Thread: Egyptian Shimmy Define Please

What exactly is an Egyptian shimmy. I feel like a fool not knowing.Although I probrably know it byu some other name.

Anyone help?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Yazeena

What exactly is an Egyptian shimmy. I feel like a fool not knowing.Although I probrably know it byu some other name.

Anyone help?

Thanks

What I call an Egyptian shimmy is what others sometimes call a knee shimmy or a leg-driven shimmy.

Originally Posted by Yazeena

What exactly is an Egyptian shimmy. I feel like a fool not knowing.Although I probrably know it byu some other name.

Anyone help?

Thanks

It's a bit of a misnomer as it is a very new shimmy in Egypt - so there are lots of older "Egyptian shimmies" - but most people mean the one Raqia Hasssan teaches. The driving is from pushing the knee back - so the hips do a very small sa`iidi (twist) shimmy forward and back - not up and down.

Originally Posted by kashmir

It's a bit of a misnomer as it is a very new shimmy in Egypt - so there are lots of older "Egyptian shimmies" - but most people mean the one Raqia Hasssan teaches. The driving is from pushing the knee back - so the hips do a very small sa`iidi (twist) shimmy forward and back - not up and down.

OK now I know Thanks

Thats different from what I'm taught. Leg driven yes but hips are up and down not a twist... Interesting...

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

Thats different from what I'm taught. Leg driven yes but hips are up and down not a twist... Interesting...

I was taught the same, and that the knee back shimmy was a "straight leg shimmy". But goodness knows terminology can vary widely from teacher to teacher.

i actually just took a workshop with raqia the last weekend, and now that you say it like that it makes sense, i do think of an egyptian shimmy as a leg driven shimmy. that being said when i do what i was doing with raqia, i can actually feel the hips moving more forward and back than up and down... que guay...

Originally Posted by laura 2

I was taught the same, and that the knee back shimmy was a "straight leg shimmy". But goodness knows terminology can vary widely from teacher to teacher.

Same here. Yes, the terminology can get pretty confusing!

Originally Posted by AmandaRose2

i actually just took a workshop with raqia the last weekend, and now that you say it like that it makes sense, i do think of an egyptian shimmy as a leg driven shimmy. that being said when i do what i was doing with raqia, i can actually feel the hips moving more forward and back than up and down... que guay...

Hmm...that's true too. I noticed that when I did a workshop with her last year. When I combine the Egyptian shimmy with the hip shimmy (for a stronger shimmy) my hips go up and down though. But if I just focus on the legs, my hips do kindof twist. So I guess it just depends.


BDF

Farida Fahmy said the Egyptian shimmy is a hip driven shimmy, other's say it is from the legs, or from the knees. Then I was told the shimmy Farida was talking about was the Egyptian folkloric shimmy and the leg one is the one most people are talking about ( at least in the states) when they are referring to the Egyptian shimmy.
So yeah, this is confusing, and I have just come to the realization that there are many different kinds of shimmies and ways to shimmy (legs, knees, hamstrings, hips, glut squeezes), and everybody uses different terminology and techniques.
So now when I teach I just teach the different techniques, without getting into terminology. Because when I see dancers I study the way they shimmy and it seems like many good dancer use a combination of a different techniques and layering of techniques to achieve their desired shimmy effect for the momemt.

Originally Posted by bellydancewear

Because when I see dancers I study the way they shimmy and it seems like many good dancer use a combination of a different techniques and layering of techniques to achieve their desired shimmy effect for the momemt.

well said, i totally agree, i know i do

Originally Posted by bellydancewear

Farida Fahmy said the Egyptian shimmy is a hip driven shimmy, other's say it is from the legs, or from the knees. Then I was told the shimmy Farida was talking about was the Egyptian folkloric shimmy and the leg one is the one most people are talking about ( at least in the states) when they are referring to the Egyptian shimmy.
So yeah, this is confusing, and I have just come to the realization that there are many different kinds of shimmies and ways to shimmy (legs, knees, hamstrings, hips, glut squeezes), and everybody uses different terminology and techniques.
So now when I teach I just teach the different techniques, without getting into terminology. Because when I see dancers I study the way they shimmy and it seems like many good dancer use a combination of a different techniques and layering of techniques to achieve their desired shimmy effect for the momemt.

Yes...I try to resist using the term "Egyptian shimmy" because there really isn't ONE "Egyptian" shimmy. I try to use descriptors (torso-driven vs. thigh-driven, for ex.).

There is another good thread on this by Shira on Student and Instructor forum
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/belly-danc...-shimmies.html

I took a shimmy class with Bozenka (who has beautiful shimmies!) and she defined it as a knee-back, straight-leg (or maybe only slightly bent knees) shimmy. She said that you know you're doing it right if your bellybutton moves right-to-left.

Can't tell you how many hours I spent in the mirror trying to get my bellybutton to move back and forth . . . but it works!