I had been married for approximately four months.  Andre and I would take walks at the dog park at Point Isabel since it is 5 minutes from our house and right by the water with a view that is breathtaking.  Only in Northern California does some of the most prime real estate belong to a dog park. We made it a daily ritual and it was the time that we spent talking about “stuff”.  Being newly married and the feelings that come up when you think you are starting a new life seem so magical.  Like you can do anything you put your mind to and there are no limits.  So as we were in the middle of the park Andre asked me very casually “What is your dream in this life time”?  Without hesitation I replied, “to raise the level of my dance form and establish a safe place for women to create and develop their dance”. 

Since I have been in this dance form my entire life, my desire to create more started very young.  My mother and I started to choreograph together for the first time when I was approximately 14 years old, in eighth grade.  The music coming to us from the Middle East was different than before. You weren’t just dancing to basic rhythms anymore; the music had changes and levels that were rare to find with the intention for a belly dancer.  Mostly dancers were dancing to “singer music” so this music was revolutionary.  Not many seemed to know what to do to it instinctually.  I had a classic dance background that made me able to hear belly dance music without feeling limited.  When the music changed my dancing started to change within my choreographies and performance because my motivation for movement came from the music.  I knew how it could look if I could express through my body the way I heard the music.  But that was the issue… the fact that I couldn’t do what my mind saw in movement.  I knew what it could look like and how I wanted the music to be represented on my body, I just could not get my body to actually do the movements I was dreaming of.  So that is when my work began.   

I knew that my body could do what I wanted it to do, but I just didn’t have the “key” to the movements.  So then I realized that I had been thinking of steps all wrong and that is why my body couldn’t do anything I had in my head.  If you just do movements and steps you are never really training your body to respond and be free.  You can have a set number of steps and movements, but that seemed so limiting for dance in general.  So how can I teach my body to have the command system that I see in other dance forms that I was also training in?  How could I train my body to build up to a level that is in my head when I couldn’t see it, but I could envision.

When Purple Rain came out the album was a smash hit.  I had been one of the first perm haired girls to buy a copy.  I was, and still am, a huge Prince fan.  That movie and album was a turning point for me.  I would play Purple Rain and then close my eyes and dig my fingertips into my body.  I dug my fingertips into every inch of my torso as I began to execute each of the movements I had grown up doing with my mother.  I took the concept of how I was taught ballet and then integrated it into the movements used in belly dance.  I was lucky enough in my life to have wonderful ballet instructors and each would say that in order for you to dance with intelligence, you must know what you are moving before you move it.  A plie isn’t just bending your knees, it is a whole internal action that creates the movement.  It felt weird and exciting because I could feel that I was onto something….. something big.  As I grew more and more interested in the depth of each movement I realized that it was the muscles that were doing all the work.  So I needed to understand mentally first what muscles I was using to be able to visualize the strength and power that was possible.  Then if I wanted a movement to get stronger, more able to be manipulated and available I would have to isolate and then strengthen those muscles.  Doing a step over and over again doesn’t make you a better dancer, you just kinda chase your tail.  So to train and condition your muscles was the key. 

I spent my whole senior year of high school running home from school, putting Purple Rain on and isolating my muscles.  It was so exciting for me to find a direct root of a movement, strengthen that muscle, and then apply it to the movements I was trying to execute. Then I wanted more and more.  The more I could see the concept working internally, the more my creative vision took over.  I could see so much inside my head that it was crazy.  If I could only isolate my gluteus for my hip work I could be free from having to be weighted and thus do anything with my legs while I used my hips and also layer.  Oooh…. Ya….  Then I dropped to the floor so I couldn’t cheat and pump my knees or use my legs and slowly but surely began to isolate my gluteus one at a time until they got stronger and stronger until I could vibrate while only using my gluteus.  It took me the whole year of practice to Purple Rain, but well worth it.  I didn’t “party” with my friends, I didn’t date, I didn’t do the things that normal teenagers did… but I had this mission and nothing else mattered in my life.  I would go to school during the weekdays and then on the weekends my mother would stick me on a plane and I was off to teach a workshop in some state around the U.S.  I would do my homework on the plane, during intermission in my costume, and then when I got home… but never taking away my time for my creation.  I almost felt like I had this mad scientist project I was working on and every second I had free was dedicated to that exploration.  I didn’t have time for boys, drugs, phone calls, or anything else for that matter… I had my glutes to squeeze, obliques to develop, and lower abdominals to access.  And not knee pumping kept me really busy.     

