Suhaila Unveiled - the Newsletter
June 1, 2006  Cultural Appreciation

1. Greetings
2. Editorial by Suhaila
3. Workshops
4. Workshop Testimonials
5. Booking
6. Article: Cultural Appreciation

7. Health Corner
8. NEW! Just Arrived...!
9. Sale
10. Highlighted Products
11. Classes
12. Special Events
13. Contact
14. Unsubscribe

NEW! Just Arrived...!

Suhaila Design Pants...

New Colors!!!

The "Harem Girl" style Suhaila Design Pants available in black, plum or navy blue.  Side slit, flare legged jazz pant with ankle drawstrings to give the option of a belled or pantaloon look.

Available now!
Buy Now

The favorite Suhaila Design Pant now available in colors ......!!   Get the versatile drawstring pant in black, plum and olive.

Available Now!

Buy Now

 

Logo Wear!!!

New Suhaila logo wear...including the sought after "Got Technique" tanks, in white & black.

Available Now!

Buy Now

 

Now Available On DVD!!

Suhaila's Instructional and Performance videos now available in DVD.  Eight new releases in the DVD Collection of previously enjoyed titles......

Instructional Buy Now

Performance Buy Now

NEW!!! REMIX CD......

The anticipated title now available!  Rich sound with infused beats and Arabic music overlay.  Great for classes, dancing or just pure listening pleasure.

Available Now!

Buy Now

NEW!!! Tranquil CD......

Soft, sensual and moody.  Get one of the three new cd titles recently added to the Suhaila Salimpour Music Collection...

Available Now!

Buy Now

NEW!!! REPERCUSSION CD......

Hot new release from Suhaila Productions. Designed with a variety of drum solos from 1 1/2 to 10 minutes in length.  High powered and dynamic.

Available Now!

Buy Now

Suhaila's Hippeze!!!

Neutral Toned Striped Hippeze
The first of Suhaila Designs Hippeze. Four new styles of the versatile, layerable hip wear.....

Available now!

Buy Now

Margaret Cho's Hip Wear!!!

One of a kind hip belts made by the hands of Margaret Cho. Don't miss out! Each design the one and only....!
Supplies Limited!
Buy Now

Sale!

Jamila Archive Series VHS now on sale....!


Jamila Salimpour Technique Instructional videos now on sale......All single titles only $19.95 and the whole Archive Series only $69.95!

Archive Series Vol. I-IV Buy Now

Single Titles Buy Now

All Suhaila VHS on sale for....$19.95!


Suhaila Salimpour Instructional and Performance videos sale continues.......All titles only $19.95!

Instructional Buy Now

Performance Buy Now

Suhaila Salimpour's Arabian Musicals Set

All three CDs now on sale! Enjoy the whole set featuring the Salimpour Band with Ziad on percussion! 

Regular Price: $50.85
Sale Price: $29.95

Buy Now

Give the gift of choice!  Gift Certificates available from $25-$100.

Buy Now

Bellydance Fitness Fusion is here!

Suhaila's newest fitness series, Bellydance Fitness Fusion. In this four DVD set Suhaila fuses Bellydance with Yoga, Pilates, Jazz, and also presents her signature Buns workout! Available individually, or buy the whole set and save!
Order yours here!

Highlighted Products

Enjoy an evening of a live solo performance by Suhaila......
Available now!
Buy Now

Sheherezade

DVD..... now available

Experience the show that is revolutionizing the art of belly dance.   Suhaila Salimpour's Sheherezade......
Availablenow!
Buy Now

Bellydance Fitness Fusion is here!

Suhaila's newest fitness series, Bellydance Fitness Fusion. In this four DVD set Suhaila fuses Bellydance with Yoga, Pilates, Jazz, and also presents her signature Buns workout! Available individually, or buy the whole set and save!

Order Yours here!

Classes


The Suhaila Salimpour
School of Dance
10082 San Pablo Ave.
El Cerrito, CA
(510) 527-2400

Suhaila Salimpour Format Belly Dance, Jamila Salimpour Format Belly Dance, Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Adults, teens and kids!

Classes offered Monday through Saturday

For complete class listing, visit our website for our new schedule
or call (510) 527-2400

The Salimpour Technique
taught by Rashid


Located at Studio Gracia
19 Heron (off of 8th St.)

San Francisco, CA
Between Folsom and Harrison St.
(415) 307-4782

Level 1/2 combination classes are offered on Wednesday from 6:00pm-7:30pm
$12.00 Drop-In (class cards available)

For complete information, contact Rashid at:

raksrashid@aol.com

(415) 621-0669    (415) 596-0990

Events

      

Workshop with

PRINCESS

FARHANA!

Double Sword and Burlesque for Belly Dancers!

