Instructors : Tony Fraser and Jaime Shannon
Head Spotter : Richard Kurtzer
Safety Team : {Andrew Flemming + TBD}
More info: mfchristensen@gmail.com
Exchange style housing available
online registration and sponsor website

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Saturday
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10:00 – 11:30  – Shag 101
Learn the basics of double shag including double rhythm, outside turns, fundamental footwork, basic connections, etc at the same time.

11:40 – 12:15 — Intro to being an aerialist
Being an acrobatic in dance is not an easy thing to do. In this class we will focus on the long term development of safe practice habits, innovation, leveraging strengths, and overcoming weaknesses in practice sessions. We will also discuss how to transfer a ready-to-go piece from the practice floor to the performance floor.

12:30 – 1:15 — Dips and Drops
You’ve seen it many times, a new couple goes for a dip.. And then …  splat.. The follow ends up on the ground. In this session we talk about why that happens and execute practice exercises that show the limits of each individual partnership. After we cover the basics, we’ll switch around holds and entries and practice some much more dynamic and complex entries and variations.

1:15   - 2:00  { Lunch }

2:00   - 3:30 — Back Flips
Several traditional swing dance aerials involve assisted back flips. Though the scale of difficulty ranges from dirt simple to insanely dangerous, fundamentally they’re all the same. Learn the basics of all of them at once, and then practice several common entries to them all.

3:45  -  5:15 — Lifts, Tosses, and Throws
Either explosive or adagio in style, and either in the rafters or chest high in height, there’s almost no easier and quicker way to get definition into dance or choreography.  In this workshop, we’ll discuss and practice a broad spectrum of concepts.

{Saturday night Dance featuring Sly Blue of NYC }

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Sunday
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10:00 – 11:00 — Shag 102
Continue the study of shag (and warm up for another long day of aerials) by learning more about pulse, connection, frame, and extend vocabulary into different types of turns.

11:15   - 12:45 — Traditional Aerials
There are many common swing dance aerials that any new aerialist needs to know right from the start. Most of this content will be straight out of Frankie Manning’s playbook.

12:45  - 1:30  { Lunch }

1:30  -  3:30  – Tricks
From kick tricks to partnered spins, tricks are equally as effective at turning heads and just as much fun to practice than even the biggest of show stopping aerials. In this class we will learn a bunch of great tricks, and along the way we will discuss common technique across multiple trick families to empower students to innovate.

3:45  -  5:15 — More Aerials
This class will be a mix of both modern and difficult aerials. In the long running tradition of the instructors, this class will be the one where at least one aerial covered will have never been taught in any other class before.

I think it’s probably a good time to revisit each of these points. And please stay tuned as my next entry will be about a few new points I would like to get out there for discussion.

The original points of Awakening Collegiate Shag :

1. Practice shag like there’s no tomorrow.

I still believe in practice – and I practice a lot. To me, practice is everything, and the practice is what I love most. Practice leads to both mental and physical understanding of the dance, my partner, my partnership and myself. It also continually reinforces both the laws of physics and my own physical limitations.

Still the original intent of this point has changed.  I used to practice for the perfect connection with my partner in all cases, all positions, all pulse and rhythm variations, basically anything I could possibly imagine that would lead me to a better partner for my follower. – Unmistakable lead / close your eyes and feel it kind of practice. I still believe strongly in this, but I practice a little of everything.

For example, right about the time I wrote this article, I purposely phased a huge chunk ‘dancing in open visual lead’ kind of things just because it didn’t require a strong lead/follow connection with a partner. To me it felt more like pair choreography while holding hands. After traveling around to different global regions and really listening to the students, yes, they definitely wanted to connect more deeply with their partners, but they also liked some of the fancy footwork that made shag famous. And eventually, I put back on my fancy footwork shoes again too.

Now, I pretty much practice everything. A bit more traditional looking stuff, mixed with the constant aim of being totally connected with my partner. A bit more practice in some of the obscurity of the style, still keeping working within the confines of wanting to still be the strongest leader I could be. A bit more double, but still remaining more focused on the rhythms of the music instead of the traditional shag patterns.

2. Push the limits and create your own shag style.

No change in this belief, but I think I should further explain it now that so many people have asked me about it.

