I'm not familiar with these terms (aside from Shimmy).

Do you have a video clip? Or can someone more fully describe what's happening when the movement is done? It's quite possible I'm already do these and just call them something different.

sounds like Ansuya's Wet Dog to me. She does like a body wave up to down and then down to up. Coming up to up, she starts a big shoulder shimmy and on her way down, it transfers down to a hip (piston) shimmy.

is it a 3/4 shimmy? Michele Joyce's "drills drills drills" does a good job explaining it. it's a little bit like how a hip lift and a drop are exactly the same movement, but you are emphasizing different ends.... but not really.... ^_~

for the up, it's step and transfer your weight to (for the sake of example) right foot, and bump up your right hip. with the weight STILL on your right, lift and drop your left hip. then start over on the other side by stepping left, bumping left, lift and drop right, repeat.
for the down, step right, and drop the right hip. (i find it easier, but drops come very natural to me. it can be tricky to drop the hip when your weight is on the foot, but if you train to not use your legs to power your movements it helps) then with the weight on your right foot still, drop and lift your left hip. then step left and drop the hip, then drop and lift the un-weighted hip, repeat.

the drop or lift that happens with the weighted foot happens at the same time as the foot goes down. some will tell you the only right way to do it is on the down. it often has a twist on top (step-twist-drop, drop-lift, step-twist-drop....) or can be done with a slide out at the same time as the down (or lift) and those all have very different looks ^_^
i found this, it starts out explaining the up. ^_^

ooooh, a *shimmy* on the shimmy.... www.youtube.com/watch

watch Rachel (mostly) at .40 sec and 1.09 minutes to see a shimmy on the down. The 'power' of the (three quarter) shimmy is on the 'down' step (this down step is accomplished by setting your foot down and squeezing the glute on the same side as the moving foot - the squeeze is similar to the action you want to use to 'lock' a hip on the up or to 'lock' a hip on the down, say for beledi-hip) followed by the shift and then the lift to get to the other side of your hips. 3/4 can be done three ways, on the down, on the up and on the side-motion, each for a different kind of music. For shimmy on the up, the first motion is the hip lift. Start slowly and bend your knees. It took me forever just to get to understand the shimmy on the up. Hope this helps! b

Hey there-

Check out some of the Suhaila instructional DVDs. Sharon Kihara trained quite a bit with Suhaila and uses her terminology and technique.

"on the up" means that the activating/moving hip is the same as the weighted foot. So if you step on the right foot, your right hip goes up (in this case, you squeeze the right glute).

"on the down" means that the active hip is on the UNweighted foot. So if you step on the right foot, your LEFT hip goes up (in this case, you squeeze the left glute).

Thanks for the tips and videos, everyone! :) I think it will take me a lot of practice. X__X But I'll try :D