LANDIS — The rhythm and blues sound of “Boogie Woogie King” by Jimmy Liggins was being played, and Tobitha Stewart and Nate Benfield were busy practicing their shag dance steps in preparation for a special competition.

Stewart and Benfield, both of Landis, were working on their dance routine for the 18th annual Shaggin’ with the Stars scheduled for Jan. 24 in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The event is not only a competition, but it’s also a benefit with proceeds going to the Beth Mitchell Memorial Scholarship, which provides help for students to be able to attend college.

Stewart, a professional shag dancer and instructor, was taught how to dance by Hall of Famer T.K. Robinette, who she said became her mentor and was a huge influence to her. She is a two-time champion of the National Shag Dance Championships and two-time champion of the Grand National Dance Championships, and this will be her third time to take part in the competition.

She began dancing while in high school and returned to dancing after she got married and had children. It was actually through dancing that she met her husband, Ashley Stewart, who has since quit competing, but is now a full time coach/instructor and serves as mayor pro tem of Landis.

She said she loves the shag community and supports it, to which Ashley said, it’s a very supportive community.

In previous Shaggin’ With the Stars competitions, Stewart said she danced with a member of the House of Representatives and another time a young lawyer from Murrells Inlet was her dance partner.

This year, Benfield, a patrol officer with the Landis Police Department, will don his dancing shoes and be her partner.

With a smile, Benfield said he has zero experience, but this opportunity was offered to him by Police Chief Matthew Geelen.

“He called me on the phone and asked if I would like to participate in a shag dance competition,” he said. “I said, ‘Absolutely. I think it would be fantastic,’ and it’s been fantastic ever since and I’m really, really excited to do the competition at the end of January.”

He added that being able to come after his shift and practice for an hour has been “a nice escape from daily work as a police officer. It’s really nice, I enjoy it.”

And while he might not have the dance experience, he didn’t hesitate to answer the call to help with the cause.

“It’s something I think again would be really fun. It’s just something spontaneous, something I don’t know, so I get to learn it and hopefully make her somewhat proud of taking lessons, then I’m all in.”

Stewart said she was contacted by Barry Thigpen with the 41st annual National Shag Dance Championships to participate in the event, and was told there would be a change in this year’s competition.

Thigpen, she said, “is a big influence to our (shag) community” and he was in the movie “Shag” along with other area shag dancers. 

The norm for the event is for the dance pros to get someone from the beach area as their dance partner. However, this year, they were allowing each pro to ask someone from their hometown. 

“It has to be a hometown hero or somebody you admire, you look up to,” Stewart said.

And she immediately thought of Geelen, who she said she has known and noted the amazing job he has done for the town as police chief and that they have the best police staff who are all friendly and will do anything for you.

“I think we all take for granted our police officers and what they do for us and how they put their life on the line for us every day,” said Stewart. “And they are definitely our small town heroes!”

When Geelen got the call, he thought of Benfield and called him and asked if he would be willing to shag dance for a benefit. 

“He didn’t miss a beat, he said, ‘Absolutely,'” said Geelen. “He’s been great, and I think he will do great.”

Family and friends are planning to gather to watch the two in the competition.

Brittany Wilkins, Benfield’s fiancee, said she, her mother and her aunt, are all going to the event and support the pair.

Geelen said he and his family anticipate being there watching and supporting Benfield and Stewart as well.

Another member of Benfield’s support system is his grandmother, or as he said he calls her, his grammy, Susan West of Statesville. She has been encouraging him and providing assistance along the way.

West grew up shagging, he said, and when he told her about the competition, “I can’t describe the smile on her face.”

He said that when Stewart is busy and they can’t work on the routine, his grammy encourages him to come to her house to practice. Or if he is busy and can’t get there to practice, his grammy has passed along some tricks he can do at home.

“The best thing she’s taught me so far in this whole experience is that the best partner you can have is a doorknob,” he said.

Many times, he said, when Wilkins comes into the house he’s got his hand on the doorknob practicing his steps.

“It’s really helped,” he said.

Benfield shared that he and Wilkins knew Stewart prior to their dancing as she was their Realtor helping them get a new home when they moved from Gastonia to here to be closer to his job with the Landis Police Department.

He said they didn’t know of Stewart’s dancing experience, and when Geelen called, they figured it out, we started watching videos, and “we were like, oh my, National Champion!” said Benfield.

And this, he said, adds some pressure, telling that they only get five one-hour practices for the competition. He wants to be good and hopes to not let her down.

Proceeds from this competition will benefit The Beth Mitchell Memorial Scholarship. Stewart said didn’t know Mitchell personally as she wasn’t dancing at the time that Mitchell was, but they were really good friends with her mom Nancy, who, she said, started the Beth Mitchell Memorial Scholarship, which has paid for many young people to attend college.

A huge presence in the shag community, Stewart said that Mitchell and her dance partner had just won the National Shag Dance Championships in 1998. She was returning home and ran into a bad tornado in the area, and was killed in the tornado. 

Stewart has set a goal of $500 that she wants to collect in Nate’s name to be given toward the scholarship. People have reached out to give, she said, and they are close to reaching that amount, but other wishing to give can still do so.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax deductible donations can be given by texting Stewart at 704-202-9655. All donations that are collected, she said, will be submitted to the scholarship in the Landis Police Department’s and Benfield’s names.

Cost for the competition, which will be held at the Spanish Galleon, North Myrtle Beach, is $20 at the door, which open at 7 p.m. with an exhibition at 8 p.m. and Shaggin’ With the Stars at 9:30 p.m.

They plan on arriving early as they will have lunch on Friday, Stewart said, where they get the chance to meet the other competitors.

Knowing that the competition will benefit a student, raises the event to a different level, said Benfield.

“I think it does take on another level just because of what I do everyday at work, just to benefit the community and the town of Landis. So if I can help that beyond the town of Landis, then yes, absolutely” it does take on a different level.

Stewart said she is passionate about this because she knows there are many children that could not attend college without the help of the scholarships.

“So these $5,000 scholarships, it’s a huge amount for a child to get to help pay for their books or any additional expense” and it’s not a one time thing, she said noting that if students qualify, these scholarships can continue yearly to the students and help support them to get a college education.

Wilkins was attending the Jan. 7 practice and said that since she was there at the first practice, Benfield had made tremendous progress.

“I’m excited to watch them compete,” she said. “I’m excited for him learning something new, getting out of his comfort zone.”

As a public servant, Benfield said being able to compete “means the world, especially coming from Gastonia to here. They brought me in like family,” he said of the local department, “and they’ve always pushed me to be better.”

I couldn’t ask for more, he said, of being able to help.

Geelen said that having one of his officers compete in this event and represent them “embodies what our department’s about” noting service to the community and fostering community trust.