Sunday, August 20, 2006
Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance
10082 San Pablo Avenue
El Cerrito, CA 94530
Time:  Registration @ 10:00am

10:30am-12:30pm- Part I

1:30pm-3:30pm- Part II
Cost:  SSSD member price:  $67.50  
NON SSSD members:  $75
(Good for all levels. Bring a sword...or two...)

LIMITED SPACE SO SIGN UP EARLY!!


Register today!
Call (510) 526-4344
email suhaila@suhaila.com
or speak to an instructor

 


Belly Dance Nights
at Montero's Café
A night of performance with dancers from the Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance
First Sunday of every month
6:00 pm
1106 Solano Ave., Albany, CA
(510) 524-1270
Sign up to dance!
Call (510) 527-2400,
email suhaila@suhaila.com
or speak to an instructor


Not a member?
If you received this newsletter from a friend, and you would like to sign up to receive it every month, visit www.suhaila.com

by Tiffany Bisconer

Tiffany Bisconer

The whole dance company was sitting together around Suhaila who was giving us the low down on an upcoming performance. Even though at that time I had been performing with the Suhaila Dance Company for about a year, this was my first exclusive Middle Eastern event. We were leaving for LA in 2 weeks to perform at a Ragheb Alama concert. Now that the show was set and rehearsed, we had to go over the details of conduct and personal presentation. The preparation for the performance seemed more intense than what I had just started to get use to for events that catered to specifically American audiences. The training and integrity behind the performances was solid no matter who the audience was but our presentation before and after what happened on stage was the topic of conversation as we sat around and listened. A big portion of the talk was of cultural awareness, since the majority of the dance company was American. What belly dancing means in Middle Eastern culture is much more complex and rooted than what it means in America. Walking into this event it was important for us to be aware of our conduct and image in order to be respected as much as possible as women and belly dancers. As the impromptu talk came to a close our homework was to find a respectable and classy gown for the evening of the performance by next weekend to get it approved before we left on our trip. Since I was still in that punk-rocker-turned-belly-dancer phase an extra credit homework assignment for me was to find a way to cover my tattoos and all the piercing holes in my face. Not easy tasks.

So, first of all I didn’t own a dress. Unless I counted the slip I would wear with my metal clad boots and three pairs of ripped tights, I had nothing redeemable as classy in my closet. I was grateful we had the conversation in just enough time for me to try and pull something together, so I didn’t show up like Cinderella without the make over to the Ball…. Though the Glam-school 101 was a little brutal, I understood the necessity of representing the Dance Company and Suhaila in a respectable way. But wow….this was just one of the many times in this journey where I felt like the world’s most unlikely belly dancer. Being the city girl that I was, the only place I knew of to get a “glamorous and classy” dress was the Foxy Lady in the mission district. The shop was a Vegas style stripper supply haven tucked in the seedy underbelly of San Francisco. The Drag Queen that was working that day took pity on me and helped me find the only “prude” dress in the store, meaning I guess because it was the only one that wasn’t see-through, even though the side slits went way above my waistline. The antique silver dress was long with rhinestone straps and I grabbed the matching glass slippers and flew out of the store thinking how funny it was that I felt like I was playing dress up when the sales girl felt totally at home in a whole different gender! I went home sewed up the slits and brought it in for genre approval. A week later we were on our way to LA.

When we arrived at the show it was non-stop from the moment our feet touched the LA soil. I was just as anxious about putting on my new dress as I was about performing! Before the show we were all dispersed in the lobby of the concert hall where they had Arabic music on tape and videos of Egyptian and Lebanese dancers. Sifting through Om Kalsoum tapes had me distracted enough to forget for a moment that I felt uncomfortable and vulnerable walking around in a dress. I ended up buying one Om Kalsoum tape and one Hakim tape to get a souvenir of something rich in sound and something new and pop-ish. One of the first things about dance that grabbed my passion was the music; my heartstrings were pulled stronger by an older genre of Arabic music. I tried to collect albums by as many artists as possible. I was excited for the evening that lay ahead because not only did we get to share our show with this audience, but we would be able to hear the music from the concert after we danced.

Being here I could feel that the women were women and the men were men, unlike in the American way where women have also found ways to cross the lines between the two gender roles. It was apparent that there was an unspoken code of conduct and “place” set for women and men in the Middle Eastern culture. I kept thinking how unaccepted belly dancers were into the familial structure, how no matter what it was never appropriate for a belly dancer to marry into a well respected Middle Eastern family. It was crazy to think of belly dancing in that context because in the states women take belly dancing as a form of expression in movement with limited stigma reflecting on their ability of being a wife and mother. I felt lucky to be able to enjoy the richness of the culture that belly dancing came from, but to feel the physical and emotional freedom of being an independent American woman. In both cultures though, the belly dancer is held as a representation for women of sensuality, beauty and freedom. Also the dancer is the physicalization of the music and in Middle Eastern culture the poetry of music is extremely important. In the lyrics and instrumentation you can hear the dimensions of emotion and passion that can bring a whole audience to a frenzy…or to tears.

