layer shimmy with hip drop

[BellyBee]

i am layering shimmy with hip drop, i simply find it impossible. How do you do both of them at the same time? I usually do a big loose egyptian shimmy. But while you are layering it with hip drop, are you doing a differnet shimmy? Also, I can't seem to find a youtube tutorial video on this move. if any one of you have seen one, can you post the link?

 

[Kashmir]

Difficult but not impossible. My shimmy is a big loose waist driven shimmy. I think I leave the shimmy alone and give the glutes more of the hip drop. But every time I try and think about it I lose it (I was only introduced to think last year so it isn't fully embedded yet)

 

[Darshiva]

Oh my. I didn't realise it was hard & just added it to my dance repetoir without thinking about it. It's like a batta - shimmy into the weight shift.

 

[gisela]

Is it the hip drop with a foot release, -Hip drop, hip drop "kick"- thingie layered with a shimmy?

 

[Darshiva]

That option is possible, but it isn't exactly elegant. (just gave it a test because I'm an add shimmies to everything kind of girl) I actually do this move that's kinda like suheir zaki chonks with shimmies on the top. I don't know when or why I started doing it, I just noticed that it was a major part of my improv a few weeks ago which means I've probably been doing it for years without thinking about it. (ETA that I just asked the hubby & he said I've been doing it for years & he was surprised that I didn't know I was doing it)

But it really does depend on the muscle motivators you use for both shimmies and lifts/drops. For the shimmies I'm using my quads & for the lift/drops I'm using my internal obliques (the muscles running from the hip bone to the ribs on the inside of the pelvis rather than the ones running up the 'side').

 

[BellyBee]

Is it the hip drop with a foot release, -Hip drop, hip drop "kick"- thingie layered with a shimmy?

it's hip drop pushing your hips outwards and regular hip drop, I haven't thought about doing the foot release. But it seems my instructor can layer everything
with shimmy, incredible!!

 

[Daimona]

it's hip drop pushing your hips outwards and regular hip drop, I haven't thought about doing the foot release. But it seems my instructor can layer everything
with shimmy, incredible!!

In regular hip-drops, the hip go straight down from neutral position (there is no pushing outwards), then you can add a foot release/"kick" and/or a twist.

Here are regular hip drops with foot release (by some also called hip drop kick, but don't get hung up in names):




Layering moves with shimmies is all about practice.
First practice the basic moves and different kinds of shimmies separately, and when both are mastered, add shimmy on top of the other moves.

 

[Kashmir]

it's hip drop pushing your hips outwards and regular hip drop

So, it's a hip drop with a slide rather than a hip drop (vertical) with a shimmy (also vertical)?

 

[Darshiva]

Bellybee, you aren't talking about a slow, wobbly shimmy layered over a weight transition, are you? Because that's a totally different monster to what I thought you were talking about - much easier than shimmying on a hip drop and is one of the first layered shimmies I teach.

 

[BellyBee]

So, it's a hip drop with a slide rather than a hip drop (vertical) with a shimmy (also vertical)?

this is one of the moves in our choreography. it goes like regular hip drop (vertical) then slide your hip outwards then drop it vertically. On top of that, you layer shimmy with it. Our instructor said the shimmy would be a vibration shimmy. But I want the instruction to be more precise, like am I mainly vibrating my standing leg? How do you vibrate your leg while it's doing a hip drop? How do you practice exactly?

 

[BellyBee]

Bellybee, you aren't talking about a slow, wobbly shimmy layered over a weight transition, are you? Because that's a totally different monster to what I thought you were talking about - much easier than shimmying on a hip drop and is one of the first layered shimmies I teach.

I can do a wobbly shimmy with weight transfer, this one is more difficult. It's more like a vibration shimmy, seems that our instructors can layer everything with this shimmy, amazing!

 

[Kashmir]

this is one of the moves in our choreography. it goes like regular hip drop (vertical) then slide your hip outwards then drop it vertically. On top of that, you layer shimmy with it. Our instructor said the shimmy would be a vibration shimmy. But I want the instruction to be more precise, like am I mainly vibrating my standing leg? How do you vibrate your leg while it's doing a hip drop? How do you practice exactly?

Okay - drop hip down, lift back up - slide across and drop? Sounds like a hip drop then a Suheir Chonk (pretty advanced! - even without a shimmy) The chonk normally is by the obliques - ie contract your side to lift the hip not the leg (but then again it might be something different )

Drat a lack of common terminology - for me, a vibration is not a shimmy - it is muscle spasm - a shimmy is timed and controlled. That said, probably easiest to do a one legged Egyptian (leg) shimmy on the standing leg - then you have your obliques totally free to do the hip drop and chonk. Personally, I'd prefer a shimmy on the hip drop side with the obliques - so as you drop you shudder, plain on the lift, shimmy on the slide, plain on the chonk drop (just aesthetics - otherwise I'd find it looked too busy)

But it is you teacher's choreography - she know what she wants. Have you asked her? Incidentally, how long have you been dancing? I'd expect a couple of years under the belt before attempting something like this.