How to Do a Walking Shimmy | Belly Dancing

Belly dancing is sexy, fun, and burns up a lot of calories to boot! In this video, belly dancer Irina Akulenko teaches you how to do the belly dance move known as the walking shimmy. You'll be shaking it like Shakira in no time.

So now let's try the "walking hip shimmy". In order to prepare for it, let's keep the knees really bent. Let's think about those hip lifts we did earlier. Nice and slow, lifting one hip at a time. And you want to really feel this in your sides more than pushing through the knees. Just because we're going to use the knees in order to be able to walk. So, try to feel this in your obliques more than anything else. Remember to keep the chest lifted, lower abs tucked no matter what you're doing with your hips. While we're here, try lifting one heel off the floor, but still not compromising the integrity of the shimmy. What that means is that you're not hyper-lifting one side and barely lifting the other. You want to try to keep it as even as possible, even though one foot is slightly higher than the other. Let's try the other side. Lifting the left heel off the floor. Trying to keep the hip shimmy even. Chest lifted and the heel down. Right heel lifted. Now try to lift the foot off the floor. You can either touch it to the ankle of the opposite leg, or let it hover in front. And step back together. Try the other side. Lifting the foot off. Try extending forward. And while you're doing this, try to have a continuous relaxed shimmy no matter what. And place it back down. Let's try that with music. We're going to lift the right heel up. Take a step. Lift the left heel up. And lift the foot. And step. Stepping back. Try to have a continuous relaxed shimmy no matter what. Lifting the chest, shoulders back, arms full of energy. Let's try a little bit faster. Traveling back. And that's how you walk with a shimmy.