by Tiffany Bisconer

Emotional preparation within the Suhaila Salimpour Format is a defining aspect in Suhaila’s training of artists.  It is a mixture between Stanford Meisner’s approach to acting, psychology and thorough mentorship. The goal of emotional preparation is to hone the skill of “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances” which was introduced to Suhaila as a theory of acting by Sanford Meisner and then built upon and adapted to Suhaila’s desire to create more depth in emotional expression in the dance.  In Suhaila’s process of emotional preparation training she also integrates basic psychology in a seamless and unannounced way by approaching the personal conflict between understanding nature vs. nurture in order to reach the truth behind the movements and expressions in each dancer and her adaptation of both of these approaches affects her students in a creative realm as well as structures a healthier and more honest life, which can then reflect back onto the art.

My first encounter with Suhaila’s training in emotional preparation felt familiar since I grew up with my first love being the theatre, but was developed way beyond anything I had ever experienced in my acting training.  Because Suhaila had been with Playhouse West and was lucky enough to study under Meisner himself, she had first hand knowledge of his method.  Dinner on her 21st birthday was even spent with a small group from the Playhouse.  From inspiration gained in her time with Playhouse West, what she did was build upon some traditional acting exercises, most of which were a part of the foundation principle of the “Reality of Doing” introduced by Sanford Meisner, then made them even more beneficial to the process of developing personal perspective and honest responses by being an active guide in each part of the dancers exploration.  The repetition exercises begin with one partner saying one word and then the word is repeated back and forth to create a dialogue whose goal is to not be forced or preconceived.  Suhaila uses repetition exercises that were based off of the Sanford Meisner technique, in order to initiate the ability to really listen, stop the habit of “performing” and instead leave ourselves vulnerable in order to respond truthfully to our partners' behavior. In her vision what this does is set up a foundation to do the same thing with the music when you begin to dance.  In these exercises, which create the first building block for the emotional preparation work, the conflict of nature vs. nurture really came into focus.  The goal was to get to the root of our personalities before affected by our upbringing, society, laws of gender conformity and personal boundaries to reach our “animal instincts” which can be described as our unaltered responses and true personality. Because all of us were adults facing this type of work for the first time, this ability proved to be the most challenging aspect of the repetition exercise.  To just respond, without thinking about what was appropriate was a painful daily habit to break.  Suhaila’s role as a mentor/psychologist was to hold up a mirror for us to see the level of truth and vulnerability we were responding with.  Which was a tool we then used to gage how present, expressive and open we were when we danced.     

At the same time this ability to interact in a truthful moment to moment way is being developed Suhaila also engages us in an exercise created off of a similar theory, but was developed by her.  Each of her students are asked to do preparatory reading, write papers and do some personal work before attending a Level III Workshop, among these requirements is also picking 2 songs that effect them deeply.  One song is used to choreograph to and one song is used to do this emotional prep exercise to.  The student is asked to explain why she picked this particular piece of music and a part of the training begins even in the way this is explained.  Students learn how to be specific with their explanations in order to have a clear emotional perspective.  It is not enough to say “This song makes me sad” or “this song makes me happy”, well…. “Why?” she will ask again and again until you reach the root of why this song affects you.  Once you are able to articulate the emotional perspective you then dance to the song living in this emotional state and you are given only one physical movement to express your perspective with.  Depending on the person and their hindrances, road blocks and insecurities, Suhaila knows by instinct how to slightly alter the way the exercise is approached in order to get each person to truly see their potential of movement and expression.  Some people she has dance while sitting on a chair with their hands under them, so they dance from the waist up.  Sometimes she makes a person lay on the floor and dance only with their arms.  This is where her expertise on seeing through to a person’s true nature and what they need in order to reach their potential becomes undoubtedly clear. The point is to get yourself in an emotional state and allow that perspective to drive your movements, so that your dance has an honest depth.  I can say that in these moments of vulnerability I have seen some of the most beautiful dances in my life. 

These emotional training exercises are important in our dance form specifically because it originates from a country that is not the homeland to the majority of the women who have found a passion for belly dance. In order to represent the dance in a way that pays respect to the Middle East and the perspective behind the music, it is necessary for dancers to evoke a personal emotional perspective that coincides with the emotional content of the music without emulating or interpreting a sense of culture that doesn’t run through our blood.  Stanford Meisner’s method of “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances” also cradles this point. By involving dancers in this type of work, Suhaila is slowly unveiling the potential of this dance form. The level of emotional expression achieved and presented through the dance helps differentiate artists from those dancing as a means to showcase or merely “perform”. In my eyes a true artist has the ability to make waves, affect people in an extreme way and leave a mark in their path….start a revolution. I believe there is no way to do that unless coming from a raw and honest perspective, and this is the path that begins with emotional preparation. Understanding what you want to say through the dance is the first step in creating energy behind your movement, and emotional preparation is the way to be able to affect those that see you dance and gain a richer experience in your own process of unraveling your capabilities.