She shimmy in this video....

[hippyhips]

ok, so i found this video and its gold in terms of early Amcab. Its possibly the most charming video ive come across. However, i have questions.
They describe the piston shimmy in this video, but it does not seem to be the piston shimmy that Tanya Lemani actually does when she shimmies. Is this an Amcab variant? is it something unique to the dancer? is it the default shimmy of that era? if so, what muscle groups is she actually doing?

 

[Zorba]

ok, so i found this video and its gold in terms of early Amcab. Its possibly the most charming video ive come across. However, i have questions.
They describe the piston shimmy in this video, but it does not seem to be the piston shimmy that Tanya Lemani actually does when she shimmies. Is this an Amcab variant? is it something unique to the dancer? is it the default shimmy of that era? if so, what muscle groups is she actually doing?

What times?

 

[hippyhips]

What times?

8 min 33 seconds is where the shimmy section starts

 

[Zorba]

What I see there is not what I was taught as a "piston shimmy" - but do understand that Belly Dance terminology is NOT standardized either. I'd call that particular shimmy an "Egyptian" shimmy. Piston shimmy, or "piston hips" are driven by the obliques, not the thighs/knees as is the Egyptian. But what's in a name? My instructor and I both have moves we call a "camel". They're NOT the same because we learned in different parts of the country so our dance "lineage" is different. There is a male dancer named Ahmed - who really doesn't like names of movements at all, probably much for this reason. "Its the 'Nile River'" he says when someone asks him for a name...

 

[hippyhips]

Thank you, i understand that names are not standardised, But i didn't think what she is "Showing" on how to do that shimmy (ie - knee bends), is not actually what she is doing when she does the shimmy (not sure if im being clear). do you know if that style of shimmy was standard in those times? would there be something similar that we know of today? im just interested in the very early amcab styles.

 

[Tourbeau]

I think she's actually doing multiple shimmies throughout the demonstration, and her explanation isn't very clear or accurate.

She starts out sort of doing a bit of everything at once. When she's bent forward (~8:48), she is moving both her knees AND dropping and lifting her hips. If I bend forward, I can sort of differentiate and focus on more knees (and less hips) or more hips (and knees not moving much). She's making everything wiggle here.

Then she stands up (~9:00) and starts doing what she calls "piston shimmy," but I'm used to hearing it called things like "modern Egyptian shimmy," "knee shimmy," "leg(-driven) shimmy," "Raqia Hassan style shimmy," "tall, straight-leg shimmy," etc. Zorba and I agree here.

Next, she says she transitions to her full shimmy by making the movements "smaller and more compact," but by ~9:06, that's not what I think she's doing anymore. When I try to replicate her instructions, my (modern Egyptian) shimmy turns into a freeze (tight, vibrating move), not the loose shimmy she's getting.

I can replicate what she's doing by (for lack of a better description) letting the focus of my effort move up the body from my knees to my hips, so I am now doing what I've heard called a "hip shimmy," "old-school shimmy," "folkloric shimmy," or "Ghawazee shimmy." This was the first style of shimmy I was taught in 1999 by an AmCab dancer, and it's an even-count shimmy (as opposed to the family of 3/4 shimmies, which includes the Hagallah shimmy and Tunisian twisting shimmy).

This stuff doesn't lend itself well to written descriptions to begin with, so bear with me. In the video, she's doing an even-count up emphasis (shimmies can have other emphases, but mercifully we can ignore that from now on), so it's like she's doing hip lifts very fast: lift-lift-lift-lift (the 3/4 up shimmy is odd-count in multiples of 3 and would be lift-lift-lift).

Long story short (ha!), she doesn't demonstrate enough for me to catch how much she's shaking per beat of music when she gets going (full count, double time, 4x, ...), but I can tell she's doing enough per count that if she starts on the right hip, it's an even number of articulations, so every measure of music will continue to start on the right hip (lift_R-lift_L-lift_R-lift_L, lift_R-lift_L-lift_R-lift_L, unlike the 3/4 style, where the starting hip changes every cycle lift_R-lift_L-lift_R, lift_L-lift_R-lift_L).

