NVSC History - 1995

TEAMWORK AND RAPID GROWTH

ABILITY TO SWING (Patti Austin)

The 1995 NVSC Board of Directors picked up the ball, ran with it, and the club took off.

• President, Charlie Price
• Vice President, Donna Harrington
• Treasurer, John Belt
• Secretary, Patricia Parrott
• Members-At-Large:
  • Pauline Easby-Smith
  • Janis Grimes
  • Rick Hendrix
• Committee Chairpersons:
  • Membership, Patricia Parrott
  • Newsletter, Janis Grimes
  • Dance Instruction, Rick Hendrix
  • Special Events, Pauline Easby-Smith
  • Charity, H.K. Lee
  • Interclub Relations, Donna Harrington
  • Publicity, Charlie Price

The Board of Directors and the club members teamed together enthusiastically to promote the NVSC, Carolina Shag, and Beach Music. Membership began to soar. Donna, Pauline and Patricia asked almost everyone they met everywhere they went: “Do you shag?” “Have you heard of beach music?” “Oh, yes” was often the response, “I know about the Beach Boys.”

Much of the local area had yet to learn about Carolina Shag. At the end of the year 1995, however, the club had 211 members. Membership consisted of dancers, not just from VA, DC and MD, but also from states to the North and South. Visitors came from other cities and states. Many people, it seemed, wanted to join the club. Something special was happening here. Excitement was palpable. It could be felt. It could be smelled. It was in the air and everywhere. It seemed to stem from leadership and teamwork… members all working for the same purpose…to promote Carolina Shag and Beach Music.

The local dance establishment had been introduced to beach music by this time, and the previously independent D.C. Hand Dance and West Coast Swing communities crossed over to engage with Carolina Shag and Beach Music. It was quite exciting to have shag’s compelling, energizing, gut-wrenching, wonderful beach music bring together these three distinct styles of dance. It was exciting to share the floor and the music with swing and hand dancers.

On February 11, Larry and Shirley Jones presented a shag workshop on style and technique at the Juke Box Café. They amazed and inspired everyone with their beautiful, graceful ability to dance.

In February, the dance location moved from the Juke Box because management proposed changing the dance night from Wednesday to Tuesday. Blackie’s Restaurant, Déjà Vu Room, in Springfield (now demolished) welcomed back the NVSC, and Blackie’s once again became home to the Northern Virginia Shag Club. President Charlie Price arranged for the club deejay, Bert Nelbach, to move with the club from the Juke Box to Blackie’s. Bert was paid $50 per night by Blackie’s management to play for the club.

• A Mess of Blues –Delbert McClinton
• A Love Worth Waiting For – Shakin Stevens
• American Hearts – Billy Ocean
• Baby Likes to Rock It – Tractors
• Big Top Hat – Stephen Burton
• Club Savoy – Rockin’ Louis
• Footprints on the Ceiling – Ruby Winters
• Honky Tonk – Bill Doggett
• It Started With a Kiss – Hot Chocolate
• Keep On Sitting On It – Band of Oz
• Kissing on the Back Row – The Drifters
• Lil’ Brown Eyes – Theodis Ealey
• Miss Grace – Tymes
• Remedy – The Band
• Shanty – Jonathan Edwards
• She Blew A Good Thing – The Poets
• Take It Uptown – Bill Champlin

WHAT A LIFE (Mighty Flyers)

The NVSC began to receive notice and acclaim from the larger, old-time shag community of the Southeast. Southern deejays came north to introduce the variety, richness and depth of Beach Music, and Shag dance instructors came from the South to teach technique and new steps.

Susie Beaver taught shag workshops at Blackie’s on June 10, 1995. She brought Calvin Wade and 14-year-old Nikki Kontoulis with her as teaching assistants. The workshops were well attended by Shaggers from Richmond and Virginia Beach shag clubs, as well as our own membership. That evening we danced with Susie and company at a little place called Checkers, at Holiday Inn, Tyson’s Corner.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS (Aaron Neville)

On a whim, Patricia Parrott wrote to the editors of The Washington Post suggesting that they might want to look into this new dance club that potentially, she offered, could be of interest to the Post’s readers. They did take notice, and featured The Northern Virginia Shag Club with a written article and photo in the October 22, 1995, Sunday Edition, Style Section.

(NOTE: My photo was chosen was not because I was favored or a better dancer, but because I happened to be wearing light colored clothing that night. I was lucky and pleased to represent the club this way. Bill, on the other hand was both: wearing a light colored jacket and a better dancer.)

LET THE BOOGIE WOOGIE ROLL (Roadrunners)

Nowadays, the preservation of Shag and Beach Music is a given due to the publication of shag videos and books. It will not likely fade again as it did in the 60’s and 70’s. But back in the early and mid-90’s its permanence was not that certain. For several years, the focus had been on doing whatever was necessary to ensure that Carolina Shag gain status and prevail as a specific dance. Keeping the NVSC afloat under those conditions was an enormous, grand, and united effort. The NVSC Board of Directors, regular members who faithfully attended every Wednesday night dance, and support of the ACSC and others in the dance community helped to make it happen. Correctly learning steps, style, and technique was the emphasis. Everyone had a strong desire to see NVSC make it, for the sheer fun, pleasure and enjoyment of dance, and also to preserve the dance and music as it expanded West and North.

To further promote the NVSC, Bill Hopkins, Chris Pax, Dan Shames and Janis Grimes spent precious time and effort learning the more difficult mirror steps. They were the first to go the competitive route and bring notice to NVSC (see below). Keith Abernathy and Donna Harrington did a better than notable job demonstrating the K.D. Mirror Step on Virginia Beach Shag Club’s instructional video. To boost the club’s financial status, Janis Grimes published a NVSC Cookbook and club members produced cassette tapes for sale. Promoting shag was a united effort.

AMAZING GRACE (Joe Simon)

Through the initiating efforts