WCS vs. Shag
Don and Sharon
SFShagGal wrote:
>
>
Dave Chambers has asked, `what is shag`, is it a type of WCS?
We are also curious about this dance, but nobody seems to be answering
the question.
The only shag we know of is from the video by Alabama. Is this the
dance you are talking about?
Jack Gillis
I followed many of the articles here about West Coast Swing. One
article recently asked "What is a WCS" song. A reply described it
pretty well.
Now, around these parts, when that sort of music gets played, the
Shaggers come on the floor. My wife and I do WCS now and then but
nothing can match the Carolina Shag for that tempo music and we prefer
it.
Are there any Shaggers out there in this newsgroup?
SFShagGal
Jack Gillis wrote:
>Are there any Shaggers out there in this newsgroup?
YES! My dance partner and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we love
Carolina Shaggers. We consider ourselves intermediate, at best. The problem
is that there are no role models for us in the area. We are also West Coast
Swing dancers so the best we can do with our Shag is take private lessons with
Charlie and Jackie at every West Coast Swing dance convention we attend. There
are other West Coast Swing dancers in this area that are interested in Shag but
there's nobody to teach it. Several people have asked us to teach but we
simply don't feel qualified.
Recently, a young man moved here from North Carolina(?) and was going to start
teaching Shag in January but he ended up moving back home a couple of weeks
ago. We have met a couple of other Shaggers who have moved here from the South
but they aren't interested in dancing anymore.
So, if you or anyone you know are coming to the San Francisco Bay Area please
let me know. Keep Shaggin' and have a Happy New Year.
By the way, I have had to restrict my email at this address because the terms
'Swing' and 'Shag' have attracted some rather undesirable people sending me
email. I have added your address to the people I accept mail from but if
others want to reply privately they'll need to address their message to smertle
at the same internet provider as sfshaggal. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Sherri Mertle
Enough work, LET'S DANCE!
icl...@infinex.com
SM}There are other West Coast Swing dancers in this area that are
}interested in Shag but there's nobody to teach it.
Are you sure, Sherri? I thought both Kelly Buckwalter and Michelle
Kincaid were teaching it.
Missed you at the Metronome.
---
ş SLMR 2.1a #346 ş Learn the dance, not the partner -- Robert Fielder
ICONO CLAST in San Francisco - ICl...@Infinex.com UNREGISTERED
SFShagGal
>SM}There are other West Coast Swing dancers in this area that are interested
in Shag but there's nobody to teach it.
>IC}Are you sure, Sherri? I thought both Kelly Buckwalter and Michelle Kincaid
were teaching it.
Yes, I'm sure. Kelly was going to be 'assisting' George in January but since
he moved back home the class has been canceled. And if Michelle is teaching it
she sure isn't advertising it.
>IC}Missed you at the Metronome.
I had a feeling that since were so many dances none of them were likely to be
very well attended so I chose not to go dancing. And from what I hear I was
right. Hope you had a nice time.
Sherri
SFShagGal
>EJ}>I've watched you do shag, and you're way above intermediate! :-) Now, get
there and teach it.
Thanks for the nice compliment. I suppose that by West Coast standards we
appear to be beyond intermediate but we've had enough exposure to experienced
Shaggers to know that we really are just intermediate. But we're going to keep
working on it and one day we will hopefully be good enough to teach it. For
now we'll just keep taking private lessons whenever we can.
Sherri
Dave Chambers
Can someone explain what exactly "shag" is? Is it a variation of WCS?
JAnder8689
<<Can someone explain what exactly "shag" is? Is it a variation of WCS?>>
It's the swing dance of the South. Like WCS, it's danced in a slot mixing 6 and
8 beat patterns. Shag showcases the man rather than the woman as in WCS. Shag
dancers are smooth--they glide in and out, cool and relaxed. They are known for
their distinctive footwork. A lot of the music known to WCSers is also used for
Shag.
The most famous Shaggers are Charlie Womble & Jackie McGee who were undefeated
in more than 200 consecutive contests over 11 years on the Shag circuit. They
have also won several swing contests including the Classic Division at the 1996
US Open.