It’s really simple to me. When you really seek to master your own style, what you are really doing is creating your own tool set to deal with your own surroundings. And the more you practice your style, the more capable you will be of doing great things.

Anybody remember watching the legendary dance between Los Angeles’s Peter Loggins and New York City’s Janice Wilson?  At the time of  that dance, both were sitting on top of their regional styles at the time.  And then for a few minutes, they came together with impromptu looks and concepts that inspired us all.

One of the issues I personally think shag has is the fact that it has no easy-to-learn, high-impact traditional dance to showcase the style and please the crowd. Well, as a dedicated shag and lindy dancer who’s worked on a number of team pieces in my life, and with the support of several NYC shaggers, I took on the project of coming up with one. I think we need a California routine like piece, except this isn’t California, and this ain’t Lindy either, so enter “The Manhattan.”

Objectives

The Manhattan Shag Routine project was designed around the following objectives.

1.  EASY TO LEARN : It must be easy to learn with the structure of the dance taught in no more 2 hours to an intermediate level shagger. As many who do shag already know, micro connections, pulse variations or rhythm shifts can take months or longer to master. The Manhattan needs to be a piece of choreography for sequencing and outreach, not a tool to advance each individual shagger’s individual technical capability.

2. LEVERAGE WHAT EVERYBODY KNOWS:  The Manhattan should sequence a good chunk of what shaggers already know together in a way that makes sense. There should be challenging pieces, but the dance should not be discouraging.  I think it goes without saying that many take shag and learn a bunch of moves, but never learn or practice sequencing them together.

2. CHOREO TO FAVOR CHOREOGRAPHERS:  The Manhattan must be ‘personalizable’  for choreographers. One of my favorite things about the California routine is any choreographer can take it, put it to music, and modify it fairly easily to match the crowd, the dancers, and the music.

3. RESPECT MANHATTAN ROOTS:  Though it’s not always used, the California routine has a standard song, Flyin’ Home.  As the tribute to Manhattan, the “flyin’ home” song that we chose is Down South Camp Meetin’ by George Gee. George has been a staple of the NYC Shag Scene for quite a while. We tested the choreo with a few different songs including some rockabilly and a couple of other AABB songs, but like Flyin Home, there a few tiny places where the choreo will be more emphasized and crowd pleasing to the music. Still, just like the California routine to different music, it’s really easy to modify the variation timing to make the Manhattan work with just about anything.

4. CROWD PLEASING STRUCTURE:  The structure of the choreography needs to be crowd pleasing. In my opinion the greatest thing about the California routine is right at the beginning when everybody starts in closed and blasts into open at fast speeds. Or likewise in the Big Apple, everybody does flying charleston in a circle really covering ground. It’s all crowd pleasing, that’s why we often use these pieces of choreography for impromptu performances. We tried several different movements and placements to create the same feeling in the Manhattan.

5. TRADITIONAL BASE SHAG MOVEMENTS AND PATTERNS:  The basic choreography should be traditional.  Yes, there are visionary shaggers out there who can carry a show just fine, and I would hope they would partner up with strong dancers do to the Manhattan anyway.

6. FREE / TAKE IT: Just like the California routine has become, the Manhattan was designed entirely around the concept giving it away for the benefit of performance. Anybody who watches this should free to take all the movements and patterns, teach it, perform it, whatever works best for the scene. Our goal was only to create something that we and others can use to perform and share shag in an attempt to gain new blood,  increase visibility and be inclusive to those who want to be involved with shag.

7. BEGINNERS AND ADVANCED CAN DANCE TOGETHER : Performances give more experienced dancers a surge of energy, and with a fairly fast routine like this, they’re probably going to want to get down and funky.  The structure of the choreo was designed in almost all areas to allow more advanced dancers to really branch out with style. It can be done entirely without variation, or it can contain some of the variations we have. (Like the heel-toe / bicycle kick can simply be an open basic, the hangman can simply be a jig kick or even a 90 degree basic in closed.) Totally new dancers can just do basics and get on the floor. Advanced dancers can vary and inspire. And of course, there’s a jam section, and that’s where individual couples can really shine with their own style, or demonstrate their regional style.

