Workshops with Suhaila Salimpour
*POSTPONED to May 29-31 2021!*
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London
29-31 May 2021 *Bank Holiday Weekend* 3 Day Dance Weekend
with Master Teacher Suhaila Salimpour!
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This May Bank Holiday, instead of focusing on a certification workshop with Master Teacher Suhaila Salimpour, we are offering workshops that cut to the very heart and soul of your dancing, giving you concrete tools and concepts that you can take with you and apply to your personal dance practise inside and outside of the studio for years to come.
These are skills that Suhaila has spent the last 50+ years crafting and polishing and, for the very first time, she is teaching them outside of a higher level certification workshop and in London!
Don't miss this amazing opportunity to work in a intimate and complex way with this master teacher!
With only 25 students in a workshop, this weekend promises to be groundbreaking and profound.
Saturday - Sunday Intensive
Saturday, 29 May & Sunday, 30 May- 13.5 hours
Stagistics: Basic Stage Projection with the Suhaila Salimpour Grid: In her lifetime of performance, Suhaila has created a simple, yet powerful, system for entering and moving across the stage: the Grid. In this workshop, you’ll learn the basics of both sides of the Grid: audience and performance. In this experiential workshop, students will learn about the Grid through careful crafting of body placement, angles, gestures, and expressions.
Stagistics: You Gotta Get on Stage Somehow: Throughout her career, Suhaila has danced on nearly every type of stage imaginable, from grand proscenium stages to crowded restaurants. And she had to enter on every one of them. To perform, you first have to get on the stage. Whether you enter with or without music, alone or with a group, down the center aisle, already posed on stage as the curtains open, level with the audience, or traveling down a staircase, your entrance is your first impression. Learn concrete strategies and guidelines that project confidence and set the stage for a successful performance. After a simple warm-up to find our center and balance, we’ll explore various entrance options for any situation, solo or ensemble.
Drum Solo Essentials: Structures and Motifs for all Stylizations: When Suhaila was working as a nightclub dancer, her approach to drum solos—integrating isolations, foot patterns, and full-body movement—changed how dancers today interpret and perform to them, no matter their stylization. In this workshop, we’ll explore classic drum solo rhythms, including popular riffs and themes. We’ll also dance to common structures and progressions so that you will be ready for any drum solo, recorded or with a live musician. Finger cymbals optional.
Open Day Jamila Format
Monday, 31 May - 6.5 hours
Bringing Taqsim Back: We’re bringing taqsim back with a new school look and an old school vibe. We’ll work all the classically cool basics including head moves, figure 8s, and ooey gooey undulations, complete with finger cymbals. We’ll explore the sentiment and context of the taqsim using Arab classics and American-style rhythm and blues music, all while finding your personal and authentic expression of this internal and expressive part of the belly dance canon. Finger cymbals optional.
Do to overwhelming popular demand, the workshop will include a brand-new, never-before-taught Taqsim Choreography by Suhaila.
These are skills that Suhaila has spent the last 50+ years crafting and polishing and, for the very first time, she is teaching them outside of a higher level certification workshop and in London!
Don't miss this amazing opportunity to work in a intimate and complex way with this master teacher!
With only 25 students in a workshop, this weekend promises to be groundbreaking and profound.
Saturday - Sunday Intensive
Saturday, 29 May & Sunday, 30 May- 13.5 hours
Stagistics: Basic Stage Projection with the Suhaila Salimpour Grid: In her lifetime of performance, Suhaila has created a simple, yet powerful, system for entering and moving across the stage: the Grid. In this workshop, you’ll learn the basics of both sides of the Grid: audience and performance. In this experiential workshop, students will learn about the Grid through careful crafting of body placement, angles, gestures, and expressions.
Stagistics: You Gotta Get on Stage Somehow: Throughout her career, Suhaila has danced on nearly every type of stage imaginable, from grand proscenium stages to crowded restaurants. And she had to enter on every one of them. To perform, you first have to get on the stage. Whether you enter with or without music, alone or with a group, down the center aisle, already posed on stage as the curtains open, level with the audience, or traveling down a staircase, your entrance is your first impression. Learn concrete strategies and guidelines that project confidence and set the stage for a successful performance. After a simple warm-up to find our center and balance, we’ll explore various entrance options for any situation, solo or ensemble.