The first time Charlie & Jackie competed in the Open, everyone recognized that
they were not doing WCS, but nobody knew WHAT they were doing. Jackie, as is
typical for women in Shag, was calling out the steps. It is rumored that in her
judging comments,
Annie Hirsch wrote, "Woman talks too much." Now everybody laughs about that
story.
Keep the connection,
Janne Anderson
Editor/Publisher/Slave
In the Swing Magazine & New Attitude Dance Club,
home of the Swing Star Series Workshops
San Diego, CA
JAnde...@aol.com
M J
Don and Sharon wrote:
Shag is definitely a Carolina thing (north or south) with some
following in Georgia. It's very popular in Charlotte, NC and Charleston,
SC and is danced mostly to the beach music of the late 50's/early 60's
(not related to and pre Beach Boys). Groups such as the Platters, Tams,
etc. It is more like a smooth ECS than WCS. It is not a slot dance as
with WCS. I've been told whereas triple-step swing is danced or stepped
below the floor, shag is danced over the floor. It's a smooth dance,
often danced in sandals or loose loafers.
For more detail, check out either
http.//www.stancom.trident.org/shag.html (Shagatlanta) or
http://users.vnet/bbhunt/parties.html (Charlotte shag).
M J
M J wrote:
Let me try that again: http://www.stancom.trident.org/shag.html or
http://users.vnet.net/bbhunt/parties.html
SFShagGal
>>DC}Can someone explain what exactly "shag" is? Is it a variation of WCS?
>JA}It's the swing dance of the South. Like WCS, it's danced in a slot mixing 6
and 8 beat patterns. Shag showcases the man rather than the woman as in WCS.
Shag dancers are smooth--they glide in and out, cool and relaxed. They are
known for their distinctive footwork. A lot of the music known to WCSers is
also used for Shag.
Janne is describing a style of Shag know as Carolina Shag or simply The Shag
which happens to be my favorite dance. Since Dave didn't say where he lives I
think it's important to mention that there is another style of Shag. It is
referred to as St. Louis Shag and is danced to very fast (180+ bpm) music and
looks nothing like West Coast Swing. If you have access to some of the older
U.S. Open videos (1989-91 ish) you can see Jonathan Bixby and Sylvia Sykes,
from Santa Barbara California, dancing St. Louis Shag as well as other forms of
swing such as Lindy and Balboa.
I am quite partial to Carolina Shag myself but I feel compelled to pass along
this information since it can cause confusion in some areas of the country. I
live in the San Francisco Bay Area and about 10 years ago a visitor from the
South came to a dance on a night when most of the dancers were doing Jitterbug.
When he saw a couple doing West Coast Swing he said 'look, they're doing
Shag'. I thought he must not know anything about Swing dancing since the only
dance I knew of called Shag (St. Louis style) looked nothing like West Coast
Swing. It wasn't until I saw Charlie and Jackie's first U.S. Open routine that
I realized there was another style of Shag that looked a lot more similar to
W.C.S. than does the St. Louis style.
Sherri Mertle
Enough work, LET'S DANCE!
(Private replies must be addressed to SMertle1 at the same internet provider as
SFShagGal ... sorry for the inconvenience)
Victor Eijkhout
Don and Sharon <delt...@cgo.wave.ca> writes:
> The only shag we know of is from the video by Alabama. Is this the
> dance you are talking about?
That's it. There is another Shag, but that's about twice as fast,
and has a wholy different character.
--
Victor Eijkhout
Clif
Being away from the puter for a few days it is nice to see something about one of
my favorite dances, Shag, (Carolina style) posted here.
Being an avid, maybe even rabid, devote and creating as many partners as I can con
into it, I can understand how frustrating it can be not to have a lot of Shag
partners.
I think there is another name for the "St. Louis Shag", I think it is also called
Imperial Shag. (could be incorrect) I have seen Sherri (sp?) Lawson perform and
teach this one.
But it is good to hear that if I make it to the west coast I might still have some
hope of having a Shag dance or at least the intrest there to follow.
