Thread: Choo-choo shimmies?

Can anyone give me a break down of this move and in particular which muscle groups should be used to drive it?

This probably sounds really dumb but although I have had lessons on the choo-choo from my previous teacher, I was really stressed out out the time and have huge holes in my (usually excellent) memory from around then so I can only remember doing it, not how-to do it. ..c::

My current teacher does teach it but, because only a few of us in her current class are comfortable with dancing on releve at all, it doesn't get thrown out there very often in lessons. She's also on her summer break at the moment and is not around to ask.

I think what partly confuses me with this move is the whole issue of where the shimmy originates. In addition, I have some fused bone in my right ankle which means that I lack a degree of flexibility on tip toe and, as a result, I tend to quickly become focused on keeping myself comfortable as opposed to perfecting/working on the actual shimmy.

I do two versions of this. The first is to relax all the muscles in your bottom, then to take small but percussive steps, with the percussion on the ball of your foot. The vibration goes all the way up to your bottom looking like you have magically moved it.

Second version is do everything mentioned above, then move the hips at the same time, like a brazil style Soraya shimmy.

I have just noticed you mentioned the fused bone in you foot, and it seems that this move could be unwise for you to do, since you are essentially using graceful stamping to vibrate up your body.

The fusing is very, very slight and medically speaking means that I have about 98% full function and rotation in my right ankle. Its no longer painful (injury is now over 5 years old) and it just feels very slightly stiffer than the other one. I try very hard not to overdo the impact stuff because of it.

What it does have an effect on is my sense of balance. The original injury and re-setting of my leg means that the whole limb is slightly longer than it was originally. Its by a minuscule amount but my balance has never quite been the same since. Yoga helps though.

When I learned it,
I shuffled too close to the floor,dragging my feet so that I got pain in the bone tissues.
So I was told to lift my feet more and like Bellydancingcaroline said:relax the glutes and "float like a butterfly"(concentrating on a lifted posture) and just let the body go along...
Now it looks less of an angry kid having a fit and more of a real choo-choo.

Still struggling:)

How much should/do you bend your knees with this shimmy, or is it a straight-leg job?

I never "learned" it, just copied it, and for me this is a hip-rock shimmy so the knees are moving in and out but that's not my focus. I feel this mostly in my waist and the balls of my feet. I generally kind of lift through the hip and around, too.

Originally Posted by emma-bessa

When I learned it,
I shuffled too close to the floor,dragging my feet so that I got pain in the bone tissues.
So I was told to lift my feet more and like Bellydancingcaroline said:relax the glutes and "float like a butterfly"(concentrating on a lifted posture) and just let the body go along...
Now it looks less of an angry kid having a fit and more of a real choo-choo.

Still struggling:)

..l;, I love that image!!

I have two ways of doing a choo choo. One is what some dancers call a running shimmy and it's gentle, The other one really socks the feet into the floor and is grueling. I sometimes end a drum solo by starting with the gentle one and ending with the percussive one. And I like to do upper body isolations while choo chooing.
Hope this makes sense... no coffee yet. ..c::

Latifa

Originally Posted by bintbeled

..l;, I love that image!!

I have two ways of doing a choo choo. One is what some dancers call a running shimmy and it's gentle, The other one really socks the feet into the floor and is grueling. I sometimes end a drum solo by starting with the gentle one and ending with the percussive one. And I like to do upper body isolations while choo chooing.
Hope this makes sense... no coffee yet. ..c::

Latifa

This reminds me of the hilarious Ebay auction where a mom was fed up with her kids "smuggling" Pokemon pictures in the groceries while shopping-
she posted them on ebay with the funniest text about the Sisyphous work of going to the supermarket as a tired mom with sneaky kids..l;,

Choo choo shimmies are so hard for me to get right-
the balance,the floor and the posture have to be just perfect for it to work for me...
so I´m replacing them with other movements in choreos I´ve learned until they look better!

Just a question about nomenclature:
This IS named after Shoo-Shoo Ameen,right?Or?

I was told the choo-choo shimmy is named that because it's like a connected train. One foot following the other like they're connected

I'd suggest that you be cautious where you practice this. In particular, avoid practicing it on a concrete floor, or a floor with only carpet or linoleum laid over concrete. The high-impact nature of this shimmy can cause shin splints and knee problems.

Optimal place to practice it is a sprung dance floor.

I teach my students the gentler version instead of the one where you're stomping the floor... eventually they'll know both.

What I usually do is have them hold a basic hip shimmy for a bit and then, keeping the shimmy, go all the way up on releve without straightening their knees (many have a tendancy to stiffen on releve). We stay in one place until everyone's up and then do a little bit of tiny shifting right and left and forward and backwards as well as turning in place. This seems to work well helping them relax and keep their knees soft (not too bent, but not perfectly straight).

