Belly Dancing Shimmy: Press Down Arms

Video Transcript

"Are you ready to add some nice strong arms to your shimmy? My name's Karen and this is Johanna. We're with Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio, in Saint Petersburg, Florida. We're going to add our press down arms to our shimmy. This will help the audience focus on your shimmy as the hands go down towards your hips. We're going to combine it with a sunset sunrise arms, so we have a place to go when we're done with the press down arms. So they're going to come right down, leaving the front of your body open. So bring them up, flip those palms down, make sure the elbows stay out, keep your chest lifted, pull your belly button in, and feel the pressure of the air under your hands that you're pressing down, good. And press it down, and keep those fingers nice and strong, but not stiff. Let's get our shimmy going, and let's put the two together. Make sure that you practice them separately so that you get the movements nice and clean, and up and press, and up; nice energy in your fingers, keep those elbows out, and up and press, up and press, very good. Make sure you keep breathing. Are those heels on the floor? Are your heels pressed down? Keep that chest lifted. Practice this in the mirror, and you'll also have a nice pressed down arm shimmy."