8. ASSUME A CHOREOGRAPHER WILL WANT TO CREATE  A UNIQUE ENDING: To really seal the show, just like any other group piece, a choreographer will probably make the group come together at the end if nothing else, but for an ending pose. As this was created, we always assumed endings would be just as diverse choreographly creative as we’ve seen with the California.

9. LOTS OF ‘ONE OF THESE’ MORE ADVANCED MOVEMENTS: This piece was designed to have as many ‘one of these things’ as it can. There’s a timing change, a level change, a flourish for the crowd, a highly compressed free spin, a single count pulse removal, a QQ lead out, etc. Sure, there could have been a lot more ‘one of these’ types of things in there, but each of these individual elements is complex enough and time is a constraint.

Special Thanks

The Original Manhattan Dancers

Special thanks to  Jaime Shannon, Taylor Brandon, and Megan  from the 212 Shag Masters for constant discussion and concept review.

Special thanks to NYC Shaggers Eryck Kratville, Andrew Fleming, Elizabeth Barabas, and Allyson Kabak for running so many different permutations until we came up with this piece of footage.

Special thanks to George Gee for allowing us to use his song.

Choreography for The Manhattan

2X spinning double shag basics (clockwise) — movement towards downstage. Leader should start facing stage right, both basics should end with leader facing stage right.

2X  counts of flee hop timing — starting in closed facing stage right and ending in closed facing stage left.

2X spinning double shag basics (counter clockwise)

2X cross kicks (double shag versions) Leader faces downstage.

2x quad rhythm (8 counts) worth of half moon variations. Leader faces downstage.

2X double shag basics modified to be similar to a shag walk around, except ending in open with chests to the audience.

2x Log Rolls in open position

2x Heel / Toe variations on SS, with bycicle kick on the QQ.

1X tranition — Heel/toe but qq is a forward slide. (this is a common QQ variation best practiced in normal timing. )

2X jig kicks — second jig kick is a forward to back hangman.

1X slightly rotating outside free turn into jockey

2X wave kicks

(Collegiate Kicks Sequence — 3X 6 counts)

– Kick/Double Kick (six counts)

–Double Kick / Double Kick (eight counts)

–Down / Up (hold remove pulse on down, remove pulse on up)

2X outside turns (the ZM turn looks better but is considerably more difficult)

1X Down Up. Note — our group all thinks it is easier to put the pulse back in on the up — thus you will see a double hop in the vieo.

(QQ lead out sequence)

– 1X basic in closed position spinning counter clockwise.

– S/S following same direction as previous basic. Leader note, these two slows should end with the leader looking upstage right for a straight QQ lead out.

–QQS lead out down stage left. Follower reaches limit of extension on end of S

–SQQ leader brings follower straight back in on second slow and QQ. Leader lets follower pass under left hand and catches follower energy and turns it into a clockwise spin.

1X basic in a clockwise direction.

1X Long double basic (SSQQQQ)  rhythm double outside turn. Be sure to finish the SS facing downstage right and lead the double turn in place to make it easier for the follower to execute the turn.

Final Sequence :

First 8  (guys) : Kick ball change, plant. (like four count scissor kick) Plant on four. Slap your right foot into your left bringing your left foot up for a high kick and move downstage left. Land the left foot on seven.

Second 8 (girls) : Kick Ball Change plant (pivot though to prep for the turn.) Change weight to right foot and spin clockwise. Land by on seven.

Third 8 (both) : Guys and girls do the same kick ball change plant as their sections, except they end hand to hand. Girls do the same turn on 4-7. guys do a similar clockwise turn ending on seven with weight on whatever foot is necessary to star the prep for the Fouth 8.

Fourth 8 ( shoulder pop or kinckerbocker entry back flip.)

And now Jam!

I used to run, and I mean a lot. Possibly more than the reader of this blog entry will ever meet. I started as a kid and then pretty much ran competitively from somewhere middle school until I got out of the military. I was, am and always will be fast for mid and long distance running. By the time I was in the military and on the 3/325 RECON team, there wasn’t a time on the 2 mile track when I didn’t qualify to try out for the professional running team of the United States Army.

