Randa Shimmy

topic posted Tue, March 25, 2008 - 8:55 AM by  offlineNuria
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She taught this choreo in Berlin, too. What amazes me is the strength she has. It is the strongest shimmy i have ever seen. I wonder did she do something like weightlifting with her hips! I bet she could knock someone out with a hip drop!
youtube.com/watch
posted by:
Nuria
Germany
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  • Re: Randa Shimmy

    Tue, March 25, 2008 - 4:48 PM
    I know - I once posted on Bhuz asking if anyone knew how to get shimmies like Randa Kamel. Someone said her secret is powering the movement from the back of the thighs.
    • Re: Randa Shimmy

      Wed, March 26, 2008 - 1:15 AM
      to be honest, i think is from the knees, legs straight...but because many of us guys are really skinny we will never have this shimmy. Unless u have some belly. See maiada aswell she has amazing shimmies but she has belly.
      • Re: Randa Shimmy

        Wed, March 26, 2008 - 1:16 AM
        i mean really skinny in the sense we dont hand out with a belly, is a western thing isnt it? as hosseny said, fat is good sometimes in oriental dance.
        • Re: Randa Shimmy

          Wed, March 26, 2008 - 7:39 AM
          no way Euge she is pure muscle! She has fat but in a nice way, like tight rubber. But that shimmy is so hard and fast and you see th hips go up and down, no that is not fat.
          • Re: Randa Shimmy

            Thu, March 27, 2008 - 1:27 AM
            i know is not fat, like maiada, she has belly yes but is hard! nothing is falling down, everything goes to the front...when i get a bit chubbier is the same, my belly is hard. I guess u saw maiada's tabla solos or shimmies, they r like earth quackes, nothing is wobbly, everything is in the right place.

            Now see jillina or sonia or any other skinny dancer...u just see knees moving instead of tummy

            what i love about dancers with a nice belly is that sometimes u dont know what they do because the movement is so smooth and u cant see wich part is moving. like when i saw raqia hassan, is like what?? is a lovely thing
            • Re: Randa Shimmy

              Thu, March 27, 2008 - 3:18 AM
              Aida Nour, too.
              I have fat...not that I like it but there is this wobbly thing. But for the fast, regular shimmy I want to have both sides of the hips visibly going up and down and on a fast pace you need so much strength. I am reluctant to involve the knees because if you do you have to hold it tight around the hips for the shimmy won't get too big and there will be no repercussion on the knees. Yes I think that Randa pushes aditionally from the knees because she can hold it - because she is soooo strong I believe she is doped, haha! Her shimmy is for the olympic games!
              • Re: Randa Shimmy

                Sat, April 12, 2008 - 1:35 AM
                so what I heard from Samira in a discussion on the Egyptian Style-tribe is that Randa as Dina both keep saying in the workshops: not the knees. So theyre against the knee-shimmy and we are wrong on supposing so!
                • Re: Randa Shimmy

                  Tue, April 15, 2008 - 7:23 AM
                  Just to quickly visually compare:
                  knee shimmy: www.youtube.com/watch
                  muscle tightness through hips keeps less movement in hips (regardless of how slender or not a dancer is) and much of the movement seen is in the knees.

                  a shimmy powered more from the back of the thigh. Yes, the knees move, but the movement is not initiated by pumping the knees, they are simply along for the ride:www.youtube.com/watch
                  Randa does several different shimmies. Sometimes she does a knee shimmy (she did after all study some with Raqia Hassan), but it is not her primary shimmy. From what I understand when teaching she uses other shimmies and stresses that.
  • Re: Randa Shimmy

    Tue, April 15, 2008 - 4:21 PM
    to me it kinda of looks like a loose muscle contraction...... just my thoughts...i can see how they would refer that to the back of the leg
    • Re: Randa Shimmy

      Tue, April 15, 2008 - 6:02 PM
      OK, for anyone who is registered on Bhuz, here's the link to the thread there on Randa Kamel's shimmy. There are some pretty in depth responses.

