21 Shimmies and 1001 Variations

21 Shimmies and 1001 Variations is the encyclopedia of shimmies from the Shimmy Queen, Leyla.  She teaches and drills 21 shimmies, but the 1001 variations are basically up to you.  We especially like that Leyla teaches how the shimmy movements should go with the musical beats.

She teaches the differences between the shimmies and what makes each shimmy special. Leyla has a good and consistent way of teaching the technique used for each shimmy

The clear, simple beats of the live drummer allows you to easily match the shimmy movements to the drum beats. Even though Leyla is a cabaret style dancer, these shimmies can be used in any belly dance style.

She goes over each shimmy multiple times, so you have some drill time at different speeds. However, this isn’t a shimmy drill class. She spends about 2 to 9 minutes per shimmy or about 5 minutes on average.

Shimmies

Leyla first demonstrates each shimmy from multiple angles while doing hand and arm movements. No explanation at this point. Then she gives a short lecture on the timing of the hip movements in relation to the music.  Then she demonstrates and drills the shimmies at various speeds.

Leyla says shimmies are based on the musical theory of triplets, which gives her a systematic and logical explanation for the timing of each major hip shimmy variation.

There is no warm up.  She goes right into the shimmies.

She wears purple velvet crop top, yoga pants and hip scarf, so you can really see her hip and stomach movements.  She is only filmed from the front with no mirror, but she shows the shimmies from different angles.

#1 Rotation Shimmy

This shimmy is based on the rotation of the hips.  4/4 music timing.   2 hip rotations in 1 beat.  That means 8 hip rotations in a measure.  This is an up and down, not side to side shimmy, combined with a pelvis up and down movement. You create a fold in your tummy with the rotation. The circle must be inside your body in order to go fast. This shimmy variation is done in place or while rotating in a circle.

Four Belly Dance Movement Speeds

She states that there are four speeds that you can dance at.  The fourth speed is your shimmy.

• First Speed: One circle in in one 4/4 measure.
• Second Speed: Two circles in one 4/4 measure.
• Third Speed: Four circles in one 4/4 measure.
• Fourth Speed: Eight circles in one 4/4 measure

If you can only do six circles to start with, don’t worry with practice you will get faster! It’s all about muscle memory, coordination, and strengthening your muscles.

#2 Rotation Shimmy Variations

She explains arm variations. Isolation is top priority, so practice slowly when adding in arm variations.

• Circle arms
• Hula arms

#3 Hip Shimmy

This shimmy is done In place, traveling linearly, or in a circle with various foot patterns. 8 hip movements in a 4/4 time. Every hip movement is 1/8 of a measure or ½ a beat.

With this shimmy your knees go forward and back with hips up and down.  The hip movement is not side to side.

#4 Hip Shimmy Variation

This is shimmy on top of side to side hip slide with a slow twist hip forward and back. You can do this with small slow hip circle or slow body wave or camel undulation.

With this triplet, you need to get 12 movements in 4/4 time, which is 3 movements in one beat. 3 hip movements with each step. This allows you to step with alternating feet instead of the same foot all the time.  Leyla explains the Arabic Basic Step so you can layer a hip shimmy on top of the step. For an advanced level, she demonstrates how to do a camel walk with this shimmy.

A diagonal variation of this shimmy is also called a Hagala Shimmy.  Women push their hips to the back, but men push their hips to the front.

#5 Ghawazee Shimmy or Stamping Shimmy

The shimmy comes from the stomping of your feet.  The hips, stomach, and pelvis are relaxed. The Ghawazee has big hip movements.  It’s 6 count of shimmies with 2 counts of accents (hip pops).

#6 Shimmy Cairo Style

This shimmy is similar to the Ghawazee shimmy, which is folk dance style of shimmy.  A Cario style shimmy is more elegant.  With this shimmy you only stamp forward, which means the shimmy is only on the forward step. The back and middle steps aren’t stamped, so no shimmy occurs on those steps. The tummy vibrates. If you don’t have much of a stomach, you really need to use muscle power to stamp to get a tummy vibration. She teaches how to make fluid, soft arm open and closed movements to go with this shimmy. This is a type of ¾ shimmy.

#7 Egyptian Knee Shimmy

With this shimmy, the kbees drive the shimmy.  There are no intentional hip movements. However, the hips will move slightly forward and back as shimmy speed increase. She show this shimmy layered with a torso slow circle.

#8 Muscle Shimmy or Freeze

For this shimmy, you must relax your pelvis, bottom, stomach and upper body and tense all your leg muscles to create the vibration.  You use some knee movement.  An easy way to practice is to hold one foot slightly off the ground and raising the leg a bit and see if you can get your leg to vibrate by contracting your muscles. This shimmy can be done with both legs or with only one leg at a time.  It is easier to do one leg at a time to start with. Your weight is back in your heels.

Skill Focus Time Breakdown Infographic

21 Shimmies and 1001 Variations is 135 minutes long.  The following infographic is an approximate breakdown of how many minutes are included in the DVD for various belly dance  skills.

