Mack West & Trinity Davis have been dancing together at the junior level in shag competitions for a few years now and it shows in both their skill and their chemistry.

And they proved they’re the team to beat at the 2017 Grand Nationals when the duo took first place in the Junior Shag category.

“Junior” shag dancers are typically under 21 years of age and while the dancers’ ages are unclear in this video, they were still dancing in the Junior division as of last year.

A video from 2018 posted to Facebook said that the then-2018 Grand National Overall Junior Shag Dance Champions were just 14 (Mack) and 13 (Trinity) and that the latter had only been dancing for two and a half years!

That would make them pre-teens in this video!

If you haven’t been paying attention, you may have assumed that shag dancing was a thing of the past – but it’s bigger than ever in the U.S. and around the world and is a recognized dance in national and international dance competitions for people of all ages. But it’s the kids that are keeping it alive!

Originating in the Carolinas as a beach-dance that may have roots in the dances of early American settlers, shag dancing really got going during the American Jazz Age in the 20s and 30s. But its heydays were in the 1950s – and while the dance died out for a bit, it was revived in the 1970s and is now bigger than ever.

While the dance looks deceptively easy – a male-led, basic, two-person dance – there’s plenty of room for improvisation. In fact, it’s encouraged, and it’s the creative teams that end up taking home the prize.

For West and Davis, that creativity was on display at the 2017 event and they took the floor to “NYC Song” by John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band – a song from their album Eddie & The Cruisers II: Eddie Lives.

Dancers are never more than an arm’s width apart and while acrobatics are discouraged, there’s lots of fancy footwork and dizzying twirls on display.

For his part, the dapper-dressed West really knows how to bust a move! So often the focus of the choreography is on the female dancer, but not here!

As they pull off a series of impressive maneuvers – though not impressive enough to get the kid sitting behind them to look up from his video game – it’s clear that these two are champs.

Both dancers glide around the floor, making it look like they’re dancing on air.

Their ability to groove and glide takes on progressively more impressive forms as they pull off a series of fleet-footed moves and elastic body movements.

Even if you never thought you’d enjoy swing dance (that’s the category of dance shag belongs to), these two are a blast to watch.

Davis gets her turn to show off some smooth moves as well, but we’d say this dance is all about West.

Then again, it takes two to shag!

As the two finish up their impressive routine, the audience jumps to their feet (even the kid with the video game!) to give them a standing ovation as they give each other a congratulatory hug.

That’s another amazing performance in the books for this talented team.

Be sure to scroll down below to see the young dancers’ impressive and award-winning performance!

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Source: USA Grand National Dance Championships, Bruce Gleason via YouTube, NCpedia, Camden Shag Club via Facebook