At various times in our lives we encounter situations or people that make us re-evaluate everything we ever thought about something. This summer I, along with my troupe director and friend, Jane McWilliams, had such an experience when we met and studied with Suhaila Salimpour. Although this meeting with Suhaila was my first, Jane had taken from her in the past. Suhaila is one of those women who defines intelligence and beauty--inside and out. I found her to be kind and interested in each person she met. She was none of those "bad things" I'd heard she was. Studying with Suhaila was a decisive and defining experience in my dance life. Also, talking with her and finally understanding the logic behind her Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance (SSSD) Certification Program made sense to me as a means through which belly dance might come to enjoy the esteem that other dance forms experience.

When we first read about Suhaila offering a "certification program," we were somewhat doubtful. "What was the point," we asked ourselves and each other. After all, didn't all dancers have the same knowledge and use basically the same lingo? We truly didn't understand the need for a "certification" program.

Still, we really admired Suhaila's accomplishments and wanted to study with her. The closest place for us to do so was her Level I Certification workshop in Austin, Texas sponsored by Bahaia from May 31-June 3, 2001. We didn't attend because we wanted to be "certified," given our feelings about the certification program. We simply reasoned that even if it was a certification workshop, at least we'd be studying with one of the premier divas of belly dance. We really didn't care that no choreography would be taught, we were just happy to be studying with Suhaila. We went to the seminar with no intention whatsoever of taking the certification exam. At the time, we now sheepishly admit, we felt it was a supreme waste of money.

I also admit that I traveled to the workshop with a healthy dose of trepidation. Yes, I'd heard things from the rumor mill about Suhaila that made me feel that she would be a very hard and brutal teacher. I pictured her disliking me from the start and I was convinced that I'd return to Mobile disheartened and ready to hang up my hip belt forever. Since Jane had previously undergone the Suhaila experience, she wasn't filled with as much foreboding.

To say that my personal fears were never realized is a severe understatement. Jane and I went to the workshop, studied with Suhaila (who was assisted by two of her dancers, Tiffany and Sabriye), took the certification exam and passed. I admit that I was stunned, not that we'd passed the exam, but by Suhaila herself. At the workshop, we participants had ample opportunity to ask Suhaila questions about any subject and she always gave us an answer. We had the chance for an up-close and personal chat session with Suhaila. She was a beautiful person with a wonderful sense of humor and an openness about herself which was refreshing.

Suhaila was not the severe taskmaster I'd heard about. She was down-to-earth, friendly, and very concerned that the students understand the ideas behind her method of teaching and her certification program. Suhaila, Tiffany, and Sabriye, were good-natured, fun, and always ready to help.

Why have a certification program? Because the belly dance community needs the sense of solidarity, uniformity of language and movement, and respect that other dance forms, such as ballet, tap, jazz, etc., possess. What other way to implement a change in the belly dance community than to do what Suhaila is doing? I'm sure that others have thought about addressing the need for a common language of terms and movements for belly dance, but Suhaila did it. She's taken the hard work of her mother, Jamila, and she has expanded it to include a common dance language and some of her own movements (those gluteus squeezes!). All of this provides a dancer with a strong, solid base upon which to build. The SSSD method actually teaches one to train the body so that it can perform the movements associated with dance. Suhaila doesn't just teach belly dance, per se. She teaches one how to be a dancer who knows how to belly dance. There is a big difference between the two. By undertaking the huge task of bringing uniformity to the belly dance community, Suhaila is raising the level of quality of dancers, which in our opinion, is needed.

Was the workshop hard? You bet. Actually, to say it was merely hard is being too kind. The workshop was a grueling experience. Jane and I have never worked so hard at a workshop in our dance lives! But, it was the best money ever spent. The experience of taking the certification workshop and taking the exam was the most gratifying dance experience we've encountered. The exhausting workshop, every mile driven from Mobile to Austin, and every cent spent was worth it. Studying with Suhaila has done more to help our dancing than all our prior workshop experiences combined. Suhaila's program is very intense and she is a demanding instructor, but she turns out excellent dancers.

Since returning from the workshop, we've discovered that by using Suhaila's techniques daily we have become better dancers. We've both experienced a change in our overall flexibility and strength. If one doesn't understand how this can be so, try using Suhaila's Stretch & Tone video. Whew! One doesn't need those glute machines at the gym when using Suhaila's technique.

In short, our ideas about the certification process have changed drastically. If one thinks about it, it only makes sense. Think about how big our western belly dancer subculture is. Then, think about how many other forms of dance or exercise exists and name how many can be taught (or performed) without one becoming certified to do so. Certification lends more credibility to any form of instruction. Would you want a ballet or jazz teacher without credentials to teach you or someone you know? Would you take a class from a yoga, aerobics, or pilates instructor who wasn't qualified to teach you?

Have we been sold on the certification idea? No, because being sold on something implies that one has been "taken."

Do we now believe in the idea of certification? You bet.

Will we continue to train for the upper certification levels? Absolutely. It just makes sense.