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| exciting College Kids dancing Collegiate Shag |
**This is my personal notes to the Book "Swing Dance by Scout Cupit", summarizing the useful bit for me only
COLLEGIATE SHAG
A partner dance with its own unique flavour, the Collegiate Shag is danced mainly to up-tempo swing music. Having arisen in the 1920s and 1930s, this magical dance has experienced a new popularity among swing dancers today.
The Collegiate Shag is a brilliant art from that also belongs to the swing family of American vernacular dances. It was most popular inthe 1920s and the 1930s but is still danced today by swing dancer enthusiasts worldwide. This distinctive dance was even featured ina Walt Disney cartoon Make Mine Music (1946), as the animated characters dance to Benny Goodman's "All the Cats Join In".
Although many believe that the dance originated in the Carolinas, there are boundless theories about its roots and no definitive voice seems to prevail. The term "Collegiate" was coined because of the way that the college kids danced it. Dance schools and groups had certain ways of sharing this "Shag" dance but the college kids adopted their own style. There maybe some some rebellious intentions that they didn't dance the 'regular' way that the dance school taught, nevertheless the result was that this style was unique enough to warrant it's own name.
Collegiate Shag today is danced all over the world, however, it seems that most people know a few steps but only limited number of them have really fallen in love with the dance and have chosen to devote themselves to the studying, practicing and dancing of Collegiate Shag.
Popular Tunes
1. All the Cats Join In, Benny Goodman
2. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me, Jim Kweskin
3. Black Coffee, Wingy Manone
4. Diga Diga Doo, Jonathan Stout
5. Oh Lady Be Good, Artie Shaw
6. Jamica Jam, Teddy Powell
7. I Can't Dance (Ants in My Pants), Washington Jug Band
8. Mr Ghost Goes to Town, Tommy Dorsey
9. Everybody Loves My Baby, Catherine Russell
10. Sweeping the Floor, Fud Candrix
Basic for man (lady steps are natural opposite)
1 Step onto LF
2 Hop on LF
3 Step onto RF
4 Hop on RF
5 Step onto LF
6 Step onto RF
part 2 - Personal notes about SWING - Collegiate Shag (you are here)
part 3 - Personal notes about SWING - Balboa