Sumter Shag Club celebrates 2020’s 35th anniversary after COVID-19 cancels meetings; members are ‘like a family’
Despite daylight still streaming in, as it was barely 7 p.m., gray-haired dancers worked on cultivating night life similar to what they experienced in their youth. As their muscle memory kicked in and “Sixty Minute Man” played over the speakers, the dancers’ steps fell in harmony with the music and their partners’ moves.
With smiles everywhere, hugs exchanged at every greeting and memories shared of shagging on the beach in past decades, members and guests of the Sumter Shag Club were thrilled to be together at their weekly meeting on Tuesday night, especially after having to cancel many of their get-togethers because of the pandemic.
“This year, the club is officially 36 years old,” said President of the Sumter Shag Club Whit Blanton. “We had our 35th anniversary last year, but we missed it because of COVID-19, so we celebrated it just a few weeks back. We’re like a family. It’s very community-oriented.”
According to discoversouthcarolina.com, shagging, more formally known as the Carolina Shag, is a dance that originated in the 1930s in African-American communities in South Carolina. The dance is typically done to beach themed music and is a quick six-count, eight-step dance pattern. The dance is typically most popular among older demographics, and there are numerous clubs along the East Coast.
Sumter has its own club that many Sumter natives look forward to attending each Tuesday night. The club used to meet at Main Street Tavern but soon outgrew it, so they now gather at The Quality Inn on Broad Street.
This past Tuesday, the club celebrated the 4th of July. Dancers were adorned with patriotic beads that moved along with them as they shagged.
“We are trying to set up a party every month. We do lots of them like Veterans Day, St. Patrick’s Day and even a Carolina-Clemson party,” Blanton said.
At almost half past 7 p.m., there were 46 members and six guests present.
To become a member of the Sumter Shag Club, one must pay a $25 member fee which allows them to attend each special themed event for free as well as receive other perks such as free food. Guests are welcome to attend the regularly scheduled Tuesday night meetings.
“I started shagging when I could crawl, as soon as I could walk, really. I’m serious. My mom taught me and my three sisters how to shag and how to do the box step and slow dance and everything … I have been dancing all of my life, and I love it,” said member Tom Dennis. “I was born right here in Sumter. I moved to the beach for a while, and I joined the shag clubs down there, and I have been back here and rejoined Sumter about six or eight years ago. My girlfriend and I met here at the shag club. She loves to dance, too, and we go down to the beach clubs, and sometimes we go up to the Camden Shag Club. We just got a great group of people here. You can see we are all friends, and we love it here so much.”
The community aspect of the Sumter Shag Club is what keeps people coming back each week, as well as their love for the dance. During the pandemic, however, it was more difficult for the dancers to keep in touch with one another.
“Whit made sure we all kept in touch over the pandemic,” said Secretary of Sumter Shag Club Melissa May. “Every Tuesday, he would call up members to check on them… we played games virtually such as Who Is That Baby, where people would submit baby photos and everyone else had to guess who it was.”
May sends out monthly newsletters that update the community on what the club has planned in the coming weeks.
“Our purpose,” read the newsletter, “[Is] to promote and preserve the heritage of beach music and shag dancing. To provide club members and guests with dance opportunities. To inform the club members of beach music events and dancing activities.”
Although the club has no direct religious orientation, the newsletter includes prayer requests submitted by various dancers. This is another aspect that encourages community values in the Sumter Shag Club.
Shag lovers hope the dance will continue to be loved by younger generations.
“Before COVID-19 here, we had a junior shag club, which we're gonna start back up. When we get kids involved, you can go online and see them, and you can see all the teenagers and the college kids. They do competitions, and it literally blows your mind how good they are and what they can do,” Blanton said.
As the lyrics, “Sixty-minute man, sixty-minute man/ Look a here girls I'm telling you now/ They call me ‘Lovin' Dan,’” were sung over the speakers and among the dancers, laughter and conversation still filled the room as American attire was flaunted and as people continued to dance and sing on the dance floor.
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