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“Making progress, one step at a time.”

Shag

The history of Shag is one of the most clouded in the world of dance.

I have read many modern articles on this dance which are completely inaccurate.  I hope this helps to clarify things for whoever reads this.

     The Shag’s name is as best we can currently surmise based off a slang term used during the Vaudeville era Shagger used to denote a performer.  The theory being that the dancers of stage in New York Vaudeville set the trend for many a dance.  The commoner would pick it up from watching and do the Shag. This theory carries weight when you look into history you’ll discover the several different renditions of what a Shag was.  Now as for the collegiate part. That most likely has to do with two things; One being that Shag was done by the College age youth of the day. Two being that during the era which this dance was born, it was in vogue to create collegiate versions of the popular dances.  This most likely was a marketing tool for studios and dance publications.  The first known history of Collegiate Shag is from the year 1934. Now here’s the twist where history gets really interesting. That year two people learned Shag completely differently in completely different regions of the country. Which came first no one knows. The two were; Betty Henderson (now Betty Wood) in South Carolina and Connie Wiedell in Minnesota.

     Connie Wiedell was working at the local theater at the time as an usher. One of the Shows coming through town from New York City had a dance act, and after the show he visited the dancers. They were Peabody dancers (Peabody is a variation of the dance known as One Step which is popular in N.Y., N.Y.). They exchanged some steps and these Peabody dancers showed Connie the basic Shag step. That is the six count basic known by most dancers as Collegiate Shag.

     The first publication of this dance was in an Arthur Murray Dance Studios periodical printed for members of a club know as “Murray-Go-Round.”  That particular edition was Titled “Let’s Swing It - 8 New Fox Trots” and was copyrighted 1937.  The story behind Arthur Murray teaching this dance is in fact linked to another dance of that era “The Big Apple.”  Tom Gallagher (Arthur Murray’s dance director at that time) is whom this insider information was gathered from. Mr. Murray and Mr. Gallagher were scouring the city to learn a new dance they had heard of “The Big Apple.” Eventually they did find some, but not without first visiting MANY a local dancehall/nightclub.  They soon noticed that a different dance was being done at virtually every club in the city.  When they inquired as to what it was they were told “The Shag.” Mr. Murray decided that night he better start teaching that dance soon before someone else did.  So he hired some local dancers to teach his instructors at his N.Y. Schools and promptly published “Let’s Swing It.” The history of N.Y. Collegiate Shag in “Let’s Swing It” is described as being derived directly from the old leaping version of Shag, which seems to have been a leaping version of Fox Trot done by youth of the day. Vernon and Irene Castles’ Fox Trot (the version of that era is far different than present day Fox Trot) was a too stuffy and formal for the youth (after all it was their parents dance) so they hopped instead of trotted the step out. Arthur taught a toned down version for his older clientele which he called the “Collegiate Shag.” “Collegiate” dances were popping out of the woodwork at the time, so the name was just a marketing tool as usual to stir up business.  So to sum it all up

Collegiate Shag – A hopping version of old Fox Trot which gained noteriety in N.Y. City during the 1930’s.  Fox Trot “Magic Step” timing was used as the basic, that being Slow (1, 2), Slow (3, 4), Quick (5), Quick (6).  By the thirties Fox Trot was becoming more standardised and thus the strict six count basis was the norm.

Now the plot thickens....

Betty Wood a dance historians dream incarnate. Betty Wood was sixteen

years old when she learned to Shag.  The year was nineteen thirty-four.