One-and-two, three-and-four, five, six.
Three steps up, three steps back, rock step and shift your weight.
And that’s how you shag.
(The dance — not the British expression made popular in the Austin Powers movies).
From those basic steps, the possibilities are endless.
“That’s part of its appeal,” said Kayla Ellis, who along with Thurman Hollar hosts the weekly Shag Dancing Night at Old North State Winery on Main Street.
The partners, who also teach lessons at Jones Family Resource Center, pitched the shag night idea to winery managers in the fall of 2014, and they dtarted hosting the event there about twice a month.
“We wanted to have a place for our students to practice in the winter after the amphitheater season,” Ellis said, explaining that the Surry Arts Council sponsored beach music concerts are the main scene for shagging during the summer.
“We wanted to keep the vibe going,” she said.
It was so popular that this year they made it a weekly event, held Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
“We’re really pleased with the turnout and with the graciousness of the winery,” Ellis said.
It’s the perfect spot, the shaggers say.
“It’s got a good hard floor,” said Tom Street, of Wytheville, Virginia. “It’s got the music, good food, drinks. A place like this is great.”
Street is part of a group from the Wytheville area that attends most weeks in a drove of about 20 people.
“It’s worth the ride,” he said.
Joel Woodson, a manager at Old North State who handles booking, said the shag nights have gone well for the winery.
“It’s a really positive event,” he said. “There’s a big fan base who like beach music here in town and there’s no where for them to go during winter. We’re very glad to have something to offer them.”
The parking lot, tables and dance floor were packed Tuesday night with the Mount Airy Shaggers, as they are known on Facebook.
“We have a lot of regulars,” Ellis said, adding that folks come from all over including Virginia, Elkin and Pilot Mountain.
“It’s its own subculture of people who love the music and love to dance,” she said. “They’re typically very friendly people.”
The shag is a regional dance, Ellis said, that originated in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and evolved from the jitterbug.
“The jitterbug is very athletic and requires partners to hold both hands,” Ellis explained.
“Shagging is smoother and less athletic. It’s more casual. Partners only hold one hand, so you could be on the beach or near the beach and hold a beverage in your other hand.”
Ellis described the shag as a “slotted” dance, “as if two partners are facing each other on a diving board or a beach towel.”
Thurman, Ellis and many other locals travel to Myrtle Beach, which remains the shag capital, three times a year for shag weekends.
“There will be 10,000 people shagging in the streets,” Ellis said. “We want to have a little bit of that flavor in Mount Airy.”
The music is beachy too.
Bands such as The Embers, The Tams, Percy Sledge are at the top of the shag playlists, along with Jim Quick & Coastline.
“They’re big right now,” Ellis said, adding that at winery dance nights, she and Thurman make sure to include slow songs and line dances.
“We try to mix it up,” she said.
James Reece, of Siloam, was a beginner when he met his wife, Rita Reece, who already knew how to shag.
They took a class together starting in October 2014.
“The first three weeks were hard,” James Reece admitted. “All of a sudden the light bulb went on.”
The couple eventually married, “on the beach so we could shag,” Rita Reece said.
Besides each other, the hobby has led to meeting others with similar interest.
“We’ve got a whole new group of friends,” James Reece said.
“It’s just all about the great people,” Rita Reece said, adding that the winery dance nights have saved them from the winter blahs.
“If we weren’t doing this we’d all be home watching TV,” she said.
Tuesday night, the Reece’s shared a table with another couple of shag lovebirds, Terry Pruett, of Mount Airy, and Linda Galis, of Claudville, Virginia.
Pruett had asked Galis to dance at a summer amphitheater concert.
“I didn’t like her at first,” Pruett said. “She was better than me. I had to go take lessons.”
The following week the pair danced together again and were hooked — for life.
Pruett took Galis to the amphitheater on Dec. 25 to propose and they are now engaged.
“It’s just fun,” Galis said of the dance culture. “It becomes like an extended family.”
It’s so fun for Sarah Blair she drives 90 minutes from Pulaski, Virginia, every Tuesday for the dancing, which she also said has been a lifesaver.
“I’ve got nerve damage, and my neurologist said shag is the only thing that would help,” she said. That was about ten years ago, and she’d been shagging avidly ever since.
“Shifting your weight left and right helps with nerves, muscles and with balance,” she said. “Plus it’s good therapy.”
Ellis and Thurman begin teaching a six-week session of shag lessons at the Jones Family Resource Center on Monday nights at 7 p.m. beginning Feb. 22.
“Just show up on that first Monday,” Thurman said.
“We love beginners,” Ellis said.
“And those who are enthusiastic about the dance,” Thurman finished.
Delcie Gunnell and Mark Beck, of Cana, Virginia, who have been shagging for about eight years, are a good example of that.
“It’s the greatest thing ever,” Gunnell said. “We love it.”
