Most kids would rather be playing games on their consoles, shopping with friends, or even just hanging out and horsing around. Young adults don’t realize that they are ripe with talent if only they stayed true to themselves.
Peer pressure. For the sake of being cool and hanging out with the cool kids, lots of youngsters choose to ignore the fact that they are unique. Even special.
These dancers chose to develop their talents.
This is the Junior Shag Dance Team at the 2018 USA Grand National Dance Championships. It takes skill and countless ours of practice just to dance like they do. It’s a dance that’s come back in full swing. Pun intended.
The USA GNDC certainly helped bring back the culture of dance. Their website says their mission is,
“To provide a fun, friendly, and organized competitive dance environment where separate dance communities can become inspired by the other to share, create, and merge into one dance while maintaining the integrity of each dance individually.”
It’s worked wonders.
The Shag was born on the beaches of South Carolina.
Young guys and girls stepped and twirled to beach music fully enjoying their youth in the 1940’s. The dance has been described as, “cold beer on a warm night with a hot date and no plans for tomorrow.”
How smooth do you want it? Check out these young adults.
Young men in blue shirts, ladies in pink. They make an entrance to loud cheers and a very upbeat tune. Those are pretty confident smiles. Such is the atmosphere at the USA GNDC. It’s all about having fun!
The song is Otis Redding’s “Try a little tenderness“. And the dance is a slower, more delicate style with lots of sweeping motions and twirls. It’s got a very romantic, intimate feel to it.
But what’s even more impressive is that they’re all dancing together, pulling off the same moves in one smooth motion. You are looking at a group of fourteen here. These kids are fantastic!
They make quite an impression.
“Quite good. Hope we see them all in the adult events.”
Says a viewer.
That they do.
Look at the way they alternate their legs with a sway of those hips. It’s like they’re suspended in mid-air. The movements are so smooth, so fluid, it’s actually mesmerizing to watch.
The mood changes when Wynonie Harris’ “All she wants to do is rock“. The tempo picks up and the dancers shift into a higher gear.
There’s that familiar Swing!
The contrasting hues do provide a cool illusion during a circular formation. Guys inside while the ladies take the outer part as they spin and step their way around before heading off with their partners again.
It’s a lot of stepping forwards and backwards with partners mirroring each other’s steps as they shift their weight from left to right. It’s not an easy dance to learn. One might say that you’d have to be born with it.
That last part though. They form a line, arms around each other, and they execute a dazzling sequence enough to make a viewer want to learn the dance. And that finish was awesome! Get these guys and girls those medals!
Check out these young Shag dancers in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
