On the weekend of Jan. 27 Noah Hayden, a graduate student in communication and member of the N.C . State women’s basketball practice team, and Cally Brenton , a sophomore in fashion and textile management, traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C . to compete in the second annual Collegiate “shag” Competition to represent the Wolfpack . Hayden and Brenton would sweep fans off their feet as they grabbed the top spot, finishing first in the competition.
For Hayden, shagging is one of the many activities he enjoys while attending the University.
“I have been shagging on and off for about two or three years now,” Hayden said. “I have never been able to do anything serious with it until this year. With national ‘shag’ day, any college can compete for the title by submitting the first two people to sign up for the competition.”
Other notable schools that competed were UNC-Charlotte , the University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston, East Carolina University and Coastal Carolina University. In the previous year’s competition, also the first-ever competition, the College of Charleston took the trophy and they headed into this year favored to keep the title in their hands.
“The College of Charleston has a great dance program,” Hayden said. “They always finish in the top two. After arriving, it was cool because almost everything was paid for. When we looked out of our hotel, we were pretty much on the beach.”
After getting an all-expense paid vacation for the first night, it was time to dance as both Hayden and Brenton made their way to the 2001 Night Club. After watching many of the other schools compete and even meeting some professional dancers, it was time to take the stage, and for Hayden, he knew he had the ideal partner for his shagging style.
“It was great because what we really focused on was the passion between the dancers,” Hayden said. “We did a lot of ‘mirror steps’ in which we both would do the same dance and mirror one another. Cally loves to spin, and because I am so much taller than her, it was really easy for me to do.”
For Brenton , on the other hand, dancing with Hayden came as natural as breathing.
“Working with Noah was such a fun adventure,” Brenton said. “He’s a hilarious guy who knows how to work it on the dance floor. We became the perfect dynamic duo.”
After the dance was over, it would be time for the judges to score the dance based on three aspects of the performance. The first aspect was crowd participation.
“No matter how good of a dancer you are, if you are not fun to watch, the dance means nothing,” Hayden said.
The second aspect of judging came from the originality of the “shag” and just how true each team was to the beauty of the dance and how originality was shown through usage of “old-school shag.”
The last aspect was the passion between the partners.
“The beauty of shag is the interaction,” Hayden said. “People now days do these really ‘showy’ steps with a lot of personal variations. The judges wanted to dancers to stay true to the relationship of dancers like shag was intended to be.”
As the scores came in, State pulled out on top over second place College of Charleston, and third place East Carolina University. To win the competition for State was an honor for Hayden and Brenton .
“We had more fun than anyone there,” Hayden said. “We were fun to watch, and I think that is what gave us the trophy.