      www.bhuz.com/forum/belly...a-kamel.html
      • Re: Randa Shimmy

        Wed, April 16, 2008 - 4:08 AM
        Thank you Zamira. For all who aren't registered at bhuz, here is the answer of user David, who obviously wrote a book on ME dance technique.
        "The shimmy Randa Kamal uses is the Reda shimmy - more known as the Raqia Shimmy or Jillina Shimmy. However, when Randa and I hung out at the Stockholm Bellydance Festival back in the days and she used me as a puppet to demonstrate the correct way to do things when people asked questions this is what I learned:
        1. the shimmy is generated by the hamstring. When you contract the hamstring, it automatically pulls the knee backward. The hamstring will be fully contracted way before the knee joint locks or even straightens fully.
        2. this shimmy takes quite a lot of strength training of the hamstrings prior to looking as excellent as it does on Randa.
        3. Randa is reeeeeaaallly strong.
        4. you have to relax your hip and lower body to generate this relaxed look. You especially have to relax your glutes and allow the hip line to move vertically.
        5. you get a better result if you align your knees ahead, hip behind and chest square on top of your alignment axis/weight point in your feet and then tuck your abs in to open up the distance between the hipbone and ribcage in your lower back. This results in the typical forward leaned Egyptian posturing of the body.
        6. think of pumping the movement from the floor through your hamstring and isolating it at the diaphragm.

        There, that's a pretty simple explanation of how you may achieve the shimmy that Randa uses.

        Just for the record, it's hardcore Egyptian technique - it's not Suhaila Salimpour Technique or a kneeshimmy or anything like that. It's a straight forward Egyptian shimmy with correct muscle work and alignment being the key to achieve the result.

        Promotional plug:
        and you may purchase the EDA Handbook of Middle Eastern Dance at DaVid of Scandinavia - international dance artist : : Bhangra : : Bollywood : : Raqs Sharki :: Middle Eastern Folklore for more tips and tricks on how to enhance your Middle Eastern Dance technique. ;)"

        I hope this procedure of copying from bhuz is not against some unwritten rules...
        • Re: Randa Shimmy

          Fri, June 20, 2008 - 6:25 PM
          Oh Nuria! I am flattered that you put this information here :) No worries, no unwritten rules say that what's written in a public space cant be re-published elsewhere. Thank you for giving the reference to me, I do appreciate that. :)

          DaVid
          • Re: Randa Shimmy

            Sat, June 21, 2008 - 6:12 AM
            I've been studying history and correct quotation is one of the main things there. The info has been helpful!
  • Re: Randa Shimmy

    Tue, September 16, 2008 - 9:52 PM
    Sometimes I think it's overanalysed - it really comes down to just finding your own way to shake your arse, et al ;~). Fifi Abdo, even said no, not from the knees. Not that the knees aren't invovled but try to do this with just your knees or just your glutes, it's not going to look remotely like that.
    • Re: Randa Shimmy

      Wed, September 17, 2008 - 1:21 AM
      I totally agree. A lot is just a matter of practise and once a shimmy starts coming out of it you don't care about too many explanations. Last year I was at the Randa workshop and said to myself, you have to work on your shimmy, on your speed and your flexibility, after having tried to dance after her. And I have improved, although of course, speed and flexibility could always be a lot better and a shimmy can always be stronger, faster... So last year I was wondering and analyzing and this year I know that continouus work is answering a lot of questions by itself ;-)))
      • Re: Randa Shimmy

        Wed, September 17, 2008 - 9:48 AM
        this is encouraging!!!!
        I cannot get my shimmy going "on command" - at all.
        this has frustrated me a lot in the few classes I have taken (it sounds ridiculous - I was always known as the girl who s a great oriental style dancer in my family - and took great joy in dancing at festivities, but when I really wanted to learn the technique I was so horrible at it :) ), I have now begun to understand I probably simply have to start "little" and slowly, and persistently work at it at home...

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