So what’s it like to be a runner like that? I say once you reach the almost pro levels, well you’ve already gone through all the physical stuff so it becomes completely mental. Competitive mid and long range runners go as fast as their bodies can take them while managing consistant pace, long term sustanability of that pace, and being careful to not over push the body into some form of overexertion. It’s like driving a race car. You can’t take it to 9,000RPM or the engine will blow up, but if you run it at 8,000RPM, it can go until either the road ends or you run out of gas.

Interestingly enough, my red line was always that point where I’m just about to puke. Seems like I was there every time I ran, and towards the end of my running career I puked at just about every finish line I crossed. Usually if I kept my stride for the whole race, puking at the end meant I most likely just back to back identical mile speeds. I puked in the middle of many races too though and that sucks, but that’s a different story, one that proves I never transitioned to into being a professional runner.

Though I always ran, I’ve always hated running for obvious reasons most runners understand. Since day one I was built to run fast and never really had the luxury of being able to take a slow jog. That just never really computed to me. Even in the beginning it started as a mind game. Racing at the red line. Training at the red line.  Visualizing being at that red line. Finding ways to push the red line. Cross training with similar red lines. Wanting to win, which means pushing the red line even though I was operating at max potential. A huge chunk of my life was a constant state of either being in, just coming out of, or knowing that I was about to re-enter ungodly physical pain that I used to put myself through. I have no idea if runners actually like doing what they do, to me it was some sort of torture. In my circles, everybody used to do exactly the same thing though so I never really knew alternatives.

I managed this pain mostly by listening to music, at least in training. My headphones were the only thing that kept me from going insane or from slowing down. And, music has a constant BPM, and running to a BPM helps smooth out a runner’s pace. One of my favorite songs for outdoor type runs was an old school 80′s rap song called “The Show” by Doug-E-Fresh. I must have used it a hundred plus times. I was pretty consistent with this song. I usually could do about a 5:30′ish mile if I ran footstrikes on the beat. It’s still one of my favorite running songs.

That basically sets the stage for the similarities between competitive running and fast shag. Running has a pace. Shag has a pulse. In shag we all know the pulse is related to beats per minute (BPM.) And in running, advanced runners can almost run a pace like shaggers pulse through the song. It’s not identical though, for instance in shag, you can’t draft, you don’t have to adjust speeds for hills, etc. It’s pretty damn close to the same thing the way I’ve experienced them.

“The Show” is about 200BPM which has all sorts of significance to me both as a shagger and a runner. As a runner, I used to like to ‘block out the pain’ by running in areas with obstacles, like trails or on street sides. I’d use hits in the music to sort of accent my runs, like jumping on the little walkways, jumping 360′s off whatever I could, running on my toes, etc. Basically having a little fun instead of thinking about the cramps, the pain, etc. Five and a half minute miles is also about the pace where I’d call it just about my easy pace. It may be fast to some, but it was my personal comfort pace that allowed me to not quite hit the red line. It’s about the same in shag for me. At 200BPM I can get a good style going, some gliding lilt, easy weight change leads with my partner, it’s basically an easy speed for me to shag to. I may get a good sweat, but nothing is off limits yet because of speed.

Still, I know for a fact I can both run and shag faster than that. The current world record for the mile (in the two mile track) is about 4 minutes and my record was 4 minutes and 35 seconds. Now if all the chemistry style math I have scribbled next to me is correct, to shag at world record running speeds, I would estimate I would have had to keep the same stride (distance between foot strikes, mine was just a tad less than 3 feet) to a 265BPM song for 8 minutes. Think all physical aspects the same of my running to Doug E Fresh, except running to Hand Clappin’ by Red Prysock — for eight straight minutes.

Well there’s no way in hell I could get my short little legs that fast to cover a full 3 foot stride for every beat. Hell I’d be lucky if I could move my leg 12 inches at that speed, and I damn sure wouldn’t be able to jump off a curb, run around trees, whatever. It’d be a straight line — straight as a 2 mile arrow.

Still, I’ve definitely danced to that song and I dance to 250+ on a reasonably regular basis. It’s just a very different dance. To me, fast shag is about endurance, keeping your movements in check because there tangible limitations to how far you can move body parts at that speed, and of course you just have to try not to freakin’ die which is probably the biggest difficulty in shag at that speed. For me, it’s a lot like running in the sub 5 zone, you filter out whatever you can just to try to keep up.