Drum Solo Essentials: Structures and Motifs for all Stylizations: When Suhaila was working as a nightclub dancer, her approach to drum solos—integrating isolations, foot patterns, and full-body movement—changed how dancers today interpret and perform to them, no matter their stylization. In this workshop, we’ll explore classic drum solo rhythms, including popular riffs and themes. We’ll also dance to common structures and progressions so that you will be ready for any drum solo, recorded or with a live musician. Finger cymbals optional.
Open Day Jamila Format
Monday, 31 May - 6.5 hours
Bringing Taqsim Back: We’re bringing taqsim back with a new school look and an old school vibe. We’ll work all the classically cool basics including head moves, figure 8s, and ooey gooey undulations, complete with finger cymbals. We’ll explore the sentiment and context of the taqsim using Arab classics and American-style rhythm and blues music, all while finding your personal and authentic expression of this internal and expressive part of the belly dance canon. Finger cymbals optional.
Do to overwhelming popular demand, the workshop will include a brand-new, never-before-taught Taqsim Choreography by Suhaila.
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Practical Details
Saturday-Sunday Intensive Stagistics, Entrances & Drums Solo Essentials Date: Saturday-Sunday, 29-30 May; 13.5 hrs Fee: £415 *Can be paid in instalments, contact Anna for details* Special Advance Price Tickets are now sold out* Jamila Format Open Day
Bringing Taqsim Back & Choreography Date: Monday, 31 May 6.5 hrs Fee: £178 *Discounted to £155 for students taking the Sunday/Monday workshop* |
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Times
Saturday: TBA
Stagistics: Basic Stage Projection With Suhaila Salimpour Grid & Drum Solo Essentials *includes a 60 minute lunch break*
Sunday: TBA
You Gotta Get On Stage Somehow*includes a 60 minute lunch break*
Monday: TBA
Bringing Taqsim Back & Choreography *includes a 60 minute lunch break*
Location:
TBA
Payment and registration can be made online, by bank transfer, cash or cheque. To pay by bank transfer, cash or cheque contact Anna for more details
There is a maximum of 25 students allowed in each class, so book early to avoid disappointment
Please note *All workshops are non-refundable and non-transferable!*
Saturday: TBA
Stagistics: Basic Stage Projection With Suhaila Salimpour Grid & Drum Solo Essentials *includes a 60 minute lunch break*
Sunday: TBA
You Gotta Get On Stage Somehow*includes a 60 minute lunch break*
Monday: TBA
Bringing Taqsim Back & Choreography *includes a 60 minute lunch break*
Location:
TBA
Payment and registration can be made online, by bank transfer, cash or cheque. To pay by bank transfer, cash or cheque contact Anna for more details
There is a maximum of 25 students allowed in each class, so book early to avoid disappointment
Please note *All workshops are non-refundable and non-transferable!*
The Salimpour Legacy
The lady needs no introduction but suffice to say that Suhaila Salimpour is the world's most acclaimed bellydance teacher, choreographer and performer. You do not want to miss an opportunity to study with arguably the greatest belly dance teacher of our times
The Suhaila Salimpour School of Belly Dance can be traced back to 1949. Pioneer Dancer and Instructor Jamila Salimpour began teaching her unique method which included detailed breakdowns and standard terminology for her movements. Every dancer knowingly or not has been exposed to the indelible mark Jamila Salimpour made in the world of Middle Eastern dance. Jamila’s original phrases and names for dance movements such as Turkish Drop, Maya, and Basic Egyptian were the beginning of a long process to add structure and definition to the art.
Jamila’s daughter, the incomparable Suhaila Salimpour, began her dance training at the young age of 2. In addition to training with her mother, Suhaila studied ballet, jazz, and tap from an early age, and soon added modern and hip-hop to her repertoire. She began teaching at the age of 14 and has worked as a professional performer and master instructor ever since.
Through years of performing and training, Suhaila realized the necessity to create an organized system for teaching and training. Rather than trying to integrate Middle Eastern Dance with Ballet or Jazz, she wanted to create the respect, knowledge, mentorship and training methodology she experienced in her studies to preserve the quality and longevity of the dance form.
Suhaila’s unique vision began to take shape when she embarked on rewriting her mothers book “Jamila Salimpour’s Dance Manual”, the first ever text which systematically categorizes Middle Eastern Dance movement. The result is an evolution which maintains the purity of her mother’s original work and adds the systematic and progressive teaching methods found in the classical dance forms.
Now, the Suhaila Salimpour Format and School of Belly Dance enjoy worldwide success. Dancers who train with The Salimpours quickly realize Suhaila’s method of teaching allows them to excel in their art beyond any other training they have received.
