Hi! there's a move my teacher does which she refers to as a 'chonk' - not quite sure where she got this term, i forget now, it may have been at a workshop she attended. however, i don't necessarily like this term, as the word doesn't reflect to dancers what movement it is, and so i want to try & use a better term for it when i'm teaching.
its basically, instead of moving the hip side to side, its a sharp up & down of the hips alternately- it looks a lot more effective if done on the toes/balls of feet, but she tries to get us to make the movement come from the hips rather than the lifting of the heels.
any ideas/comments appreciated!
its basically, instead of moving the hip side to side, its a sharp up & down of the hips alternately- it looks a lot more effective if done on the toes/balls of feet, but she tries to get us to make the movement come from the hips rather than the lifting of the heels.
any ideas/comments appreciated!
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United Kingdom
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, September 26, 2007 - 10:09 AM::scratches his head:: Sounds like locks to me. Anyone else?
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, September 26, 2007 - 10:50 AMI have no idea what a "chonk" is, but from the description is sounds like what people call:
singles
piston hips
or locks -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, September 26, 2007 - 11:19 AMthanks, i think i prefer 'locks' to 'chonks' - maybe she just mis-heard & has called them this ever since!
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Thu, September 27, 2007 - 8:02 AMYup. Same here. Just make sure you are using your gluts and not your skeleton for these, or you can destroy your hips/ rotator cups/hip joints, etc. and you will be in a lot of pain - this almost ended my dancing when I was a baby (no one explained the difference early on), until I went to a Shareen el Safy (pardon mispellings - I'm horrible!) workshop. She credit her with literally saved my dancing, posture, joints, etc. -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Thu, September 27, 2007 - 8:03 AMcan't spell, and obviously can't write a gramatical sentence this morning, either. sigh. -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Thu, September 27, 2007 - 9:07 AMVelvet Fifi - Your information is much more important that perfect grammer and spelling ; )
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Tue, October 2, 2007 - 3:37 AMHi - first post on tribe, so be gentle with me ;-)
I know that 'chonks' are considered to be Suheir Zaki's signature move. I've never heard them called anything else - perhaps it's a British term? Chonks do involve a side-to-side motion of hips, PLUS the downward movement.
Hope that helps...?
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Tue, October 2, 2007 - 11:02 AMI wonder if we are thinking of the same movement with your description?... My teacher taught me what sounds like what you are describing, but didn't call it a "chonk". She just said "here is Suheir Zaki's signature down-hip movement, and she did it in a variety of ways". I have to admit, "Chonk" is a lot easier to remember than her description. ;-P
The basic move I was taught (not including the variations): Standing with stiff straight-legs, do a heavy, weighted down-hip, and looked like your hips were slightly moving side to side because they are attached to your legs.
Think of trying to walk (almost stomp) in place without bending your knees, while keeping your upper body completely isolated from your lower body. The leg/foot/hip coming down is heavy and weighted.
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, October 3, 2007 - 4:41 AMHi! yes, its more a sharp movement with the hips up & down, with relatively straight legs, pelvis tucked under, to get a sharp alternating up/down movement- not side to side, so maybe this is something different. maybe i'll stick with 'chonks' then, because although it sounds a bit weird, my ladies will know in an instant which movement i mean, instead of saying 'hip locks up & down..' ?! thanks everyone. -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, October 3, 2007 - 5:52 PMWell, I'm going to confuse you again, Emma. Hip locks can be done (what I was taught) either up or down, side, diagonal, whatever, and the knees are bent, (always tucked to protect the back, no matter how straight your legs are) and it's the glutes and abs being squeezed sharply to cause the lock, not the divine Ms. S.Z.'s move, which is the earlier "stomp" I described. The locks are still muscular, because using the skeleton will kill your joints and ball/sockets faster than a speeding bullet, and eating Advil every day to manage the pain will kill your Kidneys just a little bit slower than your joints. Anyway, hope this helps. It sounds like this thread is actually describing two very different moves. someone please correct me if I am wrong. -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, October 3, 2007 - 11:10 PMYou can also create a similar movement with the obliques ("lock down") which would look very similar to the move being described. -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Wed, October 3, 2007 - 11:10 PMThis would also explain why some dancers have an easier time with the move when on their toes.
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Thu, April 24, 2008 - 8:26 PMcareful calling them chonks of you go to Hawaii. a "ka-konk" (not a native word, an onomatopoeia) means a stupid person. it comes from the sound of a coco-nut falls on your head, and scrambles your brain. (seriously, it kills people. coconuts are dangerous!)
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Fri, April 25, 2008 - 9:13 AMI think this must be an English thing too Emma... I had them described to me first as chonks too, but prefer to think of it as Zaki hips because I always get a picture in my head then of her gorgeousness doing them which helps! also your students can then find her on youtube and have some Idea what they are aiming for. it's not an easy move to perfect... : )
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Sat, April 26, 2008 - 2:28 AMI too have heard them in reference to Sohair's signature hip movement.
Amarise
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Mon, December 3, 2007 - 11:58 AMIf I get the visual correctly, my dance teacher refers to the move as "Tick-Tocks". Usually done on the balls and coming from the obliques.
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Sun, December 9, 2007 - 2:52 PMYes, I know this movement. And it should be done flat footed.
My vocabulary calls it "Lower Two Accents" because it comes from the Lower Two undulation.
Again, this is from the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance vocabulary.
Fifi does this a lot.
"Chonks" is a terrible description. -
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Re: anyone heard of 'chonks'?!
Fri, March 7, 2008 - 11:55 PMHi Emma...
'Chonks' ay? i cant even describe the mental imagery that comes to mind after hearing that word! *hehe*
i know exactly what step you are referring to; and many of the women in the forum quite justifuying mentioned it is the signiature move of the beloved Souheir Zaki.
thus, the step has often been refferred to as 'zaki's' or 'Zaki steps'
the step has also ben termed 'ducks' for two main reasons: 1) the actual hip swap on the ball change occurs on the sharp beat of the bar, whch are nothing more then tabla flicks. onematepeiclly speaking, this sounds like a 'duk' sound on the tabla. 2) the movement actually looks like a duck waddling. hehe... funny i know, but for all instructors in the post, say that to your students and watch how the movement will improve about 200%!
-=Jamil=-
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