sites logo
North Mount Pleasant Magazine - family of sites logo
Sullivan's Island Magazine - family of sites logo

Recent Posts

Podcast Episode 15: Jenn Cady & the Best Of Cover Photo Shoot

Podcast Episode 15: On this episode of VOICE for Mount Pleasant Jenn Cady talks with MPM Publisher Bill Macchio about the cover shoot for the magazine cover for the Mount Pleasant Magazine Best of … Continue Reading

Local Cheer to End the Year: Operation COVID Christmas

By Pamela Jouan Sometimes all it takes is a phone call to get the ball rolling on a great idea. When Mayor Will Haynie decided it was time to spread joy throughout Mount Pleasant, he started dialing … Continue Reading

Daniel Island Section

Keeping the Dream of Playing Tennis Alive: The South Carolina Junior Tennis Foundation

Since 1973, South Carolina’s Lowcountry has welcomed players from the Women’s Tennis Association once a year for the annual Volvo Car Open, North America’s largest women-only tennis tournament. … Continue Reading

Truly One-of-a-kind: 369 Ralston Creek Drive

Big cities certainly have advantages – culture, dining, employment opportunities and excitement. But face it: Sometimes people yearn for a peaceful, serene atmosphere where they can relax, raise a … Continue Reading

More Daniel Island Section Posts

SEARCH

Featured Pages

Mount Pleasant Apartments
East Cooper Online Network

Copyright © 2021 · Mount Pleasant Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Advertise With Us.