CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A dance club in the heart of southwest Charlotte attracts dozens of people each week ready to learn the “Carolina Shag.”
What You Need To Know
- Lynn’s Dance Club hosts “Carolina Shag” nights, classes and DJ’s spinning beach music
- Shag dancing is thought to have originated in the 1940s and '50s on the beaches of South Carolina
- Those interested in learning the dance can check out Lynn’s Dance Club’s website for a schedule of upcoming beginner lessons
Lynn’s Dance Club hosts shag nights, classes and DJ’s spinning beach music.
It’s one of many places in North Carolina, but the most popular in Charlotte, where people can learn the upbeat dance.
Nikki Kontoulas grew up in the world of shag dancing. She watched her parents and their friends dance across the Carolinas.
“My mom taught me how to dance,” Kontoulas said. “I never was interested when I was younger, but I saw folks my age doing it when I was a kid and I thought, 'that’s kind of cool, it’s not just an old people thing.'”
Kontoulas teaches dance lessons at Lynn’s. She also competes in statewide and national shag competitions and is an inductee of the Beach Shagger’s Hall of Fame as a Keeper of the Dance.
“Just the connection you get, the bond you form with people is a lot of fun,” Kontoulas said. “It’s just over music, and you can have an entire conversation on the dance floor without saying one word.”
Shag dancing is thought to have originated in the 1940s and '50s on the beaches of South Carolina.
Couples dance to the beat of rhythm-and-blues beach music while focusing on their feet.
“The guy always starts on his left, the lady always starts on her right foot and you want to look like a mirrored image of an accordion moving back and forth,” Kontoulas said.
The Charlotte Shag Club started at Lynn’s about 35 years ago.
Generations of shaggers have passed through its doors, and there’s even reserved seating for VIPs.
But you don’t have to be a shag legend to get in.
“It’s a great gathering of people of all ages,” Kontoulas said. “It may look like some of the older crowd... it’s all the generations of people coming together for dancing and fun.”
Kontoulas admits there’s a growing generation gap in the community.
By hosting basic lessons at Lynn’s, Kontoulas is trying to reach out to more twenty and thirty somethings in hopes of keeping the dance alive, especially as her parent’s generation gets older.
“That was their fun and their getaway,” Kontoulas said. “And that’s my fun, and it’s my getaway to come dancing, and we hope to continue that tradition.”
Those interested in learning how to dance the “Carolina Shag” can check out Lynn’s Dance Club’s website for a schedule of upcoming beginner lessons.