Thread: Loose shimmies

I need help with loose shimmies (not 3/4 shimmies)! My teacher wants us to be able to do loose, slow shimmies with loose glutes. Whenever I try to do these, I end up speeding up and my movements get tighter and smaller. What am I missing? Can anyone help?

Your teacher is right, it's all about just being loose. Practice just relaxing your glutes and going into a slow, relaxed shimmy....it sounds like you just need to practice.

It takes time! And I am always making people do this, and have trouble myself at times even when I'm teaching it, sometimes.

I use a hip-rock shimmy with fairly bent knees as my standard shimmy (ie as opposed to the Egyptian leg-driven shimmy), although my legs *are* involved in producing this shimmy. What can help is, first of all, pressing into the ground through your heels, which may take some of the tension out of your bum and direct it to where it can be useful. Then, ideally you are not using those buttock muscles to lift your pelvis, but the ones in the front instead, above your pubic bone. This theoretically means your bottom is soft and ready to shake, but it's easier said than done without conscious practice.

From here you want to slow the shimmy right down. The first useful thing is to recognise that a shimmy is not actually as fast as we often think it is. Then, turn a hip rock into a shimmy bit by bit, and try counting it. Rock to some music at normal speed - 1--2--1--2--1--2 - and let your bottom be soft. Don't make this a punchy movement, just a soft rock. Breathe into it to relax. Then, speed it up to 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2. Again, check that your bum and the backs of your legs are soft, breathe into it, relax. Depending on how fast your music is, you may be doing a slow shimmy already! Once this is nicely underway, speed it up again to 12121212121212121212121212. Same thing - soft bum, soft backs of the thighs, breathe, relax, push into the ground with your heels. If you start tensing up, depending on your ability at present you may deflect it by adding something like a weight shift or a loose figure 8. That can help if you get tighter and tighter from just standing there shimmying.

Good approach Zummarrad! I second starting slow and gradually building up. I think a medium-slow shimmy is much harder to sustain than a fast vibration, so if you can practice and acheive a slower shimmy, you'll be able to control all your shimmies.

One additional tip I picked up at a workshop - practice with your legs really wide apart (like you're straddling a very fat horse!). It's much easier to keep the thigh and butt muscles loose in this position. Really wobble those thighs! As you get comfortable with your muscles being relaxed, gradually try with your legs coming closer together.

The same teacher also used the imagery of standing in a wooden boat and rocking it with your feet - so you're pushing into the ground to drive the shimmy, rather than tensing muscles up top.

Keep your knees bent. If your legs are straight, you won't be able to release your glutes.

Think of driving the move from your waist - not legs or butt. Start slow keep it at half time for (say) a minute, then full time, then double time (which is normal shimmy speed). Anytime you feel yourself tensing up and can't relax, slip back a notch.

Thanks ladies! This is exactly the type of advice that I was looking for. Off to practice!!!