Shakin’ the stage with your shimmy is one of the most exciting moments of a show! Shimmy requires a dancer to maintain fast movement with ease, grace and stamina. No simple feat, as it takes great power and variety to keep it interesting.
Hip shimmy may be challenging to learn but is essential because it is the staple of a drum solo, that part of your routine, which culminates to a strong finish. The nice thing about hip shimmies is that there are several different kinds you can use to add spice. All you have to do is change the direction of the movement or the center where the movement is initiated. But we often overlook the power of shimmy from the upper body, namely the shoulder shimmy. Why? Because we believe this type of shimmy is limiting. Shoulder shimmy only moves in one manner, an isolated forward-and-back motion that is parallel to the floor. It cannot be varied by changing its direction to up-and-down, nor can we change the center of where the movement is initiated. But this does not mean that a shoulder shimmy can’t be as hot as a hip shimmy!
As belly dancers, we focus so much on our hips, we don’t work as much on developing stamina with upper body movement. Practice your stamina of shoulder shimmy by first working on proper execution. Then, when you can maintain it for as long you want, you can layer it on top of other movement to add pizzazz. Shoulder shimmy should never have to be curtailed due to strained, tight trapezius muscles that stiffen the movement and lift the shoulders.
Let’s break down what it takes to perform a powerful shoulder shimmy:
BODY ALIGNMENT: Stand with good posture. Hold your spine long with your shoulders dropped, relaxed, and in line over your hips. The pelvic and lower abdominals are gently tucked. Your knees are not locked. You may choose to stand with your feet together or in a posed position (one foot taking weight while the other is presented with the heel lifted).
ARM POSITION: Lift your arms in second position, extending them out to each side. Now look in a mirror. Your hands should be lower than your shoulders. Bend the elbows slightly, keeping them a bit lifted and pointed to the back. Carry your arms forward so they are held slightly in front of the body. You will know that your arms are in the right position when you can see yours hands at the edge of your peripheral vision. Be sure to turn the palms of the hands downward. Palms that face forward to the audience can make your shoulder shimmy look vulgar. Your fingertips are relaxed but exude energy. From a frontal view, it will appear as if your arms are straight, yet a side view reveals that they are actually in a shallow curve. This arm position allows your upper back to engage and maintain the lift of your arms, rather than putting stress on the shoulders.
MOVEMENT: The forward-and-back movement actually initiates from the upper back. Think of your shoulder blades gently pushing each shoulder forward alternately, rather than the shoulder pulling to the front. Pulling causes the shoulder to lift and ruin the motion that must be parallel to the floor. Practice slowly at first, moving the shoulders as fully as possible in an even tempo. Isolate the movement. Don’t permit a possible distraction from arms that flop around, elbows that droop, or hands that are either too stiff or too relaxed. Slowly increase your speed, keeping the shoulder motion large and the tempo even. At full speed, the shoulder motion is nearly as large as at slow speed!
It will help your form and stamina if you consciously keep your chest lifted and open and your shoulders down and relaxed. This can only be managed by consciously directing the muscles in your mid-back to lift your breastbone.
Once you can comfortably perform a swift shoulder shimmy and have built up stamina, then you are ready to try some layering and variations. Here are some ideas that you might attempt while keeping a steady shimmy going in your shoulders:
• plie’ so that you change the height of the movement;
• lean forward (keeping your chest and head up) and then lean back (bending your knee(s) for support);
• smoothly step side to side;
• travel across stage by walking in small steps. Too much bounce will distract, so you want to keep your head in one level at all times;
• take a pose and slide your ribcage side to side;
• circle your ribcage parallel to the floor in either direction;
• lift and lower your chest in a diagonal motion;
• perform a large hip circle. Try the circle in place, or with a plie’, or moving the shoulders around in an opposite circle;
• perform a slow, large undulation;
• perform a controlled stomach roll;
• add a pleasant surprise for the audience by suddenly stopping your shoulder shimmy with a quick chest lift or stomach contraction.
When you experiment with layering, be sure that your shoulder shimmy remains isolated and recognizable. It’s not a good idea to combine too many percussive movements with your shoulder shimmy, such as big hip bumps. This should be avoided so that you don’t look like a bowl of jiggling Jell-O!
A frequent misconception about shoulder shimmy is that it is equivalent to what some people call a “bust” shimmy. There’s two good reasons why it’s definitely not a bust shimmy: 1) Traditionally in Middle Eastern dance, even male dancers sometimes perform a shoulder shimmy (no bust involved!), and 2) Hey, as a woman, it does not particularly feel good to loosely shake your breasts from side to side (ouch!).
Practicing powerful shoulder shimmies makes your dance performance have flare and excitement. Live long and shimmy!
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©2003 Jasmin Jahal