Shimmy Drill!

Shimmies! If you’ve taken classes with me you know I love to shimmy. Today let’s start with a hip lift (aka bent knee) shimmy.

If you are a beginner, work up to the shimmy like we do in class, starting with slow hip lifts, alternating every two counts, then going faster to alternating every count, up to alternating twice per beat of music then all the way to a shimmy. Try to keep the shimmy going for as long as you can, if it peters out start back with the slow hip lifts and speed it back up. Keep this up for the whole song. I recommend Chicky by Oojami.

If you are an intermediate student, do the beginner drill to get your shimmy going, then layer the hip lift shimmy onto a horizontal circle. Start with a slow circle (four counts front, four counts back), then a medium speed circle (two counts front, two counts back) and then a fast circle (one count front, one count back). Make sure to do all speeds both directions, clockwise and counter clockwise. You can try this one to Istanboogie by Oojami.

For the advanced ladies, let’s take those circles for a walk. Get your shimmy going, add in the circles and try walking forward and backward with them while maintaining your shimmy. Then try walking side to side using circle and a half. Make sure your shimmy is staying even while you are traveling and not becoming larger on the side that has the weight and smaller on the unweighted side. Take your walk with Urban Dervish also by Oojami.

The song titles above are links and will take you to Amazon where you can purchase downloads of the tracks if you don't already own them. Have fun with your shimmies and let me know how it goes!