#9 Combined Muscle Shimmy & Hip Shimmy

This is Leylia’s favorite shimmy. It’s a very strong shimmy. Weight is back in your heels. This shimmy is good for variations.  You must relax your bottom, pelvis, and upper body and tense your leg muscles. Do not lean forward or back, which will block shimmy.  Think of layering a hip shimmy on top of freeze shimmy. Movements you can layer on this shimmy that she demonstrates:

• Slow Side to side
• Torso slow circle
• Chest drop Accents
• This is an advanced variation.

#10 Vibration Shimmy

In this shimmy, your knees move forward and back at the same time instead of alternating your knees. Your leg muscles are tight, but the rest of the body is relaxed.  Some Egyptian dancers lift and drop their heals to get the same effect. The Western style is to use muscles and knees, not the heal drop.

#11 Vertical Afro Shimmy

In belly dance, this shimmy is much softer and smaller than in African dances. She suggests using it at the end of a drum solo. The faster you go, the smaller the movements are.

#12 Combined Afro & Vibration

This shimmy is the opening and closing movement of an Afro shimmy and adding a vibration shimmy.  You can add a turn for 3 counts to give yourself a rest between the shimmies.

#13 Shoulder Shimmy

She shows variations using a slow side to side chest slide, up and down chest, chest circle, camel, and snake arms.  She likes the snake arm variation the best. This shimmy is very hard at the beginning. You tend to look like a break dancer until you can smooth the movements out.

#14 Choo Choo Shimmy

This shimmy requires four hip movements and four steps in one beat. This shimmy is usually done while traveling straight or in a circle. You can also do it with a hip side to side. It is done on your toes like you are wearing high heels.  An advanced dancer can do camel walk forward with the choo choo shimmy.

 #15 African Choo-Choo Shimmy

Use this shimmy only if you hear an African rhythm in the music.  It doesn’t fit the style of traditional Arabic music.

#16 Twist Shimmy

In this shimmy, the twists go forward and back with two movements within a beat.  Don’t move hands back and forth with the twist.  Instead, you can do simple wrist circles. This shimmy can be layered on hip slides, the camel step, and hip circles. In the camel step, the twist goes on the last step as an accent.

#17 Flutter Shimmy

This is a stomach shimmy.  You should pay more attention and accent to the stomach out, not in.  The following are four ways to breathe while doing a stomach flutter.

1. Breathe in relation to the contraction. Don’t hyperventilate. Breathe in while contracting and out while releasing.
2. Breathe in with a lot of flutters and out with a lot of flutters.
3. Breathe a bit and then stop breathing while fluttering. She likes this best.
4. Breathe while laughing.

#18 Hand Shimmy

She shows how to combine the hand shimmy with a head slide, arm movements, steps ,and music so it looks like belly dance, not jazz hands. You can use with Saudi dom dom tak, flamenco or Samba rhythms. Or use it after dance routine as a cute way to say goodbye. Don’t make a hand shimmy look like you are changing a light bulb.  Use your inner for arm muscle and palm of your hand. Tense them to create the vibration.

#19 Samba Shimmy

This shimmy goes best with music that has a Samba beat in it or Samba flavor. This shimmy has 3 hip movements and 3 steps in one beat to create 12 movements/steps in 4 beats. Steps are back, side, forward, and side done with alternating feet. The faster you go, you need to go onto your toes and make smaller movements. Shakira does the Samba shimmy in her “Objection” video.

#20 Muscle Shimmy While Kneeling

This shimmy is done on your knees on the floor.  You need to move knees forward and back on the floor while contracting your leg muscles.  Don’t do this if you have bad knees.  You can move hips up and down or do a hip twist. Relax your pelvis so your tummy vibrates. This can be part of a floorwork routine.

#21 Calf Shimmy

This shimmy can be part of a floorwork routine. It can be done n a half or full split. You put foot into your bent elbow and then tense your calf muscle to vibrate your calf.

#22 Bottom Shimmy

In this shimmy, you contract and release your glut muscles either together or alternating.  If you have hard gluts, then do this shimmy on the floor, so you can use a muscle shimmy with your legs with a relaxed bottom. You can also you do an accent with a contraction and relaxation of your glut muscles.

#23 Zaghareet Shimmy

This is a tongue shimmy. Never do the Zaghareet without the hand because historically dancers believed bad spirits would come out of their mouths. This is a vibration of your tongue behind your teeth.

Performance

Leyla does a drum solo to Roland’s live drumming.  She use many of the shimmies that she taught in the class. She adds on lots of other turns, dance steps, and arm movements.  She wears a two-toned reddish-orange and pink cabaret costume.

Music Used

The following are Amazon links to the music used in the Leyla’s 21 Shimmies and 1001 Variations DVD.

• Title Music by Dr Samy Farag. Song unknown.

10/05/2024 01:13 pm GMT

Dancer Skill Level – Advanced

We rate this DVD as suitable for an advanced dancer as many of the shimmies are difficult and may never be used by a beginner dancer.  However, a beginner dancer could learn a few shimmies and save the rest for when their belly dance skills improve over time.

DVD Review Rating – 5 Stars

We give Leyla’s 21 Shimmies and 1001 Variations DVD a 5-star rating because it clearly teaches, demonstrates and drills every type of shimmy imaginable using correct shimmy movement relationships to the drum beats.