Fun fact! The world shimmy is a mispronunciation of the French word chemise pronounced shu-meese.

In the late 1920’s when motion pictures had gone from silent to sound Jazz music was popularized in America. Musicians and dancers alike were seen vibrating or shaking in sync to the new and exciting rhythmic sounds.  This vibration was mostly done in the torso section of the body which gives emphasis to the shoulders. Chemise is the French word for a dress shirt.  Just like in the ’20s modern inventions shape our world.  As access to information grows so does our exploration of dance.  So it seems naturally this word would transform as bellydance has become worldwide sensation information became more accessible this word has transformed to be known as something

In conclusion like so many of our dance moves, the words we use to describe most of them are from the point of view of the observer, not performers, they are in another language and poorly pronounced.