There sure are a lot and everyone has their own names for them. Leyla Jouvana teaches 21 shimmies and a number of variations, and even came out with a sequel with MORE variations. Basically any movement can be sped up into a shimmy.

Whatever one you like best, you can use, and know the others for when your'e doing someone else's choreo.

Shimmies...ah, there are so many!

Terminology is so different from place to place. I remember teaching a workshop up n Canada where no one knew there was more than one kind of shimmy. SO we reworked the workshop and taught various shimmies, and it was a blast!!!

Have fun with your discoveries!

While you learn about different shimmies, don't worry about 'getting' them all, just build your stamina & strength with a couple basic ones like the Up & down shimmy in place & walking. That's basically the foundation for shimmies; then it's all refinement, changing weight from one foot to the other ,or from heels to toes; or changing from one hip to whole pelvis, or twisting instead of tilting.

Once you get the ability to keep regular movement timing & dynamic (all micro-moves looking the same, not getting bigger/littler etc.), then you can explore your hip movements in practise & find many different ways to move them. The most popular ones are the ones that get the "names" - but there's lots of ways to move!

Personally, I prefer to use the term "Tremor Shimmy" as opposed to "Vibration Shimmy" since it keeps everyone focused and lessens the likelihood of anyone's thoughts momentarily straying into the gutter. What is it about that word that makes everyone giggle??

Besides that, "The Samba Shimmy" and "The Tunisian Twist" are only a few of many other terms that I use to keep everything straight in my head. For example, I study the Bellyqueen method and the terms "Little Hip Shimmy" and "Big Hip Shimmy" refer to the range of hip movement based on the where the feet are positioned whether they're in line with the hip or just outside, respectively.

Obviously, if I were to study elsewhere there would be different terms used even though the movements are exactly the same. Prime example, the "Lebanese Shimmy" and "Traditional Shimmy" in your region and/or teacher's vernacular are called the "Egyptian" and the "Turkish" though many who've studied with Tamalyn Dalal (myself included) refer to them as the "Piston Hips" and the "Twisting Shimmy".

So you see, it doesn't matter what you call it as long as the movement's all the same. That's basically why demonstration is the focal point of teaching so that everyone's on the same page.

Is this "Biz" of bellydance?