El shimmy es un baile de salón que estuvo de moda en torno a los años 1920. Se caracteriza por una postura totalmente rígida del tronco, los codos ligeramente doblados y un movimiento alterno de los dos hombros: al avanzar el hombro derecho, se echa hacia atrás el izquierdo y viceversa, pero sin cambiar la posición de las manos. Nació en los Estados Unidos heredando rasgos de los bailes negros de fines del siglo XIX, y fue posteriormente modificado por inmigrantes blancos que veían en él un parecido con las tradiciones gitanas. Tras la Primera Guerra Mundial, se popularizó en Inglaterra, siendo una de las canciones de éxito de 1918 «Everybody shimmies now», cantada por Sophie Tucker y por Mae West. Otras bailarinas célebres fueron Gilda Gray, apodada «la reina del shimmy», y Frances White. Dice una anécdota que, cuando se le preguntó a Gilda Gray, inmigrante polaca, sobre su estilo de baile, contestó «I'm shaking my chemise» («Agito mi camisa») con un fuerte acento. Sin embargo, en una entrevista, Gilda negó haber dicho esto, y, además, se han registrado usos anteriores de este término. A finales de los años 1910, se atribuyó la invención de la palabra shimmy a otras personas tales como Bee Palmer y Mae West.

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A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward. It may help to hold the arms out slightly bent at the elbow, and when the shoulders are moved, keep the hands in the same position. In 1917, a dance-song titled "Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble" by Spencer Williams was published, as was "The Jazz Dance", which included the "Shimmy-She", among others. "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" was an up-tempo jazz dance song, written by Clarence Williams and Armand Piron, and published in 1919 which has been enduringly popular ever since and performed and recorded by many artists. Flappers often performed the dance in the 1920s. The origin of the name is often attributed to Gilda Gray, a Polish emigrant to America. An anecdote says that when she was asked about her dancing style, she answered, in heavy accent, "I'm shaking my chemise". However, in an interview Gilda denied having said this, and earlier usages of the word are recorded. In the late 1910s others were also attributed as being the "inventor" of the shimmy, including Bee Palmer. Mae West, in her autobiography Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, claimed to have retitled the "Shimmy-Shawobble" as the Shimmy herself, after seeing the moves in some black nightclubs. The dance was often considered to be obscene and was frequently banned from dance halls during the 1920s. The move is also known in Gypsy dances. In Russian this move is called "Tsyganochka", or "gypsy girl", and is done by gypsy female dancers to produce a chime of costume decorations made of the sewn-on coins. The dance move with this name is used in various modern dances. In the early 1960s, several dance songs featuring the Shimmy became hits, including Bobby Freeman's "Shimmy, Shimmy," the Olympics' "Shimmy Like Kate", and Little Anthony & the Imperials' "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-ko Bop." The shimmy is also a class of belly dance moves. Depending on the desired effect, style, teacher, and country of origin of the particular dance, a shimmy might be executed differently, but altogether, the shimmy will manifest as a fast shaking or shuddering movement that can be rhythmic or arrhythmic. The movement may be localized, such as in the hips, shoulder, chest, etc., or the move might be loose and general, reverberating through the entire body. Shimmies in belly dance can also have orientation, such as an up/down movement or a twisting movement of the hips.

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