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

Greetings!

Last month was so intense! All the workshops, editing, voice-over, and keeping up with Isabella's school, play, and homework. The school is great and growing each month. We have added kid’s Brazilian dance to the program and the kids are so cute. I have started a Brazilian class for my dance company members as well. Cross-training is the key. We finally got some new carpet laid in the back lounge and it is our "hang out" area. Now no one really wants to go home.

We are getting ready for the holidays and making sure that the women who dedicate themselves to having a family are supported during this time. It is very difficult to maintain a family and still try and take a dance class during the holidays. But we focus on the mental health that movement can bring to the mind and body. Isn't that what we all want from Santa for Christmas?

Editorial by Suhaila

Not knowing my mother was watching from the kitchen, I walked over to the coffee table, picked up mother’s cigarette pack, took out a cigarette and put it in my mouth. I then picked up the matches, took one out and began to try and light it. My mother came out of the kitchen in tears holding out her hands for me to hand it all over…. I was two years old and just wanted to act like mommy.

It was the late ’60s and everyone smoked. It was “cool” and all the marketing and advertising was geared towards smokers. In the ’50s (just a decade before), women could light up in the hospital after giving birth. All the movie stars smoked and you know we all want to be like the movie stars. My mother had worked in and owned a nightclub in San Francisco so smoking was a way of life. But now my mother was in a new phase of life and she was trying to be more of a role model for me; but she forgot this one last detail. Being that I was so young, she never thought I was even noticing. But there I was, a baby, and absorbing her actions and wanting to emulate her every movement. So she quit then and there after 27 years of smoking…. Yep…. She just QUIT.
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Survey

Last Month's Question:
Do you feel you need to be a specific "body type" to perform professionally?

Here are some of your answers:
I think it has more to do with the costuming than the body type. You can have a large, full figure and wear a beautiful beledi dress and look just as lovely as the 'perfect body' with the bra and belt. I think dancing professionally has more to do with costume, experience, interpretation of music, and of course, practice, practice, practice.
-Doukissa

I believe what is most important to perform professionally is not body type but stage presence. I have seen countless skinny dancers who don't have any passion for the dance. I want to see the passion in a dancer’s eyes.... I want to feel their energy from the audience.… I want them to be lost in the moment... lost in the spirit of the dance.… I want to see them become one with the music.... I want them to move me... to make me say "WOW" out loud.... I want them to bring tears to my eyes.

If you feel good you look good. It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside.... IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT COUNTS!!! I tell that to my daughter almost every day.
- Jennifer Warrenburg, NY

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This Month's Question:
Do you spend more money on classes/training or costumes? Why?

Send your answers or comments to:
bellydancesurvey@yahoo.com

Phenomenal Woman

by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.