that "other" 3/4 shimmy

[Jane]

I've started seeing that other "3/4 shimmy" more and more. The one with the pause in it. I first saw it about 4 years ago on a ATS dancer. Jenna teaches it on her Heartbeat of Belly Dance DVD. I just can't seem to adjust my good 'ol 3/4 up (123123123) continous motion; my default shimmy. Is this a new style shimmy or just new to me? Who originated it and what style is it?

 

[LeylaLanty]

It's been around for more than 30 years that I know of! I learned it that many years ago in the Jamila Salimpour technique from Aida al Adawi who was my teacher at the time.

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

You're talking about the 123 pause variant, right?

Suhaila NOW teaches it with a pause when you go slow, but eliminates the pause when you speed up. I don't know if she used to do that, or if her mom did it, but now, she ditches the pause at full-speed.

Some British dancers told me their default shimmy walk (although they call it something else) is the 3/4 down, with a slight pause or accent on the first down of the starting hip down (like the right side, but not the left). Sort of like Jamila's original Samiha step.

I was taught a Bedouin shimmy (3/4 down with twist) with a slight pause periodically -- whenever you wanted to accent something in the music.

Jamila said her reasoning for calling all the 3/4 shimmies "Three Quarter" was because there were 4 sets of 3 movements that fit into 4 counts. 123,223,323,423. I teach my students this is what Jamila originally taught, and people have varied from it, but to me -- musically -- this makes the most sense.

 

[TribalDancer]

I have never seen one with an actual pause, except when it is done slowly (and the it isn't really a shimmy, IMO, but a hip isolation). Once you get the speed up, the pause is impossible to see.
Anyone have a link to show me video of a fast 3/4 shimmy with a pause?

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

You can see a version on Hossam Ramzy's Bedouin Tribal dvd, where Serena deliberately accents the DOWN with a slight pause. It's kind of like THONK-and-a-THONK and-a-THONK.

Yes, that was immensely helpful, I'm sure...

 

[TribalDancer]

I know what you're talking about. But that isn't a fully fast shimmy is it? I suppose there is a medium pace it could be done at and still retain the pause/accent.

I have heard it even called "The Chonk" before! We called it "articulated shimmy"--a slower, accented version of our bicycle shimmy.

 

[Aniseteph]

Some British dancers told me their default shimmy walk (although they call it something else) is the 3/4 down, with a slight pause or accent on the first down of the starting hip down

UK calling

Egyptian walk (as I've been taught) goes
DOWN (rt), pause, up(r), up (l)
DOWN (l), pause, up(l), up (r)

Accent on the down, count is 4, pause disappears as you speed up but is still there really as the down counts double the length of the ups. Down, upup, down upup, down upup...

 

[Kashmir]

I have never seen one with an actual pause, except when it is done slowly (and the it isn't really a shimmy, IMO, but a hip isolation). Once you get the speed up, the pause is impossible to see.
Anyone have a link to show me video of a fast 3/4 shimmy with a pause?

Maybe can't see it (I think I can) - but if you wear a noisy belt you can hear it. It sounds chuk-a-chuk instead of shush-a-shush-a

 

[Kashmir]

It's been around for more than 30 years that I know of! I learned it that many years ago in the Jamila Salimpour technique from Aida al Adawi who was my teacher at the time.

I agree it's been around forever - with many variations.

• You can work it on the weighted or unweighted leg.
• down/up/down (known to me as an Egyptian 3/4)
• up/down/up (known to me as a Turkish 3/4)
• up/down/out (known to me as a Gendi 3/4)
• pelvic drop/up/pelvic drop (known to me as an African 3/4)
• twist front/back/front (known to me as a sa`iidi 3/4)

What is the other, other 3/4 - without a pause? Usually I refer to the continuous one as a 4/4 or just continuous.

 

[Moon]

UK calling

Egyptian walk (as I've been taught) goes
DOWN (rt), pause, up(r), up (l)
DOWN (l), pause, up(l), up (r)

Accent on the down, count is 4, pause disappears as you speed up but is still there really as the down counts double the length of the ups. Down, upup, down upup, down upup...

This sounds familiar. We call it Egyptian walk too.

 

[karena]

This sounds familiar. We call it Egyptian walk too.

just curious, do you call it "egyptian walk" or whatever that is in dutch?

 

[belly_dancer]

I agree it's been around forever - with many variations.

• You can work it on the weighted or unweighted leg.
• down/up/down (known to me as an Egyptian 3/4)
• up/down/up (known to me as a Turkish 3/4)
• up/down/out (known to me as a Gendi 3/4)
• pelvic drop/up/pelvic drop (known to me as an African 3/4)
• twist front/back/front (known to me as a sa`iidi 3/4)

What is the other, other 3/4 - without a pause? Usually I refer to the continuous one as a 4/4 or just continuous.

for me=yes to all of the above!
except I call the down/up/down a "3/4 down shimmy"
& the up/down/up a "up 3/4 shimmy"..

taking the 3/4 down....

starting out real slow... say 1/4 time
step R, that hip goes down on "1", L hip down on "3", R hip down on "5"
pause "7"
step L, that hip= down on "1", R hip down on"3", L hip down on "5"
pause "7"
repeat

then 1/2 time=
step R, R= down on 1, L= down on 2, R= down on 3, pause 4
step L, L = down on 1, R= down on 2, L= down on 3, pause 4
repeat

then full time=
step R, R= down on 1, L=down on "and", R= down on 2, pause "and"
step L, L= down on 1, R= down on "and", L= down on 2, pause "and"
repeat

as you go faster & even faster you are still following the above pattern w/ the pause always present for the last 1/4 of the move....
this is why a 3/4 shimmy differs from a continuous (or 4/4) shimmy

eeek would be soooo much easier to SHOW!!

