Kashmir
New member
What many people call "shoulder shimmies" actually involves twisting the torso. This puts the emphasis on the movement of the breasts. If you aim for moving the shoulders back and forward while NOT twisting the torso the emphasis is on the shoulders (although there will be movement as it is connected through teh skin and flesh although they are not being driven through space).Breast shimmies???? Not sure exactly what you are talking about here. I know when I do shoulder shimmies, since my breast are larger, they tend to take on their own momentum after a sec or two. However that is nothing I can control unless I cut them off or down to a smaller size. Can someone explain to me what a breast shimmy is?
To complicate matters further the effect you get with a breast/chest shimmy depends where you twist from (higher or lower).
There is quite a difference depending on whether you principally move the shoulders or twist the back. When Aida Nour does Orientale (but not folk or beledi) she just moves her shoulders. (I spent an afternoon watching her from the back while she was wearing a spagetti top which allow full view of the shoulder blades) I don't know if this appears on any of her videos. I have seen other Egyptian dancers also doing this style of shimmy - ironically especially those with a Reda/Firqa Kawmiyya background.The way people keep differing "shoulder shimmy" vs. "chest shimmy" is kind of funny to me. They are both one and the same... if you move your shoulders, your chest is going to move. Unless you are doing some crazy isolation with your shoulders where just your shoulders are moving, but I have literally NEVER seen that before.
Yes, but in a shoulder shimmy you also engage muscles to hold your torso facing front. If you were back against a wall during a shoulder shimmy your back would stay flat against the wall while the shoulders move forward & back.However whether you are focusing on your shoulders or your back or your chest as the "driver" of the movement, both movements are essentially the same. The shoulders don't really ever "drive" anything, because the muscles responsible for sliding your shoulders back and forth are your back and chest muscles (scapular adduction: rhomboideus major, minor, and trapezius. scapular abduction: serratus anterior, pectoralis minor and major). When doing a "shoulder-driven" shimmy, those are the muscles actually driving the movement.
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