Things devolve further when she demonstrates traveling. A 3/4 shimmy should cleanly switch sides while walking, but she's kind of all over here. When she's introducing this part and stepping in place (~9:13), she's got that slightly syncopated, muddy (steppa-shaka-shaka-shaka, steppa-shaka-shaka-shaka) thing associated with the old-school, even-count shimmy, but when it comes time to actually travel, all hell breaks loose. Nothing she does between this and the shoulder shimmy segment is consistent. She's kind of pausing sometimes. Sometimes her shimmy looks even count, sometimes odd count like a 3/4. It's not as precise as you'd hope for in an instructional video.

The reason so many dancers prefer the 3/4 shimmy for traveling is because it lends itself well to stepping every other foot (you know, as two-legged humans are wont to do). The even-count shimmy means you either have to be shaking fast enough that it isn't noticeable that your stepping and shaking aren't completely synchronized on the beat, or you've gotten so good you've "disconnected" your hips from your feet and it no longer matters that the first hip articulation of each measure stays on the same hip, but falls on alternating feet.

Okay, on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is "You are making perfectly clear sense" and 10 is "Find me an old meme of Grumpy Cat captioned 'KILL ME'", who's still reading?

Yes, this is an old style of shimmy that was widely used in both folkloric dancing over there and in AmCab.

Mastering this shimmy depends on also having a mastery of the mechanics of weighted and unweighted hip lifts and hip drops. This is not the time for push-into-the-floor-style hip lifts. You can't do a modern Egyptian standing shimmy while you are doing the kneeling-on-the-floor portion of your floorwork. This shimmy is about the hips, not the legs.

Seriously, do you want my best shimmy practice advice? Go download "Take My Heart (You Can Have It)" by Kool & the Gang and some audio-editing software if you need to slow it down. Do not feel guilty that this is not Middle Eastern music. Kool & the Gang are crazy beloved in the Gulf, and this song helps you to explore the difference between even- and odd-count shimmy rhythms while practicing.

 

[Zorba]

Excellent write up Tourbeau! I actually found the "Egyptian" shimmy to be the very hardest, and I still struggle with it a bit, although my current teacher was the one who "fixed it" for me, and I use it frequently now. What she calls the "Hagallah" has been my favorite for many years - I think its the most beautiful of all shimmies! I learned the Tunisian first as its very easy, and I'll still use it on occasion when my Egyptian doesn't want to cooperate and a oblique "hip" shimmy might be too much.

But - have you heard of a "Persian" shimmy? Apparently - as I understand it - it combines the Egyptian with the Tunisian or something like that?

 

[hippyhips]

I think she's actually doing multiple shimmies throughout the demonstration, and her explanation isn't very clear or accurate.

Thank you so VERY much for this, your a wealth of knowledge and i bow to your expertise. And you are correct - when i watched the video, the shimmy she was explaining wasn't the shimmy she was doing or ended up doing, and i found the traveling steps odd too. i DID, however find some videos of Amcab dancers from the 70s that also had similar shimmies, so i was assuming it may have had something to do with the style. if i think of anymore questions, i will be annoying your brain .

I'm really loving very early Amcab after watching the fez documentary and this instructional video has been a gold mine of information (it also cheers me up for some reason and i love the costumes too). However, since I'm not in America its difficult to find people who know about early amcab (or amcab at all), So i find asking questions and finding answers difficult. Are there any videos you could recommend for learning the many shimmies? - i basically only do one (i think) and would like to learn more variety.

Again thank you, it was the info i was looking ant then some

 

[Zorba]

If its AmCab info you're looking for, Cory Zamora has a pile of instructional videos that she sells as digital downloads. They're nothing fancy, but they're clear and Cory is a great instructor. She's been dancing since Christ was a corporal - I want to say about 1972 or so - and she still teaches the old ways.

 

[hippyhips]

If its AmCab info you're looking for, Cory Zamora has a pile of instructional videos that she sells as digital downloads. They're nothing fancy, but they're clear and Cory is a great instructor. She's been dancing since Christ was a corporal - I want to say about 1972 or so - and she still teaches the old ways.

Yes, im friends with cory on Facebook, shes very generous with her knowledge x Have you studied with her?

 

[Zorba]

Yes, im friends with cory on Facebook, shes very generous with her knowledge x Have you studied with her?

Yes. I've taken several workshops with her, as well as a private intensive at her home studio. I email her from time to time as well - most recently just a couple of weeks ago!

 

[Tourbeau]

Thanks for the kind words, Zorba!