For more information about the Salimpours visit www.salimpourschool.com
Every belly dancer can benefit from training with Suhaila. She is a matriarch of this art form and has unparalelled knowledge and experience to be shared. These workshops consistently sell out well in advance so make sure to book your place early!Get ready London...
We have curated what could possibly be our best ever weekend of workshops with the legendary dance master Suhaila Salimpour!
The lady needs no introduction but suffice to say that Suhaila Salimpour is the world's most acclaimed bellydance teacher, choreographer and performer. You do not want to miss an opportunity to study with arguably the greatest belly dance teacher of our times
The Suhaila Salimpour School of Belly Dance can be traced back to 1949. Pioneer Dancer and Instructor Jamila Salimpour began teaching her unique method which included detailed breakdowns and standard terminology for her movements. Every dancer knowingly or not has been exposed to the indelible mark Jamila Salimpour made in the world of Middle Eastern dance. Jamila’s original phrases and names for dance movements such as Turkish Drop, Maya, and Basic Egyptian were the beginning of a long process to add structure and definition to the art.
Jamila’s daughter, the incomparable Suhaila Salimpour, began her dance training at the young age of 2. In addition to training with her mother, Suhaila studied ballet, jazz, and tap from an early age, and soon added modern and hip-hop to her repertoire. She began teaching at the age of 14 and has worked as a professional performer and master instructor ever since.
Through years of performing and training, Suhaila realized the necessity to create an organized system for teaching and training. Rather than trying to integrate Middle Eastern Dance with Ballet or Jazz, she wanted to create the respect, knowledge, mentorship and training methodology she experienced in her studies to preserve the quality and longevity of the dance form.
Suhaila’s unique vision began to take shape when she embarked on rewriting her mothers book “Jamila Salimpour’s Dance Manual”, the first ever text which systematically categorizes Middle Eastern Dance movement. The result is an evolution which maintains the purity of her mother’s original work and adds the systematic and progressive teaching methods found in the classical dance forms.
Now, the Suhaila Salimpour Format and School of Belly Dance enjoy worldwide success. Dancers who train with The Salimpours quickly realize Suhaila’s method of teaching allows them to excel in their art beyond any other training they have received.
For more information about the Salimpours visit www.salimpourschool.com
Every belly dancer can benefit from training with Suhaila. She is a matriarch of this art form and has unparalelled knowledge and experience to be shared. These workshops consistently sell out well in advance so make sure to book your place early!Get ready London...
We have curated what could possibly be our best ever weekend of workshops with the legendary dance master Suhaila Salimpour!
The Salimpour Effect on Belly Dance
*From the Salimpour School website*
Jamila Salimpour and Suhaila Salimpour are a family dynasty in American belly dance. Jamila (born 1926) is the Matriarch of Belly Dance in the United States and the Mother of Tribal Belly dance. Inspired by the great dancers of Egypt’s Golden Era, she was a cabaret dancer in the early West Coast clubs of the United States. She applied the same technique to her Bal Anat troupe (a gathering of many tribes) but with different stylization and costuming to different music to achieve a different sentiment. She was the first to develop and codify a belly dance format, and she created a finger cymbal method including over 44 patterns.
Suhaila Salimpour (born 1966) grew up with her mother’s format and Bal Anat while learning Western dance; she spent a decade performing in prestigious night clubs with live bands in the Middle East and Los Angeles. In 1996, she began the Suhaila Dance Company. In 1999, she took over direction of Bal Anat and launched the Suhaila Salimpour Belly Dance certification program, the most extensive and thorough belly dance curriculum available. She launched the Jamila Salimpour Belly dance certification program in 2007 to further augment and expand the Salimpour School. Her own format, first developed in 1978 has revolutionized the way that belly dance is understood and taught today.
The Salimpour Effect on Belly Dance
Jamila Salimpour was born in New York City in 1926. She grew up hearing her father’s stories of the dancers he saw in North Africa when he was in the Sicilian Navy. Jamila joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Baily circus at the age of sixteen. At nineteen, she moved to Los Angeles where she became connected to a diverse but close-knit group of Middle Eastern immigrants. With this new community, she once again became engrossed with Middle Eastern dance. As there were no teachers of the dance, she researched and learned what she could by watching, listening, and reading. Few if any clubs on the West Coast had belly dancing at that time, so Jamila began by performing mostly for woman-only groups. She also taught off and on to small groups of students. By her late 20s, when belly dancers were now allowed and featured in the clubs, Jamila performed regularly in restaurants and nightclubs.
