Maya Hips
‘Maya Hips’ can be a very difficult move, so the Shimmy Dancers suggest you begin to practice this move using your feet to help. Stand with feet parallel, shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Come up onto the ball of your left foot without changing the direction that your toes are pointing, while very slightly tightening your left glute. Feel how this lifts your hip up. Next, use your lower abs to shift both hips to the left, and you should feel a stretch across your abdomen. Return your left heel to the floor, but keep the glute slightly flexed. At the same time, do not allow the left hip to return to the centre. Hips should be on the same horizontal plane but shifted to the left, creating a stretch in the left side of the body. Finally, relax everything and return to your starting position. When working with the left hip, only the left heel should come up off of the floor — do not allow the right foot to move. Practice consciously hitting these four distinct points before smoothing it out into a sexy circle. Practice on the left several times, then the right several times, and alternate one hip then the other, drawing a figure eight or infinity sign with your hip bones.