After some time of integrating my new knowledge of movement to steps during my performances I would then have a rush of women who wanted answers, and quick answers too.  They wanted to know how I did “this” or “that” step.  It wasn’t until this point that I began to verbalize my movements.  I had developed my whole format in silence and now women wanted to know what I was doing.  I couldn’t even answer them since they would have to first go home and squeeze their gluteus for about 6 months and then call me for the next step in direction.  Almost like James Bond giving clues to the next mission step by step.  But no one wanted to hear that it would take time to achieve.  Actually no one believed me and felt that I was holding back by not showing the movement.  I would try and explain it, but when they would try to execute the “move” they would feel and look totally out of control and hysterical.  For a decade of performing in nightclubs in the U.S. and the Middle East 6 nights a week, out of demand I began to articulate verbally the beginning of my format.  Up until this point my entire format was created in silence.  I would write down the process of the movement, mostly on cocktail napkins, and told them to work on each one at a time.  I could see in the faces of these women that they had no desire to “work” on anything.  They wanted the step handed to them in a nicely wrapped box with a big bow on it.  Since they had all been dancing for “so many years” they felt that they should be able to do any of the moves.  Why not these.  

Now I look back at videos from when I was in my twenties and integrating the beginning stages of my format in my movement and can see the root of where my format began.  Two decades later dancers are just being able to see the birth of the format and be affected by it.  I’m hoping it won’t take two more decades for people to see and absorb what I am doing now.

I led with my heart when I started my school.  It was a labor of love.  I remember when I told my mom I wanted to start a level 1 class truly for beginners.  I wanted to work with women that were new to belly dance and had no idea of what to expect or who the Salimpours were.  I was going to try out my new ideas and format on a room of women that didn’t know what to expect.  So my training would be what they thought all belly dance schools were all about.  I wanted real beginners not just physically but with no ego.  My mom said “but no one will come”.  I didn’t care if one person came.  I was ready to work side by side with that one person until I had two people until I had three people.  It was never about the business for me, it was all about the art and knowing that I had some information that could help and add to the future of this dance form.  I don’t need to perform in my classes, I’ve had a great career.  I want to focus on my students and all the potential they have.  Today I have six packed level 1 classes per week.

As I was pregnant one of my students at the time, Gina Bruno, would come over and sit by my side as I would rock in my rocking chair in my new baby room.  I had not had Isabella yet, but I knew that the birth of my child was what was inspiring me to birth my format as well.  Gina would come over each day and I would recite my format as we put it into categories.  Her mother was one of my students when she was 2 years old and Gina would come over while her mother took private lessons with me and play with her Barbie’s in the corner until we were done.  Then when Gina was 10 years old she began to dance and take classes with me.  So by the age of 17 Gina was taking these notes.  She knew me and my thought process very well. 

When my husband left his medical career to start Suhaila Productions, LLC we were full of hope.  Andre’s father passed away two weeks before our daughter, Isabella, was born. This death and life experience was the turning point.  Andre had always been very unhappy going through medical school and the thought of becoming a doctor (like his father) was incredibly depressing for him.  So, with a newborn in my hands, I said “just quit”.  He was in shock since his whole life he was told he was going to become a doctor and his whole identity was surrounded by this concept even though his heart was not in the career at all.  But the death of his father gave him the freedom to consider this option and together we started down a path.  So I asked him, “what is your dream in life” and he said “to open a Martial Arts School”.  So together we opened a Dance/Martial Arts School and with his guidance I began to structure my format like a belt system in Martial Arts.

“You’re like the Bruce Lee of Belly Dance” Andre told me once he saw how extensive my format and vision was.  I laughed at his view of my passion for my art, but it was this parallel for him that really brought his heart into the business.  He couldn’t understand how I could create what I created, but he could structure it and organize me at the same time because he believes in me and my integrity. 

After I gave birth, another one of my students, Michelle Klimesh, came over and as I took care of Isabella, breast fed, did the dishes, cleaned the house or did my laundry, she had me recite the breakdown of each step and took notes.  Within one month the outline for all 5 levels was done.  Now all I had to do was finish the books, create the certification program, and start testing. 

As I handed out the written test at my very first level 1 test I cried.  I had tears streaming down my face as I saw my life’s dream coming into reality.  When I handed each person their test I kissed it before I placed it into their hands. The only time I did this was for the first test.  It was the beginning of my vision and all the love, life, and sacrifice that had taken place for this to happen.  Not for me, but for the dance and each and every one of my students that can and will benefit from the knowledge that I will pass to them.  My legacy is now in the hands and bodies of my students that I will dedicate my life to in order to make sure that I do everything in my power to train, empower, educate, nurture, and release when ready.  I want to sit back and guide a new generation of dancers into the position of leadership and feel like I have contributed to the success of this evolution.  My goal was to make sure my format was way more important than the name “Suhaila”.  And it worked!