Ron Larkin
> I think there is another name for the "St. Louis Shag", I think it is
also called Imperial Shag.
I think they say "Imperial swing", or just "Imperial". Many of the
dancers are highly skilled (30 years, I hear) and rabidly enthusiastic
(they do Imperial swing to nearly any music that's fast enough). Some
dancers there have never heard of WCS even though there are WCS dancers
among the Imperial dancers sometimes and intergradations of moves and
styles.
Funny there don't seem to be many St. Louis dancers who use the Internet.
Ron
Edward T Breslin
St Louis Shag and Imperial Swing are not the same thing. The main
similarity is the name St Louis.
Ed Breslin
Clif
Come on now, don't tease, so tell us what the difference is?
DebyRamsey
In article <Pine.SGI.3.95.98011...@world.std.com>, Edward T
Breslin <bre...@world.std.com> writes:
>St Louis Shag and Imperial Swing are not the same thing. The main
similarity
>is the name St Louis.
I'm not an expert on either dance but my thought is that
Imperial Swing is similar to East Coast Swing although
it has distinct West Coast Swing and Whip/Push type
moves added in. It is based on a six count basic but will
include eight count steps.It is done in a circular manner
and has a rock step.( I have seen some followers do a "walk
in" type step and some competitors do it in a slot for competition)
St Louis Shag is a very fast kicking type of step. It starts
in closed position and most of the moves are done there
although they will open up to a single hand hold sometimes.
It is based on an eight count basic that has a slight rocking
motion on the end. I have never done a step in this dance
that is not set up to be in eight or four count groupings.
The steps are done in mirror fashion (both partners doing
the the same step next to each other) the idea is to match
each other exactly. I have done this dance in many routines
and it is a lot of fun.
Carolina Shag is a very smooth slotted dance. (It used to
be done in a circular manner but has changed in the last
10 years, some of their "Old Timers" still dance that way)
I think it comes from East Coast Swing roots. They start
with a triple and end with a rock step. It is based on a six
count basic but they also have eight count basics too.
This dance is known for it's mirror patterns that can be
much longer than eight counts. The interesting thing
about this dance is that most of the mirror patterns are
made up by each couple and only they know the combination.
There are some mirror patterns taught that are done
by a lot of people, but not many. The leader does a lot
of fancy foot work during the basics and the follower keeps
the basic rhythm going (that is slowly changing because of
the influence of West Coast Swing, followers are starting
to be more creative) I have had a lot of fun learning this dance.
Southern Swing is new dance that is in the process of
being created. I have hope that by living down here I can
get the best from Shag, West Coast, Whip/Push,
East Coast and Lindy and come up with a truly
sensational dance. I'll keep you posted.
Debbie Ramsey
"you must receive to believe"
For some of the best in Music and Videos
Vist our Web Page at www.musicanddance.com
Michael Marangio
I came in late in the discussion, but I would define the St. Louis Shag
as a Charleston variation. I have not seen Imperial Swing.
Michael Marangio
Clif wrote:
>
> Come on now, don't tease, so tell us what the difference is?
>
> Edward T Breslin wrote:
>
> > St Louis Shag and Imperial Swing are not the same thing. The main
> > similarity is the name St Louis.
> >
> > Ed Breslin
> >
Mike Corbett
On Sun, 18 Jan 1998 16:35:17 GMT, Xe...@ix.netcom.com (Ed Jay) wrote:
>I thought the Charleston was essentially a line dance, or at least a
>multi-person dance?
Perhaps part of the "variation" is to do it as a couple or
partnership? After all when you consider "no new steps" that's the
only difference between line and couples dancing, right? :-)
Mike Corbett - Sunnyvale
Michael Marangio
Mike Corbett wrote:
> What I meant was that the St. Louis Shag is a variation of the basic
side by side Charleston step as done in the Lindy Hop. In Lindy, the
basic side by side Charleston is usually done with a rock step on 1-2.
In the St. Louis Shag basic, you do a kick step on beats 1-2.