As far as i was always taught, both in doing & understanding, that you should not pump your knees.for shimmies it should be done with the glutes & any movement of the knees is just a reaction to your hips moving. kinda like having the small movement in your torso as a reaction when doing snake arms. you're not using that part but since it's all connected you have some movement there. i know some people also engage their obliques when doing hip work to help make the movement sharper.

now vibrations i've heard of using your knees and glutes for. but a vibration requires such a small, controlled, rapid pumping that you should not be distracted by seeing the knees going.

hope this helps!

the glutes only is a diff kind of shimmy. my teacher explained the more American shimmy is from the knees from bent to more bent, and is much more isolated, the hips go up and down and sortta make a smile. the Egyptian shimmy is bent to straight (NOT locked) and the belly button goes side to side, and there is more reverberation up the body (just that you're relaxed and it will affect the rest of your body)
both are valid, just different styling. if you're balancing something on your head, you'd want to use the "American" shimmy. the Egyptian vibration gives a different feeling

Bahaia gave a great workshop on shimmy variations from Golden Age dancers at Cairo Caravan this year. I can't find my notes at this moment, but I recall one she described as partially using the knees but having a sense of extension in the hip flexors. It gave a smoother look, not a vibration, but distinct from a typical Egyptian shimmy.

Mahin

I heard a teacher once say "the knees do the work, and the hips go along for the ride." I've been told to relax everything and just let it "shake". I've also been told there is no right or wrong way to shimmy, so whatever is comfortable for you, go for it!

There are ways to shimmy without pumping the knees. Try out different techniques in front of the mirror, and study the effect of each shimmy on your own body.
Watch dancers whose shimmies you admire until you start to figure out what might be going on in terms of their technique, so you can imitate it.
Watch DVDs that teach different shimmy variations and learn from them.

Personally, I love the Egyptian shimmy in all its knee-pumping glory, but if you don't like how it works, there is no reason to be stuck doing it that way. Shimmies are versatile like that :)

The way that I explain a basic shimmy to my students is that you want the movement to *originate* from the obliques, but you want the knees to allow for that motion. Meaning, you bend the knees, then you allow them to follow the obliques so that you have the proper range of movement.
The problem with using your knees to create a shimmy is that the movement cannot be isolated to the hips - generally everything else will jiggle too. I've even seen people's hair vibrate while doing a shimmy that originates from the knees.
Also, if you shimmy using the knees, you will not be able to layer shimmies over any footwork except the "scooting" or "floating" style in which you take lots of tiny steps. That isn't always a practical way to get from point a to point b, and it gets boring after a while.
With oblique shimmies you can layer over anything, from a regular walk, to spins, to grapevine, you name it.
Thus, I do not teach my students to use their knees. I teach oblique and glute shimmies, and use them for different purposes.

There are many different shimmys....

The Egyptian style (more traditional egyptian) does us the knees but it is a small movement and the knees do not lock out or get 'slapped' back. That can actually damage your knees. It is a pulsing moving using the knees to drive the movement -- and small. It will make you shake more up top (if you catch my hint there - haha).....so it is not as isolated but it is a shimmy that is used by some styles.

I personally like the more loose shimmy. This is one that the knees are not used but instead glutes, obliques (very little but they help isolate) and thighs all work together -- and stay a little more loose. Keep the chest lifted and this will isolate the movement below. My description in class for this one is....all are loose but working together to create the movement and if you butt is not flapping (yes it is a nice description huh) and thighs are not jiggling then you are holding them too tight. So....after everyone stops laughing at my horrible description that is going on under your clothing that you hope no one can see....then that often helps. This is a loose shimmy which is easily isolated and layer on other movements as you muscles are not too busy or tight to work in other movements such as circles and such.

And then there are more shimmys.....some where you tighten the glutes or thighs or both (to create more of a shiver or freeze effect .. or just make it smaller) and some are twisting movement (twisting shimmys)...plus still more....shimmys just seem to be endless but we all use the same word to describe many different movements really.

Hi Khadija,

look at Dandash, best seen at 1:19. The legs have to move with the shimmy. A vibration shimmy you can do without moving the legs.

www.youtube.com/watch

My teacher Yaminah has a very big and loose shimmy, but also her joints are very souple, that gives her hips more amplitude in her hip moves, but your legs need to be really relaxed+fast, too, to do this shimmy, and it's tough for many people. I'm learning it now because in between I thought that I could stay with the vibration-shimmy only, but then decided no I'd give it another try. Now I about control it but can't go that fast yet. It's my left leg that needs to catch up, for it's weaker than the right and so it blocks when speed causes stress.

Maybe this term "pumping the knees" is just very American, from tradition. The knees only have to let the movement go through, that is, not block it, but they don't generate it. It's quad and glute driven.