As for leading fast shag, at 200BPM I am able to throw a lead in between the 1 and the 2 of an SR basic pretty easily. But at 270, I’m lucky if I can get it sometime between 8 and 3 of an an 8 count basic because my body is red lining and there’s just fractions of a second to hit a mark, shift my weight much less my followers, etc. At least to me, it definitely adjusts what is possible in the overall style.

When I dance fast, I focus more on dynamic lead sets as opposed to rhythmic or pulse driven leads. I also am hesitant to ‘lead’ things in closed with somebody I do not partner with. I may do a little more visual leading because it’d probably easier for a follow to pick up something with her eye at that speed than it is to attempt to feel something at top speed. And of course, because one of the goals is to find ways of communicating at that speed, there’s a completely different set of techniques that take over at about 250BPM that you should practice at slower speeds before you try to use them above 250.

The moral of this blog entry is dancing to fast music is a different animal altogether. I believe I have just effectively compared to world class competitive running to shagging at speeds over 250BPM. That said, you may want to cut yourself some slack when the music goes above 210 or so. You may want to start running if you want to dance faster. And of course, you may want to find a teacher who can teach technique specific to fast music speeds.

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It’s cool to know these debates happen over in the UK too. We chat about it here all the time.  There are several things that come up when we debate it over here. Maybe I’ll throw in some opinions into your debate and see what you guys think of them.

One of the reasons shag is so difficult is because there are so few people interested in moving beyond the limits of the few self help DVD’s and maybe the 40 shag clips out there from the old days. This “base content” takes quite a while to master and nobody would argue with you if you said ‘base content is plenty enough to be bad ass.’  It IS bad ass — no question! Still, some do go further, and some go even further than that. Perhaps it’s insanity or obsession, but some of us really want to keep things moving as fast as our bodies and minds will let us.

If you combine all the “base content” moves in all the videos into one library, it’s probably a total of 40 things leveraging maybe 15 techniques and half a dozen style variations. This obviously is not enough to create a living and breathing style. Those that truly dig in have one of three choices once they naturally reach the point where they’ve gone through all that base content. They must either break into an innovation state, they must accept they they have gone as far as they want to go, or they must move on to something else.

Johnny created a style he calls shag-boa and if you’re into smoothing out your shag then he’s definitely got some style you could try.  If you’re a double shagger and you’re trying to be more technical, then Ryan has some poly techniques that can blow your mind. As for me, I spend countless hours each week at the studio attempting to hone connections with my partners.

The point is, everybody who really digs into this style for more than a few years is a significant asset to our scene.

On the other side of of the thought above, by the time somebody invests years worth of study into shag, I have no doubt they recreate something like the “Lady Be Good” clip right down to the posture and mistakes in about a week if they had to. I would guess many of us would consider that content fairly easy now days, which is why you probably won’t see it redone unless somebody asks.

Another opinion that comes up when we’re debating shag styles is the “youtube syndrome.” Advanced shag is SUPER hard I think. Still, I think many now days learn shag by breaking down what we see on youtube. I do sometimes too. We all do, but learning that way is learning at an intermediate level at best because we’re missing the details. Recently I posted something on my personal website called the ‘flip basic.’ As a move, it’s conceptually easy to understand. If executed as a pattern, I supposed it’s easy to do. But, practically I think it’s insanely difficult to master. There are dozens of micro-connections that have to fire in sequence to make work.  When all that training and connection flows together and muscle memory takes over, when the rhythms change, when everything is second nature.. That’s when it’s really bad ass.  I don’t think you can get that from youtube.

I’ve heard via studio staff over the past year on multiple occasions that newcomers were saying my shag classes were far too ‘advanced’ to keep up.  This doesn’t surprise me. Over the past year’s worth of run on this DM shag class, the class has become progressively more advanced as the student base became stronger. Now days, it’s fierce in those Monday night classes. So fierce that one of the more senior students just won her first competition. It was her first time shagging outside of NYC, first comp, and an easy first place. And I honestly believe she’s not the only one who could have done that from the class.