 

[Moon]

just curious, do you call it "egyptian walk" or whatever that is in dutch?

We call it literally "egyptian walk". We also say "camel" and "shimmy", but as far as I can remember we call the rest by Dutch words ("achtje" instead of "figure 8" ).

 

[Jane]

Over a decade of dancing and more than 70 videos and I'm just getting this one figured out! Horray- all the answers are here! :dance: You guys are fantastic!

So this chonk or articulated shimmy is in the Egyptian style then? Just clarifying. Maybe I missed this one because my original teacher was AmCab with very heavy Turkish influence? She and her troupe-mates from the early 70's spun off most of the dance teachers in my area. So maybe no one teaches the chonk because they never learned it or we learned it so differently it's gradually morphed into something else.

I learned an Egyptian walk that sounds like a similar or related movement to the chonk shimmy, although it looks different from the ones I see on the ATS dancers or Jenna on her Heartbeat DVD. Mine looks very heavy, grounded and earthy and moves inward on the down hip, pushing the opposite hip up slightly to the rear. I've also heard other dancers describe this as the Hagallah step. Is the terminology wrong for these moves? How different are the chonk shimmy, the Egyptian walk and the Hagallah step? Is the difference only in the pause placement or continuous motion?:think:

 

[TribalDancer]

Stumbled on a video with it today, in a Heavy Hips video. It's right near the beginning.
YouTube - Tribal Style Bellydance

 

[belly_dancer]

Stumbled on a video with it today, in a Heavy Hips video. It's right near the beginning.
YouTube - Tribal Style Bellydance

eekkkkk all these made up names are driving me crazy... example... I have "heard" that an up to down torso undulation is called a "turkish" camel... & a down to up is an Egyptian camel.... turns out that these are NAMES western teachers have made up... IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY DO ONE IN TURKEY & THE OTHER IN EGYPT..... AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!
I have ENOUGH problems transferring words into images ANYHOW (I know= personal problem... but then my fav Isadora Duncan quote = "if I could say what I wanted to say... I would not have to dance")...
so I have NO clue what a Hagellah step etc is....
however I HOPE 3/4 down shimmy is what tribal dancer was referring to on the heavy hips video....
I saw them progress from single down hips to 1/2 time 3/4 down shimmies to full time 3/4 down shimmies....
& for the record... what I have heard descibed as "Egyptian shimmy" actually DOES happen in Egypt.... & has nothing to do w/ 3/4.. it is a continuous vigorous shimmy (can be done rythymically or arythymically) that travels up the body from the feet/knees... & all your loose "muscles" move vertically... as opposed to the relaxed shimmy which is more hips & TOTALLY isolated in the hips NO upper body movement & the loose "muscle" is moving horizontally... (I call these vertical & horizontal shimmies in reference to the way the ripples (of skin/fat/muscle) go)
eeekkkk what do YOU ALL think????

 

[Jane]

I've started seeing that other "3/4 shimmy" more and more. The one with the pause in it. I first saw it about 4 years ago on a ATS dancer. Jenna teaches it on her Heartbeat of Belly Dance DVD. I just can't seem to adjust my good 'ol 3/4 up (123123123) continous motion; my default shimmy. Is this a new style shimmy or just new to me? Who originated it and what style is it?

I re-watched the section where Jenna breaks down her 3/4 shimmy.

1 drop right hip down with unweighted leg
2 pause
3 push right hip out right with weight shift onto right leg
4 lift left hip up on unweighted leg
1 drop left hip down with unweighted leg
2 pause
3 push left hip our left with weight shift onto left leg
4 lift right hip up on unweighted leg

My usual 3/4 shimmy is the 3/4 up shimmy found on Suzanna Del Vecchio's Precision Motion Workout video.

1 weight shifs onto right leg as right hip goes up
2 right hip returns to neutral
3 right hip goes up
1 weight shifts onto left leg as left hip goes up
2 left hip returns to neutral
3 left hip goes up

 

[karena]

I've heard Egyptian walks called Hagallah by an Egyptian. An Egyptian shimmy to me is one with straight legs, and it does move up the body consequently. All just to me; I'm not claiming an official definition!

I've been told there are no standard names. It hasn't been subject to documentation in the way ballet has. Different teachers have different names, and just go with whatever they call it. The move is what counts rather than the term.(And that was from an Egyptian too). Obviously it doesn't help for cross cultural communication, but I've never found it takes long to relate to existing move vocabulary when you see it done.

 

[Moon]

Belly_dancer, I've only been taking lessons for 2 years now, but so far from 3 different teachers and they don't use exactly the same names for every move. So I've given up on learning names for moves. It's not important. I prefer learning how to execute them properly If names are used a lot, I'll eventually remember what it is. If not, I just describe the move I'm talking about.

 

[TribalDancer]

Moon, I take the opposite approach. I love learning as many commonly used names for moves as possible, so when I get into forums like this, I can "speak local dialect". I can also pass it on to my students, who may take workshops elsewhere or move somewhere out of state, and will be prepared for the naming craziness!