I am lucky enough to have such a floor. so I do these often. I do them 2 ways. Running shimmy has one foot just in front of the other and the movement of the foot is a soft very fast lift / place on releve with a relaxed hip so that the movement "swings" in the butt area. The Brazil shimmy mentioned above.

For the other, and I have heard it called just a chooch shimmy as well, you have a huge puddle of water on the floor and you have thrown down a bath towel and you stand on the towel and scoot it with the balls of your feet to try to quickly move the puddle away from your grannies antique chest.

Oh yes and we do them backwards too to give a drill in chest lifting and calf strengthening.

Originally Posted by miriamgamal

What I usually do is have them hold a basic hip shimmy for a bit and then, keeping the shimmy, go all the way up on releve without straightening their knees (many have a tendancy to stiffen on releve). We stay in one place until everyone's up and then do a little bit of tiny shifting right and left and forward and backwards as well as turning in place. This seems to work well helping them relax and keep their knees soft (not too bent, but not perfectly straight).

This scooting method is the one that I use both personally and with my students. I don't lift my toes off the floor at all when doing a choo-choo shimmy, which I think makes it look a little more floaty (a la Aziza). The shimmy itself is done with my core, and the legs just provide the locomotion.

I emphasize keeping the hips and butt nice and loose, and really pulling up from the chest, since a lot of my students see to lose their upper body posture when they first start doing choo-choos.

what about posting a video for better understanding?
there's one from randa......I think.......

Originally Posted by laura 2

This scooting method is the one that I use both personally and with my students. I don't lift my toes off the floor at all when doing a choo-choo shimmy, which I think makes it look a little more floaty (a la Aziza). The shimmy itself is done with my core, and the legs just provide the locomotion.

I emphasize keeping the hips and butt nice and loose, and really pulling up from the chest, since a lot of my students see to lose their upper body posture when they first start doing choo-choos.

This is the same one that I do but I don't move my core as much, I have plenty to jiggle so I just let the scooting motion take care of most of it with a slight hip shimmy with it. Make sure that your legs are not straight, keep a slight bend in them and the chest up, up, up!

i was taught; feet side by side. feet in releve'. teeny tiny baby stamps. loose knees. loose butt. you skitter around with it. if you percussively stamp it's a shiskatt. on a ragia dvd she does it with a reverse fig 8 & calls it brazillian.

everything i learned with one foot in front of the other was always called some sorta arabic 1, 2, 5 sorta thing. seemed to vary from teacher to teacher. i renamed them.

tinah

Originally Posted by *Shira*

I'd suggest that you be cautious where you practice this. In particular, avoid practicing it on a concrete floor, or a floor with only carpet or linoleum laid over concrete. The high-impact nature of this shimmy can cause shin splints and knee problems.

Optimal place to practice it is a sprung dance floor.

I don't have a sprung dance floor at home, and I'm starting to feel the pain in my legs (concrete floor). What do you suggest I use to supplement it?

Girl...just dont do those!

I find they are much easier if I'm wearing dance shoes.

Wow! Great stuff as always -Thanks guys!

This has really got me thinking and in a really constructive way. I think I understand why I've been getting so confused with this one. I think I'm being a bit too stampy in the legs (love that child having a tantrum analogy ..l;,) with not enough looseness in my behind and as for my chest -well anyone who's seen me dance would tell you that this is *not* my strong point ..cr.:.

It really helps to know about it being in the hips too. I've recently started being able to do an ok muscle shimmy at the drop of a hat (Yay, something's coming right) but I think that because of the sudden ease of doing that, it has become a bit of a 'default' in my muscle memory and I'm finding it harder to get other sorts of shimmies going right now.

Off to practice...

What it called when you bend forward and choo-choo backwards like that bird who´s shaking it´s tail feathers?:)

To myself I call it "birdie"but I learned as an "african shimmy".

I thought that was just a variation on the choo-choo...

Originally Posted by miriamgamal

I teach my students the gentler version instead of the one where you're stomping the floor... eventually they'll know both.

What I usually do is have them hold a basic hip shimmy for a bit and then, keeping the shimmy, go all the way up on releve without straightening their knees (many have a tendancy to stiffen on releve). We stay in one place until everyone's up and then do a little bit of tiny shifting right and left and forward and backwards as well as turning in place. This seems to work well helping them relax and keep their knees soft (not too bent, but not perfectly straight).

I learned the way that everyone mentioned using the feet. We call this the Football shuffle or Minnie Mouse.

Then I learned the one miriamgamal mentioned; very difficult at first. But this one seems to have more longevity on the body as its low impact and much less noisy (the noise can take away from your beautiful dance). This one can be altered to look more floaty and if you get really good with the knees you can alter it to make it look very percussive and super earthy like Rhanda/Sorraya when they scoot backward.