One-and-two, up-up-back, right-left-right.

Shag, a style of partner dance, was all the rage in the Carolinas throughout our parents’ youth. Nowadays, students are still embracing this dance and the music that goes along with it.

“We had a bunch of college students this year,” Don Bunn, a professional shag instructor since 1982, said. “We had a lot of State students.”

Bunn teaches weekly shag lessons at Reds Beach Music, a nightclub popular with N.C. State students. He said although business has always been good, it seems that last year “was one of the best years.”

Students like Ashton Smith, a junior in industrial design, take lessons from Bunn to learn the fundamentals and history of shag.

“I want to learn from someone who knows it,” Smith said. “Like telling a story, every time someone teaches it, it could be different.”

Smith is taking lessons with Bunn every Tuesday in January with her boyfriend Michael Phillips, a junior in computer engineering.

“She enjoys laughing at me,” Phillips said. “But it’s a challenge to learn the steps.”

Like others, Smith was familiar with shagging because of her parents, but has noticed it become a growing trend among her friends.

“There’s definitely been an upswing in the amount of people interested,” Smith said.

Bunn said students who found out about shagging from their parents “want to go home and show their parents they can do it.”

Shag has become so popular at NCSU, there is now a club devoted to it — the Wolfpack Shag Association.

“It’s crazy how many people have gotten into it,” Lauren Matthews, treasurer of the Wolfpack Shag Association and sophomore in communication, said.

Matthews said she is glad to be a part of the Wolfpack Shag Association because she “didn’t know anyone who knew about it in high school.”

Bunn, who has taught over 100 NCSU students, said college students tend to pick up on the basics of shag very well.

“A 20 year old will learn quicker than a 30 or 35 year old, who would blow a 45 year old out of the water,” Bunn said.

Matthews said getting involved with the Wolfpack Shag Association is another good way to get a grasp of the dance.

“People who don’t know how to shag can learn at the lessons before social events,” Matthews said.

Students from nearby colleges are also taking advantage of the learning opportunities this area has to offer.

Leslie Tyson, a senior at Peace College, is taking lessons with Bunn.

“I have a lot of friends who shag,” Tyson said. “They told us [Bunn] was really good.”

Tyson also likes to shag because of the music that it is associated with. Shag is typically performed to beach music, a smooth style of rhythm and blues that originated along the coast of the Carolinas.

Red Hughes, owner of Reds Beach Music, said the beach music band that attracts the most college students is The Embers.

“The Embers is the best band there is in the southeastern United States,” Hughes said. “They’re phenomenal.”

On nights The Embers headlines at Reds Beach Music, the dance floor is packed with students shagging to favorites such as “I Love Beach Music” and “Little Red Book.”

Hughes, who will soon be relocating his business to downtown Raleigh, said the “stage presence” of the band is why they remain a favorite of shag dancers young and old.

“I like [shagging] with the music,” Smith said. “And I like the songs themselves.”