In 1928, dance instructor Lewis Philip Hall sparked a dance revolution with his creation, “The Shag.” Debuting at the 2nd Annual Feast of the Pirates Festival in Wilmington, NC, before a crowd of 30,000, the dance quickly gained popularity. College students eagerly embraced it, spreading its fame to campuses across the nation. By the following year, Virginia Beach had earned the moniker “Shag Mad,” signifying the widespread enthusiasm for this new dance form. 

Alternatively, some suggest that The Shag evolved from a slowed-down version of the jitterbug. In the 1940s and 1950s, local shaggers found the jitterbug’s fast-paced movements out of sync with the laid-back beach lifestyle. As one dancer put it, The Shag came to mirror the easygoing way they conversed with partners. 

In 1950, a young woman teaching shag lessons at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion introduced a new style influenced by the beach culture, departing from the traditional Lewis Philip Hall technique taught by her mother, a Charleston dance teacher. This innovative approach, known as the “get down and dig in the sand style,” captured the carefree essence of Spivey’s Pavilion. 

Spivey’s Pavilion, a symbol of entertainment, was constructed from an old tobacco warehouse brought from Horry County. Situated on Spivey’s Beach near 2nd Avenue South, it was eventually washed away by Hurricane Hazel on October 15th, 1954, marking the end of an era in shag dance history.