Big Apple- Art Event

Even though the shag is danced in 4/4 time, the dancer counts in 8s when they are dancing. So the dancer will count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and then start over.

Example of dancers dancing the Shag in an 8 count!

The Big Apple building is two-story, wooden building with a metal gabled roof. The orginal purpose of the building served as a synongoue for mostly Polish and Russian immigrants, because of this it is an example of Easten Jewish artchitecture.

The entrance to the building is in a projecting central bay, the door is flanked by wooden pilasters and sidelights under a large arch with stained glass windows. On each side of the arch is a pair of tall narrow, stained glass windows with horseshoe arches. The sides of buildings have five windows with horseshoe arches. The sides have pedimented gables with a rondelle.

The interior has central recessed dome.

When it was the Big Apple Club, the dome had neon lights shaped like the crescent moon and shooting stars. There is a balcony on the front side of the building. This was the spectator's gallery during operation as the night club.

The first name of the Big Apple was House of Peace Synagogue

  In 1907, the Orthodox minyan met at a house at Park and Lady Streets that served as their first synagogue.  This first synagogue was destroyed in a fire in 1915. The new synagogue was built at the site. By the late 1920s, they had outgrown this facility and moved to their third synagogue on 1719 Marion Street in early 1935

The location on Park Street was then used for the African-American night club called the Big Apple Club. At the club, a dance craze, which was named the Big Apple, was popularized.Students from the University of South Carolina, would pay to watch from a balcony, learned the dance steps. Some of these students took the dance to the Roxy Club in New York in 1937. From there, the dance was briefly popular across the country.

In the early 1980s, it was moved nearly two blocks to the corner of Hampton and Park Streets. In 1993, it was purchased by the Historic Columbia Foundation. It has been restored and is available for rental for special occasions.

Carolina Shag can trace its origins to the southern United States during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 40s. Some historians claim that Carolina Shag is a descendant of Carolina Jitterbug, and its predecessor, Little Apple which originated from USC studnets interpretation of the Big Apple, which has started by African Americans.Those origins can supposedly be traced to Columbia, S.C. in 1937.

Historians claim that a slower six-count variation of Carolina Jitterbug  was what gave rise to contemporary Carolina Shag. Soldiers from the north are said to have influenced its six-count rhythm.