That aside, I think most would agree that shag has a super steep learning curve. And of course, newcomers walking out of class quickly mixed with some hardcore dancers  wanting to move to the next level is every instructor’s dilemma.  I’ve chosen for the past year to place more of an effort in working on on the advanced side of shag. I did so mostly because there simply didn’t seem like there were enough newcomers flowing through to make teaching newcomers an option. And because I think that if nobody’s really rocking the shag, there will be no newcomers. [check out this related article if you are interested.]

Well, there seem to be more and more newcomers coming in now.  And up until recently I think this issue was really intimidating potential shaggers, especially in my class.

I thought a lot about the dilemma and came up with a different formula that seems to be working, at least for shag, and at least for right now. Rather than splitting the class into two classes, we’ve changed the structure of the class to be more all levels simply by changing the way content was delivered and then asking students to practice differently. And, members from the 212 shag masters troupe are there to pair off and give individual coaching if a newer student doesn’t quite feel comfortable trying content.  When paired off, maybe the pair works on a similar move/connection, or even just principles. The point is, it’s much better designed for  solid learning for newcomers and advanced dancers by leveraging the different skill levels in a different way.

The results have been pretty awesome thus far, at least I think so. Newer people are sticking around and picking everything up quickly because of direct and applicable coaching, and they get to try out all the good stuff the senior students too. And when the more advanced students pair they’re trying similar but more advanced versions of the same motion, connection, pattern, etc.

All that said, shag classes are starting up every month.
I’m hoping that we get some guys in, and of course, newcomers to shag encouraged to attend.

Also, thanks to the NYC shag community for making this class so successful.  I think you cats are all rocking the shag like NYC hasn’t seen since the 30′s.

Tony Fraser

Before I start, let me define what I believe as multi-rhythm shag. To me, multi-rhythm shag is basically any combination of slows and quicks, slows and holds, whatever that fits in the framework of the dance. So, SSQQ (Double,) SSQQQQ (the long double,) SQQSQQ (Single,) QQ (Even), SS(Quad), SQQQQS/SQQS (endpoint ), S/Triple, Step/Holds ….  Whatever… It’s the ability to stitch whatever rhythm you want into your shag style, while still keeping it shag.

As I go much more deeply into my own study of shag, I’ve found that rhythms no longer matter to me, at least as a dancer.  Obviously it’s a totally different ball game when it comes to being an instructor or a choreographer, but either way, it’s pretty liberating to make such a bold statement in my own head to myself. It’s a little scary to say something like this in a blog record, but I might as well.

There was a time when I really enjoyed the simplicity of a single rhythm (double) and I used to believe it was was cornerstone to the style. But on the flip side, I always thought it was too pattern like. And me personally, I’ve always had the urge to fight my own pattern ruts by jumping way into another section of dance, like lead/follow, musicality, levels, flash, natural, whatever. For my own desire to advance my shag competency, I started studying other rhythms of shag or styles, like St. Louis and Single Shag.

Well it wasn’t long before I saw some of the features of other genres or rhythm that simply didn’t quite fit into the standard double basic. On the other hand, all the merits and features of double existed fully in single. I was immediately hooked and jumped in full force into other shag rhythms. Anything I road I could find I was going down it was like every time I opened a door into a different pattern a whole new set of opportunities popped up and I loved it.

And man was that a can of worms. Everybody’s opinion that mattered to me agreed that it was beautiful shag, but there were all these people saying it needs to be one or the other, like the camps in the savoy versus hollywood days. I totally felt like an outlier and used to literally practice double-only-shag just because. It was a total mind game for quite a long time.

I really did want to carry the message of multi-rhythm or at least single rhythm.  Eventually I started thinking I was doing an disservice by not really going out with it.  It started slow at first, first working with a stream of partners, then single shag workshops, then it made it into my weekly classes… and so on.

Still though, it was a huge mind game from day one. Consider all the factors ….

• The rest of the world focused mostly entirely on double shag socially, and I am one of the few shag teachers out there
• I was a double shagger too, all my workshops through the late 90′s and up until about 2008 had all been double, as was most of social shag
• Most all other teachers have been teaching only double or relative patterns off double
• Hell, I was the only lead I knew that was even doing single.

