Find some appropriate Shag music, such as "Carolina Girls," "Under the Boardwalk," or "I Love Beach Music." You also can dance the Shag to Motown and blues music. It's important to have the correct time signature in your music ---- a 4/4 time signature. Listen to your music before you start and notice the tempo.
If you're a woman, stand with your feet together. Step forward with your right foot, place your left foot next to it, then step halfway back on your right foot again. This is the first move for the dance. Next, step back with your left foot to its original position, step your right foot back then step in place with your left foot. Your right foot should stay in place behind you. These are both called triple steps, and again you move forward on a triple step, then backward on a triple step. Men will begin stepping with their left foot and correspond their steps to contrast with the woman's steps.
Step back with your right foot and rock back onto it, picking up your left foot. Once you've rocked back onto your right foot, go back to your original position. Again, men will rock back onto their left foot instead of their right foot. This completes the first steps. Note that the triple steps are done on half-beats while the final rocking movement takes a whole beat to complete.
Add the lady's underarm turn. The man should guide the turn in the first triple step. On the first beat of the triple step, the man should hold the lady's right hand with his left hand. He should raise his hand above their heads, holding her hand, and guide her to turn counter-clockwise. It should take both triple steps to finish the turn, then continue with the final rocking motion.
Add the man's underarm turn next. Like the lady's underarm turn, the man initiates this move during the first count of the triple step. The man moves his left hand across his body and over his head while holding the lady's hand, causing her to move behind him to complete the turn. Again, this should take both triple steps to complete. Then finish off the move with the rocking step.