After the hurricane of getting 15 dancers in costume and make up, we all stood by the stage ready to go on. The pre show nerves were bouncing around in my body, but as soon as my foot touched the stage they disappeared. Through the performance I felt like we were dancing for an audience who understood the dance, and felt the music because they were of it. It was and unusual sensation to feel the audience respond to sections of the music that an unfamiliar ear doesn’t grab onto. When the beat dropped into Saidi the whole audience clapped with open hands with their whole body involved. It was exciting because there was no reserve in the display of involvement from the audience. They were just as much a part of the performance as we were. As we left the stage the concert hall was in a roar and then they continued the party without us……!

After this night I realized what a difference it made performing for an audience that was of Middle Eastern decent because it felt like both sides of the stage were coming from the same perspective. I also realized how complex the views of male and female were in Middle Eastern culture. The strong lines of separation and clarity in roles, both good and bad, were not present in an American lifestyle. There’s a need and desire for both the female and the belly dancer within the social base. I learned in this moment that the passion, possession and emotional charge I loved in Arabic music were the mirror of the culture that the music was drawn from. The same instinct that structures a family unit was the same cultural instinct that led a Middle Eastern audience to sit and watch the belly dancing show that night and clap through all the musical breaks that are lost on an American audience. Through the appreciation of the dance and music of personal lineage they could feel connected to their culture even inside the US, and though there is a love/lack of acceptance relationship with the concept of a belly dancer, they have to have them as a part of the celebration of their culture.

Upcoming Workshops

Workshops


July 28, 29, 30, St. Louis, MO

THREE DAY LEVEL 1

Contact: Lois Marshall salwaabd@aol.com (314) 961-3790, (314) 956-9725

September 8-10, El Cerrito, CA

Level I 3-Day Workshop

Suhaila Salimpour Technique

*Optional Level I Certification Testing

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com

Register Online

2006 Workshops:


June 17-18, Paris, France

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

Time & Location: TBA

Contact: Amana

amana@club.fr

June 22-July 2, Cairo, Egypt

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

Time & Location: TBA
Contact: Raqia Hassan 2027482338, 20123292386, raqiahassan@hotmail.com

Register Online


July 15-16, Somerville, NJ **SOLD OUT!!**

2-Day Workshop

Times: Saturday, 2:00pm - 8:00pm (with a 1 hour break)

           Sunday, 11:00am - 5:00pm (with a 1 hour break)   

Location: Indigo Ballroom, 17 Division St, Somerville, NJ

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com www.suhaila.com

Send Checks/MO to: PO Box 8612, Landscape Station, Berkeley, CA 94707

Register Online

July 28, 29, 30, St. Louis, MO

THREE DAY LEVEL 1

Contact: Lois Marshall salwaabd@aol.com (314) 961-3790, (314) 956-9725

August 2-6, Portland, OR

Tribal Quest NW-Workshop & Show

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

Times: Friday, August 4th, 3:00-4:45pm

           Saturday, August 5th, 3:30-5:15pm

Location: TBA

Contact: Caravan Studio (503) 287-1794 www.gypsycaravan.us jen@gypsycaravan.us
Register Online

August 7-11, El Cerrito, CA

Weeklong Workshop

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

*Optional Level I and II Certification Testing Aug 11

Time: 9:30am - 3:30pm

Location: 10082 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com www.suhaila.com

Send Checks/MO to: PO Box 8612, Landscape Station, Berkeley, CA 94707

Register Online

August 13, Seattle, WA

Master Class

*Taught By Tiffany Bisconer (Authorized Instructor from the Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance)

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Format
Time: 10:00am-1:00pm (Level I Format)

2:00pm-5:00pm (Level II Format)

Contact: Renee Drellishak (206) 568-1514 renee.drellishak@gmail.com

August 21-25, El Cerrito, CA

Level III Weeklong Workshop

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

**Must be Level II Certified to attend

*Optional Level III Certification Testing Aug 25

Time: 9:30am - 3:30pm

Location: 10082 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com www.suhaila.com

Send Checks/MO to: PO Box 8612, Landscape Station, Berkeley, CA 94707

Register Online

August 26-27, Boston, MA              

Workshop/Performance

Content: Drum Solo Choreography, Suhaila's Layering Technique, Jamila Salimpour Format with Finger Cymbals

Time: Saturday          11:00am-4:00pm

          Sunday            10:30am-3:30pm

Location: Springstep, 98 George P. Hassett Dr., Medford, MA 02155

Contact: Za’Beth Robinson (978) 373-0601 zills@earthlink.net

More Info

September 8-10, El Cerrito, CA

Level I 3-Day Workshop

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

*Optional Level I Certification Testing Sept 10

Time: 9:30am - 3:30pm

Location: 10082 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com www.suhaila.com

