Thread: shimmies: tight or loose

[quote=rassicahl;187069]

Originally Posted by toria_dances

I totally agree with this and want to add that venue may also play a part in your movements. If the audience is up close you can do smaller movements but if you're removed from the audience up on a stage, then bigger movements may be needed.

Hey everyone

A friend forwarded me this thread - I think I may have created the wrong impression on the Maya issue.

I wish I had thought to say this on the dvd...

Of course it isn't "wrong" to lift your heels if you choose to... but my thinking is that it should be a conscious choice of style rather than a necessity to execute the movement.

In the Drills dvd my goal was to get the technique down for a solid foundation so that you could go ahead and stylize it the way you want later on. My thinking was that if you use your feet to drive the movement as a beginner, then you become dependent on your feet. That becomes a problem when you want to do anything else with it (ie: mayas with a shimmy, mayas to the ground, walking mayas, mayas with an undulation, etc).

The way I teach the isolations is to ensure that the movements come from the muscles in the hips and abs at first. You should be able to do them with your feet in any position because your feet are not involved.

But, then again, I always hesitate to have too strong of an opinion about anything technique related because there are so many ways it is taught. I'm just passing on what has worked for me in my training.

Michelle

[quote=michellejoyce;193193]

Originally Posted by rassicahl

Hey everyone

A friend forwarded me this thread - I think I may have created the wrong impression on the Maya issue.

I wish I had thought to say this on the dvd...

Of course it isn't "wrong" to lift your heels if you choose to... but my thinking is that it should be a conscious choice of style rather than a necessity to execute the movement.

In the Drills dvd my goal was to get the technique down for a solid foundation so that you could go ahead and stylize it the way you want later on. My thinking was that if you use your feet to drive the movement as a beginner, then you become dependent on your feet. That becomes a problem when you want to do anything else with it (ie: mayas with a shimmy, mayas to the ground, walking mayas, mayas with an undulation, etc).

The way I teach the isolations is to ensure that the movements come from the muscles in the hips and abs at first. You should be able to do them with your feet in any position because your feet are not involved.

But, then again, I always hesitate to have too strong of an opinion about anything technique related because there are so many ways it is taught. I'm just passing on what has worked for me in my training.

Michelle

I got it. It is for drilling and we often drill a little different then we would "dance" it. I shimmy much harder when practicing so that when I want to pull off a big one I can but generally don't shimmy that hard when I dance.