Welcome to Suhaila Unveiled, the official e-newsletter for Suhaila Salimpour, the Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance, and Suhaila Productions.

Greetings!

I must congratulate all the performers that participated in the Bal Anat show at Cairo Carnival. Not only did you rock the house, but the time and dedication that you put forward was amazing. I think some of my favorite nights were spent with you all during the costume nights just hanging out and bonding while trying to sew on that last coin. You all were beautiful to watch and my mom and I were very proud.

One of the highlights of the weekend was coming home and getting an email from Margaret Cho. She had seen the Bal Anat show at Cairo Carnival and loved it. So in exchange for her appreciation she offered me tickets to her performace the next weekend in San Francisco. Not only am I a huge fan of Margaret Cho (she's so cool) and now getting to see her show and go back stage was an honor. I brought a little goody bag full of stuff for her (that was hard since she had almost all my products already) with my new "Suhaila Design" pants. We went out in to the audience and sat down and when she walked onto the stage my mouth fell open..... Margaret Cho was in my pants. Yes... she came out for her show in my new pants. I think Andre still has bruises from me elboing him and screaming "She's wearing my pants... she's wearing my pants". But I quickly got over that from my face hurting from laughing so hard during her show. Margaret... you are awsome!

The dust hasn't even settled and the Sheherezade rehearsals are in full swing. It is so exciting to be able to do this show again. It is even better than last year and the additions are fresh and I am looking forward to each new inclusion in the show. I hope I see you there........

Editorial by Suhaila

As I put my make up on it was hard to make a straight line with my eyeliner since I was shaking so hard. I was trying to be cool and look totally relaxed but I'm sure it was obvious that I was scarred out of my mind. The music was pounding in the background and Nabila's words just seemed to echo. I was trying to listen to her since she was just having casual conversation, but I was really just trying to stop myself from throwing up. I had just turned 18 years old and I had looked up to Nabila's dancing since I was a kid. Being with her my first night working in a nightclub was comforting. I wanted so badly to be calm and indifferent like Nabila so I too could have a casual conversation and not even notice that I was "ON" soon.

Byblos Nightclub in Beverly Hills was the hottest Arabic nightclub in the United States at this time. It was packed 5 nights a week and my first night was a Saturday night. They had two dancers a night and I was the new fresh meat in town. They had a 7-piece band (keyboard, guitar, kanoon, violin, def, mazhar, tabla) and the music was so inspiring. The fact that I looked forward to this night my whole life made it all the more satisfying. Arabic music wasn't just something I danced to, but it drove my decision to become a dancer. All the stars and famous singers from the Middle East would come through this nightclub and I looked forward to this night for a long time.

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Roots of Legacy

by Tiffany Bisconer

We were backstage with about 5 minutes to curtain, all holding pinkies in our big pre- show circle. Bal Anat was about to perform at Cairo Carnival in Glendale, CA. It was in this brief moment that the full cast stood in a circle and had one breath together before the procession onto the stage. It was a tradition. Suhaila spoke through our circle time to encourage and inspire us all to enjoy our performance together. As the mother of us all and the daughter of Jamila, she let us know how proud she was of our commitment and dedication to ourselves as dancers and to the bigger vision of the show. The energy was rising and we started to feel that pre-show surge of adrenaline that makes you feel like you can fly. There were a few nerves giggling their way out of some of the newer dancers as Suhaila’s voice continued on smoothing out the edges and bringing us all together to focus on what matters most at this moment……each other, the vision, dancing our hearts out and having a blast. By this point we were all quiet, but our bodies were buzzing. Suhaila gave homage to her mother and extended her lineage to us reminding us that we are all a part of the family tree that began with Jamila. Though she was unable to make the trip to LA, Suhaila gave thanks to her mother who was with us fully in spirit. Everything we have become started with Jamila and we carry her spirit and integrity with us.

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Health News

Following your Passions….

By: Dr. Andre Khoury

Life is definitely a roller coaster ride…all the ups and downs really can send us into a whirlwind. The key is to enjoy the ride and be passionate about what you do in life…. This is a lesson that I have not only seen in the hospital, but also tried to put into effect in my own life.

In Nazareth, when my father was young boy he use to sneak out of the house and play the Oud at hafla’s against his mothers will because he was driven by the music. Eventually he succumbed to the social pressures and he put music aside and pursued getting a solid education. In a Middle Eastern family it isn’t easy to aspire to a career in the arts. It parallels the way “Theatre people” in the United States were looked upon in society in recent history. A “good” family could not marry someone of the Theatre. This would not have been acceptable back then and in the Middle East this is how dancers, musicians especially those playing Middle Eastern instruments and singers are still looked upon among the culture.

After my father graduated high school, he came to this country at the age of 18. Even though he was passionate about music, being an Arab in the current state of society dictated to him that he had to become a professional in order to be respected. He graduated from the University of San Diego with a BS and was striving to go to Medical School. In his mind, becoming a doctor was the perfect way to gain acceptance.

In order to put my father through medical school he played Oud at night and my mother danced to his music in the clubs. It was very difficult on the family, the relationship with my mother and father, and us kids. We all suffered through this dream that when he became a doctor it would all be good. Not only would the Arabic community have to respect him, but we always hoped that a better life was always in the distance. When my father graduated medical school it was a victory for us all. Unfortunately, it took its toll on the family and my mother and father divorced. I ended up living with my father and felt the pressures first hand. It was made very clear to me since I was a child that I too would become a doctor. I was always offered many choices on my future. My father told me I could do anything I wanted, but I knew that meant I could become anything I wanted as long as I became what he wanted me to be, a doctor of medicine.

When my father began to practice medicine he was extremely successful. He had two clinics and was gaining popularity along with Dr. Elias Ghanem who both worked with many celebrities, Elvis Presley, Osmonds, Bill Cosby to name a few. In Hollywood and Las Vegas during the 70’s and 80’s…his field was very prosperous. However, through all the fame and financial success in his life as a doctor, the only time I saw my father happy was on the weekends when he would take a bunch of his friends out to Arabic night clubs. The musicians were all his friends and people he worked with when he himself was struggling as a musician. They were very proud of my father for getting his MD degree and felt that they were validated for their passion if a doctor could also love music the way my father did.

The band would always invite my father to the stage to perform with them. It was his highlight. His eyes would sparkle and he would bring the house down. The cooks would come out of the kitchen screaming and their wasn’t a dry eye in the audience. My father knew how to pull on the heartstrings of the crowd since he was one of them. He wrote his own music and spoke about love, the loss of his country, and the desire for freedom. It was like no other experience. It was at those moments that I realized that becoming a doctor was not what made my father happy. He was actually very unhappy at the hospital and working in the clinics. He would live for the opportunities to express his emotions and beliefs through music. The desire to please his culture and prove to himself that he was respectable ruined his chance at his own inner peace and he never felt deeply happy.

After I graduated from Medical School I remember at the ceremony looking over at my father and seeing a very sad look on his face. It wasn’t until the death of my father and the guidance by my wife, mother and family that I felt the desire to look inside myself and try and find what really makes me happy. I gradually evolved into leaving Medicine…It was too hard of a choice just to stop, so I slowly and knowingly walked away holding my wife’s hand. With each day my happiness grew until one day my feelings for who I am and how I could be happy was not linked with having to practice medicine to satisfy other’s expectations of me. From there I never looked back and now spend my days promoting my wife’s passion and dreams and spending valuable time with my family. I only wish my father felt the same happiness I do each day. Things seem to fall in place when you follow your passion and enjoy the day to day process. I finally understood that the race of life isn’t about the finish line but about enjoying the race itself….