dancinghomeschool.com

15th May 2009
Every new belly dancer wants to know how to shimmy.

Basically, a shimmy is just a fast vibration of the lower body – but there is much, much more to it than that! Join any belly dance forum and you’ll even find lively debates on how they should be driven – hips, thighs or glutes.

I’ve tried .I can’t get it right.You get a better result if you have some width in the hips.Ok the scarf and tassles do give a better effect though.

We always assume that the shimmy comes from the hips, but it doesn’t. The shimmy is always driven by other muscles – the hips just come along for the ride!

If you try making a shimmy with your hips – which is the obvious thing to do – two things happen. One, the muscles tense up and you won’t get that gorgeous wobble. Two, there’s a tendency for the hips to sway out to the side instead of straight up and down.

 When you practice, try to focus on the knees and let everything else relax.  Make sure you are holding your stomach muscles gently so your butt doesn’t stick out. It may look sexy, but doing shimmies in that position will injure your back!

If you keep your heels on the floor and relax your upper body, you’ll find the shimmy is confined below the waist. By varying the speed of your knees and varying the flexion (i.e. how far you bend them), you can vary the shimmy.Changing the emphasis of your movement will also change the shimmy – try concentrating more on bending for a while, then shift your focus to straightening, and see how it affects the hips.

Happy shimmying!