That was quite a while ago now and a lot has changed. I don’t remember really when I started mixing everything up into one, and I don’t remember when I started to not worry about it as much. It must have happened over time.

I do know what it’s like now though. Just a few nights ago I was out with my partner Jaime and we were just shagging up a storm.  After one specific song I attempted to retrace my steps. I started in double, danced a good bit in 5/7 because artie shaw does that to me, did single on the girls footwork for who knows how long, went through evens, quads, all of it. It was all just strong and unplanned social shag with bullet fast rhythm specific turns, micro connections galore, variations and patterns up the wazoo, and all of it was totally integrated into the partnership. To me, that’s what shag is all about, when you and your partner both feel it in your bones together and the shag just comes out of a dead on connection.

My classes have long since been multi rhythm too. We’ll walk in, pick a few connections, patterns, or whatever, and just go through them. Seems to make good sense to me, focus on the quality of movement of connections first, the quality of movement through the transitions. After that, then you apply it to a rhythm. It’s really fun to watch sometimes.

Laura K and Jeremy A have both told me that balboa balboa is a 2 count dance, not an 8 count dance. I like that.
I wouldn’t quite say the same thing about shag, but I do think it opens up considerably into something quite more vast if you look beyond just the trusty slow, slow, quick, quick.

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Here’s a video that shows general rhythmic adjustments.  The class was on connections, but the video shows how the rhythms and moves are less important than the connections that lead them.  Everybody in the class did fine with all this content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCGe6x9xL1k

I specifically use the term ‘Collegiate’ because I want people to find me on search engines, because I really don’t want to confuse people with the style of dance that I do, and because I don’t really want to say that anybody else’s definition is all messed up.  But if you ever talk to me in person, I surely do not call myself a “Collegiate Shag” dancer. I and most others that I know will simply call myself a shagger.

Collegiate Shag is a term that became popular by all of us in the 90′s to describe our dance and to differentiate it from other forms of shag that were more popular, like say modern Carolina Shag. In fact, Collegiate Shag was mentioned only once that I am aware of, and only in writing. It was used to describe triple steps in the place of quick quicks in shag. It’s funny. On all the Arthur Murray teaches collegiate shag clips out there, he never once uses the word ‘Collegiate’ to describe it.

I do do this rhythm, it often reminds me of balboa with triple steps, except it’s pretty easy to make it look more shaggy. In double rhythm, it tends to look a lot like east coast swing too, so only practice it in single rhythm shag.  And also, when I do it at speeds of greater than 180, it always looks muddled. I think of it more as a slow shag rhythm. It’s fun, I just don’t do it or teach it often.

Oh, and “Carolina” shag also has the same problem. Back in the 30′s and 40′s it was defined multiple times to be a subset of the shag we know as “collegiate.”

This probably doesn’t matter to anybody but me considering you can “google” up something, or you can buy “bling” for your gal.

– see you shagmasters on the floor.!

But there were groups who bonded together, and dancers were definitely one of them.

I like to think dance at that time, and specifically shag, was about sharing time with your partner, not swapping between everybody wearing track pants at a club. I like to think it was just a time when people were doing anything they could to do to experience a strong connection with another human.

I find myself influenced heavily by this concept, and my shag is heading in that direction with me. My exercises, directions seem to be more and more about connecting with my partner fully, down to the smallest millimeter of weight shift either laterally or forward to back. To me, if you aren’t connected, then it just doesn’t feel right. Sure, I love throwing tricks, but that’s my personality, and it’s really not a part of shag. It’s just my thing, what I bring to the style.

Some say that this concept of ‘inward’ dancing was at the core of LA style in the late 30′s. One thing I can say for certain is this looks almost nothing like the shag we know today.

Let me close this post by showing a video of what I believe may be the most connected set of dancers I’ve ever seen in any TV clip. They aren’t actors. They aren’t dancing to a metronome. They’re just a bunch of warmed up partnerships tearing it up to a live band. Style doesn’t matter, their form is very specific to each couple, and it’s all just different. To me, it seems like it’s all about just bei

Here’s what I think we need to do.