Around 1960, Jamila was recruited to perform in San Francisco where she eventually settled permanently. There she owned part of a night club and danced fulltime until she married at the beginning of 1966. After marriage, Jamila’s husband forbade her from dancing. She immediately got pregnant, and Suhaila was born later that year. Jamila sold her half of the nightclub and taught belly dance to bring in money to the family.
In 1968, Jamila’s Bal Anat first debuted at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire featuring folkloric and fantasy dancers, with the authentic displayed right alongside hokum. Jamila’s dance format technique and Bal Anat presentation began the tribal movement and stylization that would soon take root in the belly dance community.
From 1966 to about 1984 is considered Jamila’s greatest period of teaching. She turned 40 in 1966, so she was a mature woman who had already been involved in the dance for 20 years. She had seen the original Egyptian movies imported from Egypt within a year of their Cairo debuts. She had connections that gave her the latest music recordings and trends from the Middle East. She was present and watching as the dance arrived and grew on the West Coast. And she, herself, played a significant role in how the dance was taught. She observed elements from various dancers and codified the steps into families. She added structure and timing. Her famous finger cymbal method included over 44 patterns. By 1980, her format was documented in a manual and video tape series, including several important additions and concepts from Suhaila.
Born in 1966, Suhaila grew up around her mother’s classes. Jamila did not instruct Suhaila directly. Instead, Suhaila picked up her mother’s format by sitting and observing the classes when she was a small child. Jamila enrolled Suhaila in ballet, jazz, and tap at a very early age, so Suhaila learned Western dance technique and developed a Western bodyline. Simultaneously, she was cataloguing her mother’s format in her head by watching her mother teach. Inevitably, Suhaila began to fuse and overlay what she was learning as a young child. She layered her mother’s iconic format onto a well-developed Western posture, allowing for even more range. By the age of nine, Suhaila was teaching with her mother. By the age of twelve, Suhaila was teaching by herself and traveling out-of-state to teach Salimpour format workshops by herself.
But Suhaila was also continuing to develop as a dancer. She saw the gaps in her mother’s format and wanted to find a way to further expand the movement vocabulary and possibilities. She began to write and document her own format and way of explaining the dance that expanded the format exponentially. Dancers before had talked about breaking down certain moves and maybe a few isolations. But Suhaila was the first to break down all movements completely to reintegrate as either percussive or fluid movements. She began seeing all forms of dance and movement differently by exploring how they could be orientalized and how to represent different stylizations within oriental dance. As a young teenager, she watched and studied popping and locking, the latest urban dance craze, being developed and evolved right in San Francisco. She brought this additional isolation work into the dance throughout her middle and high school years.
The music imported from the Middle East began changing, as well. In the 1970s and 1980s, complex and layered compositions became more common. In some cases, composers were creating for dancers instead of singers. Jamila and Suhaila were riveted by the changes in the music and were eager to properly represent the new sound. With Suhaila’s training, the two collaborated on choreographing several signature pieces including Joumana, Maharjan, and Hayati.
Breaking down and isolating movements was not anything new. Many belly dancers had their one signature move or two that called for a break or isolation of some sort. Jazz and modern dancers experimented with isolating movements. Poppers and lockers were breaking down any body movements possible. Suhaila, herself, identified and then developed a formal method to separate the glute muscles from the leg muscles for hip work; this, alone, revolutionized how belly dance was taught.
What Suhaila did for belly dance was to take the overall concept of isolations and breaks and apply it to ALL (not just a few) belly dance movements with an orientalized approach. In the late 1970s, Suhaila added many isolations (pelvic locks, chest locks, interior hip squares, etc.) to her mother’s format; these were included in Jamila’s Danse Orientale manual published in 1978. She taught dance by identifying specific muscles that were the primary force behind each movement. For the first time, belly dancers were being taught to move from the inside out by moving their muscles. She applied timing, downbeat, and directional options. Her method also provided a means to teach and train layering. Suhaila’s method allowed for more layering, thereby giving students greater capacity for movement, expression, and individuality. Now, all dancers could learn all isolation possibilities and all layering options as a matter of course and regular training.
Jamila is called the mother of American tribal belly dance because of the significant influence of her technique as applied to her Bal Anat troupe and presentation. Equally significant are Suhaila’s influences to tribal fusion. Suhaila was the first to bring in the breaks, isolations, and layering that are now commonplace elements of tribal fusion belly dance and, in fact, many stylizations of belly dance today.
