JACKIE McGEE | 2003
Jackie and Charlie are the founders and directors of the USA Grand National Dance Championship.
Public Recognition:
1981-1994 – Undefeated for 13 years on the Carolina Shag Competition Circuit
1990 – Inducted into the Shaggers Hall of Fame
1988-1889 – Appeared on “Good Morning America” three times and once on the “Today Show”
1990-1995 – Captains of the National Shag Dance Team (for 5 years)
1991 – U.S. Open Team Champions
1994 – Feather Award – Most Outstanding Swing Dancers (female and male)
1995 – Feather Award – Most Outstanding Classic Swing Dancers (male and female)
1995 – Performed the Carolina Shag at Rockefeller Center in New York
1996 – Special Feather Award – “New Wave” (for introducing Carolina Shag to the Swing community)
1996 – U.S. Open Classic Champions
1996 – First recipients of the “Shad Alberty Award” for contributions to the Shag Community
1998 – Received the “Chairman’s Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Society of Stranders (SOS)
1999 – Participated in a documentary by Turner Broadcasting
1999 – Second recipients of the National Shag Dance “Promotion of the Shag” Award
2000 – Inducted into the National Living Legends
2000 – Performed at the Inaugural Ball
2003 – WSDC National Swing Dance Hall of Fame Inductees
Dance Biography:
Jackie McGee and Charlie Womble started dancing the Carolina Shag in 1980 and have competed and taught the dance since that time. Jackie McGee is a ten-time Overall National Shag Dance Champion, and her husband Charlie Womble is a nine-time Overall National Shag Dance Champion. In 1989 they introduced the Carolina Shag to the U.S. Open and started teaching Shag workshops across the country. They became the first Shag instructors to be endorsed by the SOS organization, and are still actively teaching locally and across the country.
Charlie and Jackie are the founders and directors of the USA Grand National Dance Championship (founded in January 1994, with the first event in May 1995.) They have served on the Competitive Shaggers Board of Directors; hosted local charity and fund raising dance competitions in Atlanta, GA and Myrtle Beach, SC; and created fourteen instructional videos, many of which are donated to fund raising events and charities.
They also created the first scholarship to assist Junior Shaggers in the Shag community. Charlie and Jackie became the first and only spokespersons for Anqet Natural Spring Water (a company that supports and sponsors a significant number of events for the Shag community.)
A trophy in their likeness, called the “Charlie and Jackie Trophy” was created by the National Shag Dance Championship to be presented to its “Overall Champions” in March of each year.
