Hagala vs. The Turkish Shimmy
- Thread starter IsisAQ
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IsisAQ
New member
I've seen these versions so far:
Twist Hagalla / Twist-hagalla - YouTube ...I thought this was turkish.
Seoul Belly Dancing - How To "Hagalla" 3/4 Shimmy (3/4
Egyptian Folkloric Belly Dance : Hagalla Belly Dance Move - YouTube
Bellyology Dance Vocabulary-Hagallah Shimmy - YouTube
Twist Hagalla / Twist-hagalla - YouTube ...I thought this was turkish.
Seoul Belly Dancing - How To "Hagalla" 3/4 Shimmy (3/4
Egyptian Folkloric Belly Dance : Hagalla Belly Dance Move - YouTube
Bellyology Dance Vocabulary-Hagallah Shimmy - YouTube
SeeJaneDance
New member
I was taught the Hagallah shimmy as a 3/4 shimmy with the accent on the down. Basically the second video but without the twist. I've never been taught the Turkish shimmy, but from videos I've watched, I always assumed it was the Turkish step layered with a 3/4 shimmy.
mahsati_janan
New member
There are many different Hagalla accented movements, but in most cases the Hagalla shimmy is a 3/4 shimmy on the down with a up/over/down movement of the hip on the first movement. Hagalla is not Turkish, but is thought to originate from Western Egypt or Libya.
Most of the links you shared are showing individual variations on this same movement. This is a youtube playlist with some Hagalla style movements and performances. Hagalla - Sahra - YouTube
I hope this helps!
Most of the links you shared are showing individual variations on this same movement. This is a youtube playlist with some Hagalla style movements and performances. Hagalla - Sahra - YouTube
I hope this helps!
Yame
New member
I don't know what a "Turkish shimmy" is.
"Hagallah" can mean a few different things, depending on who's talking about it.
I've noticed Raqia Hassan seems to use the term to refer to almost any 3/4 shimmy, whereas some people use it to refer only to 3/4 shimmies with a down accent, and other people still only use it when talking about 3/4 shimmies with twist AND a down accent, and others are even more specific and use it only to refer to a 3/4 shimmy with a twist, down accent, and emphasis on one side (I think the right), which is I believe the way the Bedouin of Mersa Matruth perform it in their hagallah dance for which the movement was named after... although I have not seen this first hand.
"Hagallah" can mean a few different things, depending on who's talking about it.
I've noticed Raqia Hassan seems to use the term to refer to almost any 3/4 shimmy, whereas some people use it to refer only to 3/4 shimmies with a down accent, and other people still only use it when talking about 3/4 shimmies with twist AND a down accent, and others are even more specific and use it only to refer to a 3/4 shimmy with a twist, down accent, and emphasis on one side (I think the right), which is I believe the way the Bedouin of Mersa Matruth perform it in their hagallah dance for which the movement was named after... although I have not seen this first hand.
chirel
New member
I guess my question could go under this thread. I also have the language barrier to add to the terminology mess. I suppose in Finnish the 3/4 shimmy is called egyptian walk (direct translation). In English that means something else... But I'm not sure about the translation...
Now the problem is this. I've tried to learn the 3/4 shimmy using youtube rsourses and what explanations I've found here on this forum. I was momentarily quite happy with myself util last week when we started learning the "egyptian walk" in class. The teacher pointed out right away that I'm doing it wrong. I thought 3/4 shimmy and this "egyptian walk" are the same thing, but now I'm not sure. Earlier I had tried to do the movements consiously. Most resourses seem to emphasize the hip movements and the pattern the hips are doing, but my teacher just said not to concentrate on the hips, it's all about weight shift anyway. So I had to unlearn doing the hip moves and start to cocentrate on the weight shift.
At class I managed to do it with the weight shift, but only slowly. Now I've tried to find an instructional video that would describe the same movement, but I'm not sure which one would be it. The Bellyology video seems to come close, but there too the hip moves are done. My teacher spesifically pointed out, that I shouldn't be doing them, they just happen. But not on me.
So what shimmy walk could this be?
As I was searching for more videos I ran across one that taught the moroccan shimmy How to do the 3/4 shimmy (Moroccan shimmy) - YouTube It looks the same in the end, but she explaines it differently. I think I can do it her way, but I still can't do it the way my teacher told me to do it. So now I'm just really confused.
(And I can't ask the teacher, because it was just one class with her.)
Now the problem is this. I've tried to learn the 3/4 shimmy using youtube rsourses and what explanations I've found here on this forum. I was momentarily quite happy with myself util last week when we started learning the "egyptian walk" in class. The teacher pointed out right away that I'm doing it wrong. I thought 3/4 shimmy and this "egyptian walk" are the same thing, but now I'm not sure. Earlier I had tried to do the movements consiously. Most resourses seem to emphasize the hip movements and the pattern the hips are doing, but my teacher just said not to concentrate on the hips, it's all about weight shift anyway. So I had to unlearn doing the hip moves and start to cocentrate on the weight shift.
At class I managed to do it with the weight shift, but only slowly. Now I've tried to find an instructional video that would describe the same movement, but I'm not sure which one would be it. The Bellyology video seems to come close, but there too the hip moves are done. My teacher spesifically pointed out, that I shouldn't be doing them, they just happen. But not on me.
So what shimmy walk could this be?
As I was searching for more videos I ran across one that taught the moroccan shimmy How to do the 3/4 shimmy (Moroccan shimmy) - YouTube It looks the same in the end, but she explaines it differently. I think I can do it her way, but I still can't do it the way my teacher told me to do it. So now I'm just really confused.
(And I can't ask the teacher, because it was just one class with her.)
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chirel
New member
I would, but these teachers aren't interested in giving private lessons. I've been trying for a month to find a teacher that would do it.
Kashmir
New member
It is possibly what I call the "Denise Walk" named after Denise Enan who often throws it in when she is improving. A group of us sat down one day and tried to work out what she was doing. Now, this is quite possibly NOT what your teacher wanted but it's a lovely walk.
The deliberate part of the walk is that as you step onto the front foot your hip twists in and down (like the start of a folkloric haggalla) - think of an L shape. While doing this the butt stays absolutely relaxed and the impact of the weight transfer makes it flobber. So, it is not what I'd call a shimmy - it is not driven - rather it is a reverbation.
I love it and often throw it in myself. But it must be one of the hardest moves to teach because you have to be able to relax and also be capable of doing a severe hip down on the weighted leg.
chirel
New member
Thanks Kashmir, that could be it. The way the teacher taught it really was just "first you walk like this and then the hips happen".
I realised one major difference between the morcoccan shimmy that I posted and the walk my teacher made us do. We had our feet flat, no relevee like in the moroccan one. It's possible that I just did it wrong, but the teacher was very carefull about details, so i think she would have corrected this, if i'd done it wrong in her opinion.
I realised one major difference between the morcoccan shimmy that I posted and the walk my teacher made us do. We had our feet flat, no relevee like in the moroccan one. It's possible that I just did it wrong, but the teacher was very carefull about details, so i think she would have corrected this, if i'd done it wrong in her opinion.