Confused on a shimmy

[LadyLoba]

When I first started belly dancing, I learned a lot from Amira's Belly Dance 101, including the shimmy she refers to as "Lebanese Shimmy."

Now I'm using Bozenka's "Every Shimmy in the Book." And I'm a little bit confused. Her "Basic Shimmy"....is that the same shimmy as Amira's "Lebanese shimmy?" just a variation? Or am I missing something about Bozenka's shimmy?

 

[Darshiva]

You have just discovered the first rule of bellydance: Many moves have multiple names, and many names have multiple moves.

In the end it really doesn't matter what you call it, so long as you're doing the move right.

 

[Kashmir]

When I first started belly dancing, I learned a lot from Amira's Belly Dance 101, including the shimmy she refers to as "Lebanese Shimmy."

Now I'm using Bozenka's "Every Shimmy in the Book." And I'm a little bit confused. Her "Basic Shimmy"....is that the same shimmy as Amira's "Lebanese shimmy?" just a variation? Or am I missing something about Bozenka's shimmy?

As above - the names are specific only to the teachers concerned.

 

[Jane]

Even a shimmy generated the exact same way will vary in appearance because shimmies are unique to us and our body styles. I'm old school about this, but I believe a shimmy technique can be customized to get the effect you want to fit your body movement to the music at that moment in the dance. Technique is just a tool, not the end-all-be-all. Try not to get hung up about trying to replicate another dancer's shimmy exactly the way she does it.

1. Watch other dances techniques to figure out mechanics and learn how to tweak shimmies for stylistic variations.

then

2. Play around with those concepts and find things that look good on you as an individual and fit the sounds you hear in your music.

 

[Greek Bonfire]

Not having either video or seeing either shimmy that you mentioned, to me a basic shimmy is the one where the hips are loose, the knees are bent, and it's almost an easygoing kind of shimmy that can pick up speed if you want. It's definitely not the straight knee shimmy or Egyptian shimmy which does allow you to isolate the upper half of your body to do slower movements. I am not sure that this helps but that's all I can glean from this thread.

 

[AndreaSTL]

I took a workshop with Kimahri on shimmies, and I have to totally agree with her on this: the best shimmy is the one that shows up. Unless you are challenging yourself to do a shimmy driven by particular muscles I wouldn't worry about it. What I would worry about is posture and that what you are doing won't hurt you. Shimmies driven from the knees, hips, and glutes all look different when done by the same person, but two people who are doing the same shimmy side by side will also look different based on their body type, strength, and flexibility.

I agree with everything that's been posted here so far. You can't just go by name alone, and that can be frustrating when you're trying to do research. I must be from that same old school as Jane, because I think that if you are in class and trying to learn a particular technique then you should try to replicate what's being taught. If you are learning a choreography and there's a shimmy part, I wouldn't worry about how it's being executed; only that I'm shimmying for the correct amount of time.

 

[seona]

Great words Jane and Andrea. I used to fret that I was doing it wrong (esp as I missed a lot of lessons and did a lot at home) sometimes worrying too much about the name or how you execute it, inhibits you from exploring the movement. Once I realised that it gave me more freedom to experiment and progress. Also great point about how our shimmies vary due to body type, strength etc.