Style of FitTV's "Shimmy"?

[Ryot]

Hello all,

I'm new here and new to belly dancing. I started with "Shimmy" on FitTV about three months ago, and just finished up my first 5 week belly dancing class. The next 6 week class I had signed up for was cancelled and I can't seem to find any in my area starting until sometime in October, so I thought I'd use the next few weeks to try to figure out what kind of style I'm looking for.

Anyway, for those of you who are familiar with Shimmy on FitTV (and if you aren't familiar, the show has a webpage here: Shimmy :: FitTV ), can you help me pin-point the style represented in the show? I'm interested in finding out more about both the style of dance and the style of costuming. Any thoughts on it very much appreciated.

~Ryot

 

[missanime]

i too have been watching (and sometimes doing) the Shimmy tv show, and after looking at several other bellydancers and buying dvd's, i'm now guessing the Shimmy show is teaching basic egyptian but w/turkish style (even their outfits suggests tribal, w/the 'complete dance routine' at the end being turkish-like). and after talking to just a few girls here, i too think some of the lessons were more for the advance (like the shimmying and tremor moves layered by hip circles). but all in all i do like the show alot, and i did pick up a few moves that i can at least work on (along w/my dvd's).

hth

 

[Tikvah]

I'm guessing some mix of Turkish and AmCab. Some of the dancers were Melodia pants like tribal fusion dancers do, but it's definitely not tribal that they're doing

I've been dancing for a bit over four years and I find the show a nice bit of technique, but not very challenging. I think they add some of the layering with the knowledge that some of their viewers are currently bellydancers and want a little more to their fitness show.

 

[Kashmir]

Not Egyptian - with the small clip shown and the list of "basics" - snake arms, chest camels and head slides are not a basic part of an Egyptian style dancer's vocab.

Actually looking at the list makes me quite queasy "The Cut Turn is the signature move of belly dance" - the what? Never heard of it. Snake arms "represents the power, mysticism, and symbolism of belly dancing" - get real; a brief accent - occasionally - in some styles. Head slides - "A standard in many Eastern dances" - yes but not Middle Eastern dance - the headslide is far more casual and used to express cynicism.

More concerning is including a maya in a class of mixed ability with no teacher feedback and correction.

Ryot - wait until October. Getting a real teacher will be better in the long run and worth the wait.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

right on

Not Egyptian - with the small clip shown and the list of "basics" - snake arms, chest camels and head slides are not a basic part of an Egyptian style dancer's vocab.

Actually looking at the list makes me quite queasy "The Cut Turn is the signature move of belly dance" - the what? Never heard of it. Snake arms "represents the power, mysticism, and symbolism of belly dancing" - get real; a brief accent - occasionally - in some styles. Head slides - "A standard in many Eastern dances" - yes but not Middle Eastern dance - the headslide is far more casual and used to express cynicism.

More concerning is including a maya in a class of mixed ability with no teacher feedback and correction.

Ryot - wait until October. Getting a real teacher will be better in the long run and worth the wait.

Your advice has earned you rep.

 

[missanime]

Not Egyptian - with the small clip shown and the list of "basics" - snake arms, chest camels and head slides are not a basic part of an Egyptian style dancer's vocab.

Actually looking at the list makes me quite queasy "The Cut Turn is the signature move of belly dance" - the what? Never heard of it. Snake arms "represents the power, mysticism, and symbolism of belly dancing" - get real; a brief accent - occasionally - in some styles. Head slides - "A standard in many Eastern dances" - yes but not Middle Eastern dance - the headslide is far more casual and used to express cynicism.

More concerning is including a maya in a class of mixed ability with no teacher feedback and correction.

Ryot - wait until October. Getting a real teacher will be better in the long run and worth the wait.

lol
no - much of its hokey-ness i think is meant for the 'bored housewife looking to spice up her lovelife' lol, so the narrator will say whatever lol.

 

[PracticalDancer]

Had to add this to this thread

I don't know if this is an official vid from the show; but, it is funny -- and I normally do not sit through 9 mins of you tube!