Send Checks/MO to: PO Box 8612, Landscape Station, Berkeley, CA 94707

Register Online

September 16-17, Ann Arbor, MI             

2-Day Workshop

Location: One-on-One Athletic Club
2875 Boardwalk St. Ann Arbor MI 48104
Contact: Crystal Dunlap dunlapcrystal@gmail.com 734-330-8976
Register Online

September 17 , Portland, OR

Master Class

*Taught By Tiffany Bisconer or Kendra Katz (Authorized Instructor from the Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance)

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Format
Time: 10:00am-1:00pm (Level I Format)

2:00pm-5:00pm (Level II Format)

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com www.suhaila.com

Send Checks/MO to: PO Box 8612, Landscape Station, Berkeley, CA 94707

September 23-24 , Albuquerque, NM

Master Class

*Taught By Tiffany Bisconer (Authorized Instructor from the Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance)

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Format
Time: TBA

Contact: Amaya mamaya1@comcast.net   (505) 281-4492

September 25-29, El Cerrito, CA

Level II Weeklong Workshop

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique
**Must be Level I Certified to attend

*Optional Level II Certification Testing Sept 29

Time: 9:30am - 3:30pm

Location: 10082 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530

Contact: Suhaila Productions, LLC (510) 526-4344, suhaila@suhaila.com www.suhaila.com

Send Checks/MO to: PO Box 8612, Landscape Station, Berkeley, CA 94707

Register Online

October 20-22, Munich, Germany

3-Day Workshop

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique, Drum Solo Chorography, Layering, Folkloric Fusion, Jamila Salimpour Format, Finger Cymbals

Time & Location: TBA

Contact: Monika 0049-8072-98477; Momo 0049-6162-915999, mobile 0160-640-8281, monika@werksper.de www.tanz-zentrum.de

October 27-29, Frankfurt, Germany

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Technique

Time & Location: TBA
Contact: Momo Kadous
momo.kadous@gmx.de
Tel 49 6162 942755

Nov 4-6, Hannover, Germany
Content: Friday: 6pm-9pm Folkloric Fusion/Tribal Style

Saturday: 10am-1pm Technique & Combinations

Saturday: 2pm-5pm Suhaila Layering Technique

Sunday: 11am-4pm Drum Solo Choreography
Contact: Sina Bremer sina.b@t-online.de

Nov 9-12 Toronto, Canada                    
4-Day Workshop

Content: TBA

Time: TBA

Performance: TBA

Location: TBA

Sponsor: Audra Simmons (800) 431-0418 audra@cleopatrasbazaar.com

More Info

Nov 18-19 Vancouver, Canada             
2-Day Workshop              

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Format

Time:    Saturday   9:30am - 2:30pm

                            * Including 1hr Catered lunch

            Sunday      9:30am - 2:30pm

                             * Including 1hr Catered lunch

Performance: Saturday November 18th

Performance/Workshop Location: The Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St., Vancouver

Sponsor: Martina 604-241-4371 martina@bellyfringe.ca

More Info

2007 Workshops:

February 17-18, Austin, TX                
2-Day Workshop

Content: Suhaila Salimpour Format

Time: TBA

Location: Diva Dance Studio, 11940 Manchaca Rd., Austin, TX 78748

Sponsor: Stacey Wuest (512) 924-7257 stacey@staceylizette.net

Register Online

April 7-8, 2007

2-DAY WORKSHOP

Content: TBA

Performance: TBA

Contact: Lois Marshall salwaabd@aol.com (314) 961-3790,

(314) 956-9725

Workshop Testimonials

Upcoming Certification Testing...

Level I

July 30 St Louis,MO

Aug 11 EL Cerrito,CA

Sept 10 El Cerrito,CA

Level II

Aug 11 EL Cerrito,CA

Sept 29 EL Cerrito,CA

 

 

Attending this Workshop has been an inspiring life changing experience. Suhaila is a warm-hearted woman whose passion is the dance, and has become my inspiration. Through this experience, she has helped me internalize every moment, and has taken me to a new level of the dance. She and her staff are down to earth, and you can tell they all love their work. I can’t wait to take another workshop to further my dance knowledge and have a great time and meet new friends, who all share the same love. -Roselee Kislowski Bristow, VA

Bring Suhaila to your event!
Suhaila and the Suhaila Dance Company travel all over the country and the world performing and teaching workshops. For availability and booking information, contact Suhaila Productions at
(510) 526-4344 or email suhaila@suhaila.com
 

Suhaila Productions · P.O. Box 8612 · Landscape Station · Berkeley · CA · 94707
510.526.4344
suhaila@suhaila.com
www.suhaila.com

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