By the time Suhaila graduated high school in 1985, Suhaila had her format mostly outlined as she had been teaching and developing it for nearly ten years. She spent the next decade performing in the night clubs (prestigious Byblos in Los Angeles and in the Middle East). During that time, she put both her mother’s and her own format to the test, continuing to fine-tune and develop. After retiring from her night club career, Suhaila began, and continues today, to teach, choreograph, and direct fulltime in addition to her theater performances (solo and group). In 1996 she created the Suhaila Dance Company. In 1999, Suhaila launched the Suhaila certification program and took over direction of Bal Anat. In 2009, she launched the Jamila Salimpour certification program.
Suhaila’s format would not exist without Jamila’s. Jamila’s format is belly dance history, giving an outline of the basic step families with classic Egyptian stylization. Although a full and solid format on its own, Jamila’s format was expanded and enriched by the introduction of elements from Suhaila. Then, as she taught her mother’s format, Suhaila wanted options to expand beyond the basic steps and stylization. She created her own format that encompassed her mother’s step families but allowed for limitless options, layers, and stylizations. Both Jamila’s format and Suhaila’s format have transformed how belly dance is analyzed and taught today.
For more information visit www.salimpourschool.com
*From the Salimpour School website*
Jamila Salimpour and Suhaila Salimpour are a family dynasty in American belly dance. Jamila (born 1926) is the Matriarch of Belly Dance in the United States and the Mother of Tribal Belly dance. Inspired by the great dancers of Egypt’s Golden Era, she was a cabaret dancer in the early West Coast clubs of the United States. She applied the same technique to her Bal Anat troupe (a gathering of many tribes) but with different stylization and costuming to different music to achieve a different sentiment. She was the first to develop and codify a belly dance format, and she created a finger cymbal method including over 44 patterns.
Suhaila Salimpour (born 1966) grew up with her mother’s format and Bal Anat while learning Western dance; she spent a decade performing in prestigious night clubs with live bands in the Middle East and Los Angeles. In 1996, she began the Suhaila Dance Company. In 1999, she took over direction of Bal Anat and launched the Suhaila Salimpour Belly Dance certification program, the most extensive and thorough belly dance curriculum available. She launched the Jamila Salimpour Belly dance certification program in 2007 to further augment and expand the Salimpour School. Her own format, first developed in 1978 has revolutionized the way that belly dance is understood and taught today.
The Salimpour Effect on Belly Dance
Jamila Salimpour was born in New York City in 1926. She grew up hearing her father’s stories of the dancers he saw in North Africa when he was in the Sicilian Navy. Jamila joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Baily circus at the age of sixteen. At nineteen, she moved to Los Angeles where she became connected to a diverse but close-knit group of Middle Eastern immigrants. With this new community, she once again became engrossed with Middle Eastern dance. As there were no teachers of the dance, she researched and learned what she could by watching, listening, and reading. Few if any clubs on the West Coast had belly dancing at that time, so Jamila began by performing mostly for woman-only groups. She also taught off and on to small groups of students. By her late 20s, when belly dancers were now allowed and featured in the clubs, Jamila performed regularly in restaurants and nightclubs.
Around 1960, Jamila was recruited to perform in San Francisco where she eventually settled permanently. There she owned part of a night club and danced fulltime until she married at the beginning of 1966. After marriage, Jamila’s husband forbade her from dancing. She immediately got pregnant, and Suhaila was born later that year. Jamila sold her half of the nightclub and taught belly dance to bring in money to the family.
In 1968, Jamila’s Bal Anat first debuted at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire featuring folkloric and fantasy dancers, with the authentic displayed right alongside hokum. Jamila’s dance format technique and Bal Anat presentation began the tribal movement and stylization that would soon take root in the belly dance community.
From 1966 to about 1984 is considered Jamila’s greatest period of teaching. She turned 40 in 1966, so she was a mature woman who had already been involved in the dance for 20 years. She had seen the original Egyptian movies imported from Egypt within a year of their Cairo debuts. She had connections that gave her the latest music recordings and trends from the Middle East. She was present and watching as the dance arrived and grew on the West Coast. And she, herself, played a significant role in how the dance was taught. She observed elements from various dancers and codified the steps into families. She added structure and timing. Her famous finger cymbal method included over 44 patterns. By 1980, her format was documented in a manual and video tape series, including several important additions and concepts from Suhaila.
