Step in Time

On Tuesday, I was researching our options for the day and located the blog with Shag movie locations, thinking we could make a tour to explore the different filming sites. I clicked through on several of the links and wasn't finding actual addresses. We had seen The Diplomat hotel already and two of the sites were a good hour drive away.

Although it appears that the actual filming site for the Shag competition in the movie had burned down, the blog recommended Fat Harold's Beach Club. It said they had free shag lessons on Tuesday nights. I said to my friend, "Guess what we're doing tonight?!" 

Somewhere in the mid-afternoon time, she learned that she would need to get home earlier than expected, so she booked an earlier flight home for Wednesday evening before getting ready to head out for our Shag adventure. We dined on ham and cheese sandwiches in the room that night and I decided that a "bubble flip was better for shagging" before we took off for the long drive to North Myrtle Beach.

As we cruised down the main drag, we discovered another cute little beach town and Fat Harold's Beach Club sitting back from the road behind a front-facing parking lot. We entered to find a long building stretching out behind the short store front facing the street. The old establishment smelled like a bowling alley. There was a smaller room to the left with a pool table and a small area to the right called Shag City Bar & Grill with a few bar stools around the open grill and a few booths at the front, each with its own table jukebox.

We continued forward to find an upper platform on the left occupied by a bar covered with a very dusty, burgundy fabric awning. There was a big green sign behind the bar reading "Fat Harold's" that was reminiscent of 50's tiki decor. Lots of people already gathered on bar stools along the railing of the platform and at tables below. 

My friend and I found a couple seats at the far end of the platform along the railing just as a meeting group of some kind was exiting from the back room, which appeared to be a banquet space in the style of a VFW hall. There were pictures of people shag dancing on every available wall space as well as round discs along the ceiling, each proclaiming a shag club from other cities and states, Tampa Bay Beach Boppers, Shaggers LTD, etc. Apparently this was THE place where people came to shag! They host events three times a year called SOS - Society of Stranders.

As we settled in, overlooking the long, narrow, wooden dance floor, we began to sip from our liquid courage - Bud Light bottle for me and a honey whiskey on the rocks with a water chaser for my friend. There was a floor to ceiling mirror to the left of the DJ booth and more platform seating to the right side of the booth. Eventually our instructors, Mandy and River, stepped out onto the dance floor to introduce themselves, provide an intro for the instruction, and demo the shag dance.

To begin instruction, they called us out onto the dance floor - men on one side and women on the other, both facing the center where our instructors stood. We started with just the beat - one and two, three and four, five, six. We marched in place to the beat over and over again and as we proceeded, Mandy would fine-tune our steps. First by instructing they should be little, half steps without traveling too far, then telling us how you barely pick your feet up off the floor, and finally that you don't shift your weight, you keep your upper body steady.

We moved from marching in place to breaking down the steps. We worked on One and Two for quite awhile and then Three and Four before taking a break for refreshments. It's amazing how hot and sweaty you get taking tiny little steps in place. We picked back up the instruction with Five, Six before partnering off. My friend ran off to partner with a young 20-something who was there with his father, a man who knew the dance well. I remained with the few ladies who didn't come with a partner. An older gentleman and our instructor would take turns with us so we could practice with a partner as well. I felt I had the steps down and it seemed silly to keep dancing by myself, so I hopped back up to my seat to get a quick video and picture of my friend and her partner dancing. 

As the lesson came to an end, they dimmed the lights on the dance floor and encouraged everyone to stick around to get some practice in. We headed back up to the bar to enjoy one more beverage. As we finally made our way towards the door, we discovered my friend's partner and his father sitting on stools in front of the Bar & Grill with burgers in front of them. We stopped to chat for a few moments before leaving Fat Harold's behind us. 

I had the most fun learning to Shag and hope to get to practice again at some point. I would love to find out how one moves around on the dance floor doing these steps! But this little instruction of the steps gave me great joy for the brief moment in time we shared there with the other dancers.

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