BURLINGTON, N.C. (WGHP) — Carol Oakley has been tearing up the dance floor since she was in middle school.

“Holding on to the refrigerator door,” Oakley said. “It’s how I learned to do it.”

It was the six steps of shag.

“It really started with beach music. Think of pavilions, dance clubs,” Oakley said. “Now we dance to more R&B.”

For more than 20 years, she’s been teaching others the steps of shag. Those six steps have taken her all over and landed her in the National Living Legends of Dance Hall of Fame.

“Some days, it hits me,” she said. “Some days, I have to think about is it real?”

The recognition comes from her years of passing on the art of shag to the next generation like student Maddrie Allen.

“We’ve shagged Ariana Grande the day before and quite a few other new artists,” she said.

Yes, Allen’s generation is now putting their own spin on it.

It may only be half a dozen steps, but it can give you so much more. 

“I had someone say to me … ‘I didn’t realize six steps would change my life,’” she said. 

Oakley will be inducted during a ceremony in Virginia Beach in November along with Nikki Kontoulas of Greensboro and Vickie Chambers of Winston-Salem.