YouTube - Shimmy HD Television Series - Blooper Reel

I will now hear the narrator's voice every time I try to learn a choreography! :lol:

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

THAT was hilarious!!

 

[~Diana~]

The shimmy show to me seems to mix things from all bellydance forms into what they call just bellydance. It really does not give anyone a good representation of one style over another.

The clothing they wear in most of the show is just practice outfits that many wear no matter what style, and they bling it up a bit with a belt or hip scarf. The performance outfits at the end I'm still slightly confused as to which style they are actually presenting. I think they just want a outfit to get peoples attention.

To me shimmy show is just for pure fun and for those who like to think they are bellydancers. It is not really a show that one should be learning real bellydance from. If you really are interested you should look for classes in your area or buy DVD which the point is to teach you properly one style.

However I do like watching the show to see if they do a move that I might like to incorporate into my style. That and look for new costume pieces.

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

The shimmy show to me seems to mix things from all bellydance forms into what they call just bellydance. It really does not give anyone a good representation of one style over another.

To me shimmy show is just for pure fun and for those who like to think they are bellydancers. It is not really a show that one should be learning real bellydance from. If you really are interested you should look for classes in your area or buy DVD which the point is to teach you properly one style.

mmmm... not sure I'm prepared to agree or argue with you, but I think in spirit I understand what you're saying.

Before "Egyptian" style took hold in the US, people were advertising "Arabic Style" bellydance. I think this was probably to distinguish it from Turkish or Greek -- but I'm not entirely sure how each coast defined "Arabic."

Fahtiem is one of those dancers who did whatever style, and then became enamoured of Egyptian technique, incorporating it into her dancing, and then calling the result "Pan-Arabic" style. It wasn't quite American Cabaret style, but wasn't entirely "pure" Egyptian either.

I think we still have that "style" -- if you look at Aziza of Portland/Montreal -- she isn't really an Am Cab style dancer, but she's not full-tilt Egyptian. She's sort of her own "Arabic" style, like a lot of dancers who don't commit to either a 5-part routine to George Abdo or an accordion balady.

It's really hard to judge what the "style" of the show because it's not a performance show, it's a fitness routine, and even when the girls are performing, they're still just going through the fitness routine. That's sort of like trying to decipher Jillina's style from her fitness dvd. There's no style involved, because it's not dance -- it's dance movements incorporated into an aerobic fitness routine.


The thing I noticed about Shimmy is the unusual "names" for the movements are VERY similar to the names Delilah of Seattle used on her videos in the 80s. I wondered if Delilah and the creators of Shimmy had shared the same teacher in the past. ?

 

[LadyLoba]

I enjoy "Shimmy" but some of the names are a bit unusual...I typically recognize the move, but the Soul Studio Belly Dance Dictionary, one of the DVDs I have, or someone on here has called it something entirely different.

The only problem I have with it...all the dancers are the same body type. I'd love to see a belly dance television show featuring petite, thin dancers, tall willowy dancers, and dancers with pear shaped, hourglass, etc figures.

 

[~Diana~]

The only problem I have with it...all the dancers are the same body type. I'd love to see a belly dance television show featuring petite, thin dancers, tall willowy dancers, and dancers with pear shaped, hourglass, etc figures.

Don't we all but with media don't hold your breath for it. They expect that is what will draw the viewers, what they think looks the best, etc. It pretty much normal for any form of media....sadly.

 

[LadyLoba]

Exactly...the reason they're all one body type is because they're all the body type that is on every TV show.

That is sad...in reality, different people find different body types appealing..in men and women. I'm attracted to *pauses to think of them* two male movie stars (Cameron Daddo and Anthony Edwards), 0 male athletes, 0 male TV stars and 0 male rock or country stars. The other 3 I like are writers or in social activism....and I have met plenty of men who like women to look wildly different than what the media presents as beautiful....but you'd never know that from going to the movies or watching TV shows or music videos. And sadly...you probably never will...

