Shake Your Booty

Booty shaking has quickly become one of the most popular dance moves across the globe. It’s provocative, sexual and attention grabbing. But, unfortunately it’s not a move that everyone naturally knows how to do. Sometimes, it requires a few lessons and a little practice.

Steps

Doing the Beyoncé Booty Shake

1. Get in the right posture. Start off with your legs a little wider than shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent and relaxed. Keep your shoulders back and arch your back slightly so that your butt is sticking out. Don't stick your butt out purposely, it will happen naturally when you arch your back
2. Tuck your butt underneath your pelvis. Your lower back should now be in a straight line. In other words, your lower back should be at about 90 degrees -- not bent forward or backward. Your shoulders, however, should come forward slightly, and your knees should still be bent.
3. Pop your butt back out. As you do this, roll your pelvis back. Arch your lower back and push your chest forward and your shoulders back. This should help you pop your butt out. Practice rolling your hips back if necessary.
4. Repeat this movement. Start with your hips vertical at 90 degrees. Then, arch your back and roll your hips back. Start off slowly to get the technique down and then gradually increase your speed. Try to do the booty pop as fast as you can without compromising your form.
5. Pump your arms. Beyoncé's signature booty pop includes simultaneous pumping of the arms. To nail this move, start off holding your arms up at your chest with your elbows bent at about 45 degrees with the inside of your wrists facing toward you. Your hands should be in loose fists. When you pop your butt out, pull your arms apart slightly and push your chest forward. When you tuck your butt back under, bring your arms back toward each other and your shoulders forward. Continue this simultaneous movement.
6. Add the jump (optional). Beyonce occasionally jumps into her booty popping move. To do this, stand in your normal stance with your feet shoulder width apart. Then, simply hop forward slightly and immediately start shaking your butt in the manner described. Reserve this move after you've mastered all the other steps.

Shaking It While Squatting

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. This gives you a good base so you don’t topple over as you booty shake. Plant your feet and distribute your body weight evenly across the front and back of your feet. Make sure that you have a wide enough stance. The wider your stance, the more stable you’ll be as you dance.
2. Squat down. Your back should remain straight, upright and vertical. You shouldn’t be leaning too forwards or too far backwards. As you bend your knees and squat down low, but make sure you feel stable. You shouldn’t feel like you’re about to fall over.
   • This is a central position for this style of booty shake.
3. Rotate your hips forward and rotate back. The actual movement of body shaking only calls for moving your hips back. However, it’s good to know what it feels like when you’re moving your hips in both directions, so that you can feel if you’re doing it correctly. Practice moving the hips forward and then moving it back. Keep your torso straight as you do this.
   • Moving the hips back is what creates the booty shake movement. This is an isolated movement. So, you’re only rotating your pelvis back. If you’re not used to doing this movement, you’ll have to practice moving your hips back because this movement is pivotal to this form of booty shaking. Essentially, moving your hips back is the booty shake.
4. Put your hands on your knees. This is more or less for style. However, you also can do it to help stabilize yourself as you start to move. Don’t lean forward when you do this because your back should remain straight.
5. Rotate your hips backward. Start in the central position, then move your hips back. Do this slowly at first until you have the hang of it. You may shift your weight to your heels as you do this. Then, move your butt out faster. Now, you should be booty shaking. Practice a lot until you get the hang of it.

Shaking It While Bending Over

1. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart. Since you’re shifting your body weight , this gives you a strong base so that you don’t topple over. Your feet should be about the same distance apart as your shoulders, and they should be parallel to each other. Point your toes forward.
2. Sway from side to side. Swing your hips from left to right. Repeat this motion until you have a good feel for the movement. This is just so you understand the basic movement that you’ll be doing.
   • This is a preparatory step for learning the booty shake.
3. Twist from side to side. Increase your range of motion as you sway side-to-side and twist back-and-forth. Twist your hips forward and backward. As you are twisting, release your butt cheeks. Do not squeeze them together. Twist quickly, and you should feel your butt cheeks smack against each other or jiggle.
   • This is an isolated movement, so only your pelvis should be moving. Do not bend your back.
4. Lessen the twisting range of motion. Instead of twisting as much as you were before in the previous step, lessen it so that you are still twisting but about half as much. However, continue to twist at the same fast rate as before that made your butt jiggle.
   • It shouldn’t look like you’re twisting even though you are.
   • Your knees should be just about locked as you do this.
5. Bend over. With your feet still at about shoulder width apart, bend over at about a 90 degree angle. Then, continue to twist with the same limited range of motion as before. Continue to shake or twist quickly and repeat for as long as you want.
   • Don’t let your arms dangle. You don’t want them looking like silly string as you shake. Bend them at about a 90 degree angle.

Tips

• People always dance best to the music that they enjoy. Dance to music that has a beat that you can easily follow and that puts you in the dancing mood. Latin music and hip-hop tend to have the most booty-shaking rhythms.
• Just have fun and be natural with your movements.
• Keep your body completely relaxed to make booty shaking look natural. Your knees should be slightly bent to support your movements.
• Practice your dance moves in front of a mirror so that you can pay attention to what works and what doesn't.

Warnings

• You might not be able to booty shake even if you practice, so don't be upset with yourself.
• You might want to stretch before you dive into any vigorous dance moves. As with any exercise, you can pull a muscle or give yourself another injury if not.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Dance Like Chris Brown
• Bellydance Like Shakira
• Learn a Dance from a Video
• Spin Like Michael Jackson
• Do the Thriller
• Dance to "Crank That"
• Dance Like Beyonce
• Become a Contemporary Dancer
• Do the Time Warp
• Dance Like Madonna

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