Practice Collegiate Shag like you mean business:

We can all afford to practice our craft. The dance itself is unusual in that when people see it, they tend to pipe down and watch and just marvel at the look. If we put our best foot forward through ungodly hours worth of practice, not only will it be interesting looking, but it will come across as a refined style, and refined and well executed dancing seems to interest newcomers.

Push the limits and create your own Collegiate Shag style:

Let’s be honest, though we’ve all seen most all of it, there really isn’t much ‘vintage’ footage out there to push us. Swing dancing itself has advanced far beyond the founding dancer footage, and I believe that to be even more true with Collegiate Shag. There simply isn’t enough of it.  As you are practicing, learn all the basics from the clips, then add your own style. There is PLENTY of room, and it happens to be the same way the style grew regionally back in the 30′s and 40′s.

I personally prefer technical intricacy and big aerials in my dance so I’ve modified a few tricks and aerials specifically for shag. I’ve also come up with a few things (mostly technical) along my own personal style of dance that seem to work extremely well within the shag framework. This is my style of shag, but I think we all should be doing the same thing. I’d like to see what YOU can do with the style too.! Mix as few as 50 people worldwide into a group of people who are all doing the same thing, and who knows what will happen. As long as we are committed to the framework of the style, to me, it’s all shag.

Overtly veto the ‘intro’ class mentality:

I am totally fed up with all the “one month shag courses.” You know the type. Students come in, learn the basics, the moon kick, the jig, etc., and then they are ‘done.’  What else is there really? Collegiate shag is a novelty specialty dance only done by a few. And you’re lucky to see it once a month. right?

What kind of hogwash is that? And why are we allowing it to happen. Sure, studio owners know that we can pack a room full of intro shag dancers and they’ll push for it, but is that really what we should be doing? It’s a complete paradox. There really AREN’T that many people out there willing to even step into an intermediate shag level class, and far fewer beyond that, but unless we truly focus on advancing technique for shag itself, it will always be a beginner’s dance.

Put the best you can do in front of as many new eyes as you can:

I can’t even count how many times I’ve been on either a competition or performance floor with lindy routines. So, one day I had this idea, why the hell hadn’t done the same thing for Shag? I started a performance routine the next day, lightning fast, clean/new tricks, clean air just for shag, and just overall a good all shag piece to inspire some new eyes.

After we showed it on the main stage of NYC’s famous dance parade there were plenty of calls to our studio all wanting to learn the style. Showing at the local swing venues sparked interest too, but it was all the new eyes from the non swing performances that brought in the new students.

The way I see it, if you care, put something together, get out there, and represent.

Practice and Teach Single Rhythm Collegiate Shag:

There are already many who disagree with this, but I think SR Collegiate Shag may be a better platform for modern shag to evolve from. (Double Rhythm is six count and more often practiced on social floors — single rhythm is an eight count basic).

How many dance studios succeed teaching only east coat six count basics? Those are almost intro to what’s to come, lindy, west coast, smooth, and blues. And for everybody that is taking dance classes and working on any forms of musicality, how much more difficult would it be to teach them to work six count musicality into the 8 counts of music?

This is a double edged sword in that most die hard dancers have mastered the style in six counts, but as I venture into my own style I just keep asking myself why do we continue to teach this way? I can do six count too, but to me single rhythm just seems like a better platform to grow skill from.

Goofy does not attract new students:

This style  has a history of goofy moves and looks. I personally believe that may be one detrimental property of our style. Who’s going to pay money to take classes  from people that are asking them to look like tools? Or who’s going to want to mimic a couple that, historic accuracy or not, does one of those goofy moves that was perfect for the camera in 1941? Those were different times. Those times had different audiences. As far as I’m concerned, goofy is a historical property of the style that we need to modify to a more modern audience.

Finally, remember to balance having fun with a strong attitude of anti-mediocrity:

All the points I made above are minor compared to two driving principles of shag — it looks great and it’s fun to do. Shag is about kicking ass. It’s high energy and mind blowing, even to the untrained eye. And to those that practice, it’s pure enjoyment mixed with some serious adrenaline. If you forget it’s about having fun like I sometimes do, it’ll drive you insane.

See you on the floor.

– tony fraser