But - have you heard of a "Persian" shimmy? Apparently - as I understand it - it combines the Egyptian with the Tunisian or something like that?

I didn't learn anything with this name, which doesn't mean I didn't learn it as some other name, but I've barely done any Persian, just a mini-workshop class at a dance festival so long ago it was taught by Shakira Al Fanninah when she was just "Shakira" because nobody had heard of the "Hips Don't Lie" Shakira yet.

The only move I learned that I can think of offhand with "Persian" in its name is "Persian spin," which was a series of full-body undulations layered over a 360° pivot turn, but that's not a shimmy. Is it the sort of move you'd see in Baba Karam or something from Classical Persian dance? Or something else?


But here's something you might not have seen, for those times when a guy can't decide if he wants to shimmy or be a percussionist in the band... Technically, this is considered "playing" the instrument al-manjour (or "al-manyour" in some dialects), the name of that belt covered in goat or sheep hooves, not dancing. The whole performance is "fan al-Tanboura" ("art of the Tanboura," to distinguish it from just the Tanboura as a musical instrument), and it is "Gulfrican," with roots in Africa and merged into Khaleeji culture over many, many, many years.

https://sekkamag.com/2021/04/30/the-african-influence-on-khaleeji-music/
(translate ar.wikipedia)

طنبورة (فن) - ويكيبيديا

ar.wikipedia.org

SHAKE IT, YA HABIBI!
فرقة بو صبار / فن الطنبورة

Bless you, designated dude who stands there doing washing machine shimmies all night while everybody else gets to do other dances!
طنبورة شي لله الفنانة الراحلة رابحة مرزوق

 

[Tourbeau]

I'm really loving very early Amcab after watching the fez documentary and this instructional video has been a gold mine of information (it also cheers me up for some reason and i love the costumes too). However, since I'm not in America its difficult to find people who know about early amcab (or amcab at all), So i find asking questions and finding answers difficult. Are there any videos you could recommend for learning the many shimmies? - i basically only do one (i think) and would like to learn more variety.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a video person. I stopped buying them years ago, when I realized I'd watch them once like a TV show and I'd never go back and actually dance with them.

WDNY has some shimmy content, including "Shimmering Hips..." by Shahrzad and a shimmy workout by Sarah Skinner.

A dancer named Samara had a series of videos called "101 Shimmies," but the availability seems to be spotty when I look for it.

There's also a video by Amar Gamal called "Supreme Shimmies" put out by Hollywood Music Center.

I'm sure there must be shimmy content on Datura, too, but I don't know how much of it is tribal.

Aziza is a fairly traditional dancer, and I think her infamous 20-minute shimmy drill is discussed on her practice companion. She has other videos, too. She's not quite like watching a time capsule of vintage AmCab. I'd say she's a slightly updated take on the old nightclub style, but she's a solid performer and a good teacher.

I'm glad Zorba suggested Cory. She was the first one to come to my mind, too.

Jasmin Jahal is an old-school dancer who trained under Bobby Farah back in the day, and she has a few videos. JJ skews rather balletic, though.

Mésmera is another dancer you might consider. She's a bit more of the interpretive, anything-goes AmCab style (as opposed to the ethnic melting pot vibe), but she also has videos.

Delilah Flynn was a popular teacher when I was a newbie. I'm not sure of the availability of her videos since she's retired now.

Are you aware of Amaya and her videos?

Did you pick through Shira's reviews? She's got some reviews that were old enough to be VHS tapes.

Index to the Belly Dance Video Reviews Section

Check out this complete list of all Shira's reviews for videos that are related to belly dance instruction, performances, and workouts.

www.shira.net

Unfortunately, the really old AmCab instructional stuff was put out as books and vinyl albums, not videos. YMMV on trying to teach yourself from a bunch of words and a photograph or the narration on a record with no visuals, but it was the best they had at the time if you couldn't find a live teacher (or if your live teacher didn't know what they were doing because they taught themselves with a book or a record).

"Belly Dancing: The Basics" by Sherrie Jeffries is old content that was relicensed/repackaged/reissued about a decade ago. (Ignore the stock photos of Rachel Brice. The book contents and music are vintage AmCab.) You might be able to find a cheaper copy of it than this one online somewhere.

https://www.amazon.com/Belly-Dancing-Book-Brass-Zills/dp/1594121028