THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505180293
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
WHEN LARRY AND Kathy Williams walk onto the dance floor at Stepping Out, heads turn and talk stops in the smoky nightclub.
The trim couple expertly twirl and spin each other to the music, never missing the eight-beat step, their eyes locked on each other. Their lower bodies move in practiced harmony, hips swiveling forward and then back. They tease and flirt and smile as they dance, as though reaffirming their marriage with every step.
The slow, sexy, sinuous dance they perform is the shag.
Remember the way Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey undulated to music in the popular movie ``Dirty Dancing?'' That was the shag, the dance of the 1940s and '50s in which practitioners swayed to the sultry sounds of rhythm and blues and beach music.
After a long dry spell, shag reappeared in the late '70s and is now back with a vengeance.
At this weekend's Beach Music Festival on the oceanfront, organizers are expecting shaggers to come out in full force to dance to The Drifters, The Embers and The Supremes.
But it's at Stepping Out in Hilltop Square Shopping Center, the home of the 700-member Virginia Beach Shag Club, where you'll find the most shaggers under one roof. The club is hosting its own music festival Memorial Day weekend with three bands, including The Embers. Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights the dance floor fills with shag enthusiasts, mostly from the shag club.
Once you learn how to shag, members say, your life will never be the same.
``It's not just a dance, it becomes a lifestyle,'' said Kathy Williams, who teaches the dance with her husband. ``It's really a social thing. We get people in here who have never shag-danced before and want to learn. Then they're hooked.''
How the shag originated is anyone's guess. The most accepted explanation, according to Kathy Williams, is that blacks from Harlem brought the dance down South in the '40s. College kids vacationing on East Coast beaches then picked up the dance and brought it home.
Sexually suggestive, with the emphasis on the lower body, the shag became the rebellious dance of the young. It was best done on the beach, in bare feet, or on a wooden dance floor on hot summer nights. Those who learned the shag as teenagers never forgot its seductive movements.
But these days it's the dance of the middle-aged and older. The shag is the official dance of South Carolina, and North Myrtle Beach is considered the shag capital of the world. Twice a year Southern shag clubs, representing more than 11,000 members, converge on the beach town to shag the nights away.
``I've done the shag since high school - it was done at my senior prom,'' said Williams, a North Carolina native. She and Larry are in their mid-40s. ``It falls between the jitterbug and the lindy. The dance is still evolving.''
The Virginia Beach Shag Club is one of more than 65 shag clubs and is the world's largest. While its focus is dancing, the club also holds socials, picnics, holiday parties and chili cook-offs. Members participate in parades. A first-ever flea market will be held June 3.
Every October the club hosts the weekend-long Beach Bash at the Cavalier Hotel, which draws 700 shaggers from clubs all over the country. Yearly dues are $20, which pays for the monthly newsletter and some events.
The 700 members also combine shagging with altruistic endeavors.
Betty Carder, charities chairperson, said the club donated $300 to the Oklahoma City disaster fund. Two months ago the club raised $2,538 for the American Cancer Society during a benefit dance. The first Wednesday of each month money is raised for a specific charity - such as the Sugar Plum Bakery, Equi-Kids and the SPCA. At Christmas, the club collects food for the needy and gifts for children. They even entertain nursing home residents with shag dancing, singing and gifts, said publicity chairperson Sandy Dozier.
``We consider ourselves a socially conscious club,'' said the petite blonde, a sales representative for Givenchy perfume who is in her 40s. ``We're like one big family. When tragedy happens everyone's there.''
But you'll not find any of that serious talk on the dance floor at Stepping Out. About 200 members of the club were happily shagging last Saturday night to the sounds of Undercover.
The dress is always casual, and the majority of men wear loafers with no socks. They must go through a lot of Odor Eaters, agreed club president Mac McLaughlin, a retired Navy chief warrant officer.
``Men always dance in loafers and no socks,'' he said. Then he hiked up his pant legs to reveal thick yellow ribbed socks leading down to the brown loafers. ``Well, everyone except me!''
One of the most exuberant members is 63-year-old Pete Aldridge, the vice president. The tan, white-haired former boxer, still compactly muscular, was dancing with three - yes, three - women during one song. He managed to spin and twirl them all around and keep up with the fancy footwork.
``I've been shag dancing 10 years - it picks you up,'' said Aldridge, in between songs. ``I'm an ex-boxer. The rhythm's always been here.''
His wife, Lynda, sidelined with a broken foot, must be understanding. Sandy Dozier said there's no jealousy in their club, that all the members dance with each other.
``Pete takes all the new women out to the floor,'' she said. ``Lynda doesn't mind at all. Shaggers dance with everybody.''
Roc and Louise Sarlo have been in the club ever since its inception 10 years ago. The seniors (he's 66, she's 68) say they'll never stop.
``We meet nice people. We've met wonderful people over the years,'' said Roc, who also acts as a DJ. ``It's fun and good exercise.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by PETER D. SUNDBERG
[color cover photo]
One of the most exuberant members of the 700-member Virginia Beach
Shag Club is 63-year-old Pete Aldridge, the vice president. With his
wife, Lynda, sidelined with a broken foot, Aldridge danced with
three women on one song, including Sandy Dozier.
Brian Blekley, lead singer for the band, ``Undercover,'' belts one
out for 200 dancers at Stepping Out night club last Saturday.
Members of the Virginia Beach Shag Club, billed as the world's
largest, join in with a crowd of line dancers at Stepping Out.
Ken and Marianne Glidewell do the shag, a dance that emphasizes the
lower body.
TAKING THE FIRST STEP
The Virginia Beach Shag Club is always looking for new members.
If you are interested in joining or would like more information,
call membership chair Lynda Aldridge at 495-6720 or publicity chair
Sandy Dozier at 428-0524. Or, stop by Stepping Out in Hilltop
Square Shopping Center on a Wednesday, Friday or Saturday night.
by CNB