Born in 1966, Suhaila grew up around her mother’s classes. Jamila did not instruct Suhaila directly. Instead, Suhaila picked up her mother’s format by sitting and observing the classes when she was a small child. Jamila enrolled Suhaila in ballet, jazz, and tap at a very early age, so Suhaila learned Western dance technique and developed a Western bodyline. Simultaneously, she was cataloguing her mother’s format in her head by watching her mother teach. Inevitably, Suhaila began to fuse and overlay what she was learning as a young child. She layered her mother’s iconic format onto a well-developed Western posture, allowing for even more range. By the age of nine, Suhaila was teaching with her mother. By the age of twelve, Suhaila was teaching by herself and traveling out-of-state to teach Salimpour format workshops by herself.
But Suhaila was also continuing to develop as a dancer. She saw the gaps in her mother’s format and wanted to find a way to further expand the movement vocabulary and possibilities. She began to write and document her own format and way of explaining the dance that expanded the format exponentially. Dancers before had talked about breaking down certain moves and maybe a few isolations. But Suhaila was the first to break down all movements completely to reintegrate as either percussive or fluid movements. She began seeing all forms of dance and movement differently by exploring how they could be orientalized and how to represent different stylizations within oriental dance. As a young teenager, she watched and studied popping and locking, the latest urban dance craze, being developed and evolved right in San Francisco. She brought this additional isolation work into the dance throughout her middle and high school years.
The music imported from the Middle East began changing, as well. In the 1970s and 1980s, complex and layered compositions became more common. In some cases, composers were creating for dancers instead of singers. Jamila and Suhaila were riveted by the changes in the music and were eager to properly represent the new sound. With Suhaila’s training, the two collaborated on choreographing several signature pieces including Joumana, Maharjan, and Hayati.
Breaking down and isolating movements was not anything new. Many belly dancers had their one signature move or two that called for a break or isolation of some sort. Jazz and modern dancers experimented with isolating movements. Poppers and lockers were breaking down any body movements possible. Suhaila, herself, identified and then developed a formal method to separate the glute muscles from the leg muscles for hip work; this, alone, revolutionized how belly dance was taught.
What Suhaila did for belly dance was to take the overall concept of isolations and breaks and apply it to ALL (not just a few) belly dance movements with an orientalized approach. In the late 1970s, Suhaila added many isolations (pelvic locks, chest locks, interior hip squares, etc.) to her mother’s format; these were included in Jamila’s Danse Orientale manual published in 1978. She taught dance by identifying specific muscles that were the primary force behind each movement. For the first time, belly dancers were being taught to move from the inside out by moving their muscles. She applied timing, downbeat, and directional options. Her method also provided a means to teach and train layering. Suhaila’s method allowed for more layering, thereby giving students greater capacity for movement, expression, and individuality. Now, all dancers could learn all isolation possibilities and all layering options as a matter of course and regular training.
Jamila is called the mother of American tribal belly dance because of the significant influence of her technique as applied to her Bal Anat troupe and presentation. Equally significant are Suhaila’s influences to tribal fusion. Suhaila was the first to bring in the breaks, isolations, and layering that are now commonplace elements of tribal fusion belly dance and, in fact, many stylizations of belly dance today.
By the time Suhaila graduated high school in 1985, Suhaila had her format mostly outlined as she had been teaching and developing it for nearly ten years. She spent the next decade performing in the night clubs (prestigious Byblos in Los Angeles and in the Middle East). During that time, she put both her mother’s and her own format to the test, continuing to fine-tune and develop. After retiring from her night club career, Suhaila began, and continues today, to teach, choreograph, and direct fulltime in addition to her theater performances (solo and group). In 1996 she created the Suhaila Dance Company. In 1999, Suhaila launched the Suhaila certification program and took over direction of Bal Anat. In 2009, she launched the Jamila Salimpour certification program.
Suhaila’s format would not exist without Jamila’s. Jamila’s format is belly dance history, giving an outline of the basic step families with classic Egyptian stylization. Although a full and solid format on its own, Jamila’s format was expanded and enriched by the introduction of elements from Suhaila. Then, as she taught her mother’s format, Suhaila wanted options to expand beyond the basic steps and stylization. She created her own format that encompassed her mother’s step families but allowed for limitless options, layers, and stylizations. Both Jamila’s format and Suhaila’s format have transformed how belly dance is analyzed and taught today.
For more information visit www.salimpourschool.com