 

[Yame]

I enjoy "Shimmy" but some of the names are a bit unusual...I typically recognize the move, but the Soul Studio Belly Dance Dictionary, one of the DVDs I have, or someone on here has called it something entirely different.

There is no standardized nomenclature for our moves and there are probably 0 moves we can all agree on a name. Don't get hung up on what people call things.

The only problem I have with it...all the dancers are the same body type. I'd love to see a belly dance television show featuring petite, thin dancers, tall willowy dancers, and dancers with pear shaped, hourglass, etc figures.

I disagree. From what I have seen on the show--and maybe they have changed dancers--they featured dancers of a variety of body shapes and heights. I wouldn't say that just because they aren't extremely different that they all have the same "body type."
Yes, none of them were particularly fat but none of them looked anorexic or extremely ripped (like in other exercise shows), either. They all looked like healthy, active women who don't go overboard on the whole trying-to-lose-weight, trying-to-be-super-tight thing. Although it is possible to be heavier (and lighter) than them and still be healthy, people don't typically think of people with excess fat as being healthy. And since this IS FitTV this is the mindset they cater to. There are a lot of things I dislike about this show, but I think they did a great job of picking women who look different from one another, who look healthy, and who look realistic. I wouldn't have minded it if they had even more variety and had some heavier women as well, but I can see why they didn't.

 

[LadyLoba]

No, they do not look unhealthy...they just look very similar to me....at least the episodes I've seen.

 

[AndreaSTL]

Anala, thanks for the link and the laughs. I just hate when the snow wreaks havoc with my dancing!

 

[giolanah]

I work out to Shimmy too. I think they have the basics of a little of everything. Are you ladies saying that it is not recommended to start off learning? Are their moves not really bellydance moves. I thought I was close to being a pro now. No my bubble is burst lol

 

[goddessyasaman]

Hello all,

I'm new here and new to belly dancing. I started with "Shimmy" on FitTV about three months ago, and just finished up my first 5 week belly dancing class. The next 6 week class I had signed up for was cancelled and I can't seem to find any in my area starting until sometime in October, so I thought I'd use the next few weeks to try to figure out what kind of style I'm looking for.

Anyway, for those of you who are familiar with Shimmy on FitTV (and if you aren't familiar, the show has a webpage here: Shimmy :: FitTV ), can you help me pin-point the style represented in the show? I'm interested in finding out more about both the style of dance and the style of costuming. Any thoughts on it very much appreciated.

~Ryot

Yes I have seen The show shimmy, I don't think it's based from any one style, they show some basic moves and a few intermediate moves very few advance moves, it's fun to watch, but a begginer may have a issue with following the moves. but until you can take classes again I'd say get some intruction DvDs and I heard about online classes, it's best not to just wait till oct at least drilling what you have learned from class will keep you learning and your body moving. Good luck to you


Oh and the names for some of the moves dont shock me as some teaches call this move that and that move this, you could look on line for a list of moves in whatever style you are learning, to see at least what the names are but it still may
change teacher to teacher.

As far as picking what style you may be drawn to? Well when I began belly dance many years ago I watched a lot of different videos on different styles then I was drawn to Turkish as my lead style and Turkish Cab was the first of many for me I was drawn to this style because of it's energy, the music and the costumes I felt a call to dance it and so It is still my one true first love even though I dance many styles now Turkish is how I started

 

[Belly Love]

Hi Ryot, I think the concensus here is that the Shimmy show is just fluff. Yes, there are some moves that a beginner (or maybe even a more advanced)student could learn, but not to take the show too seriously.

A lot of the show is "Hollywood", as in, a lot of it is based on made-up things that sound nice and half-truths which is why no one can really tell you exactly what style it is. Learning from the show is fine if you are just doing it for fun, but if you really want to learn a true belly dance or plan to perform or teach anyone some day, you will want to get a real education based on a true belly dance art form.

I don't personally have any dvd's, so I can't point you in that direction, but there are plenty listed on this forum that I'm sure would be great for beginners- just search around a bit