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

Greetings!

Viva Las Vegas baby! Yes … we broke ground and construction is on its way. We're so excited around here we can barely stand it. We have never been able to build a studio from scratch, making each corner what you want, so this is an incredible experience. We can't wait for the GRAND OPENING PARTY January 25-27 (yes, all weekend long), perfectly sandwiched between two weeklong workshops – just in case you wanna come before the "party weekend" and take the first workshop or stay after and take the next one. If you're really wild and crazy, you can do both weeklongs with the "party weekend" in between. I double dare you!

Our Berkeley studio is doing great, and I'm very proud that our vision can expand because of the strong foundation we created at our home base. We're starting a new T.A. program, and our new "teachers in training" are doing very well. The longer classes at the studio are working out well, and we're getting a strong level 3 base.

I also started teaching one night a week in Las Vegas (at Backstage Dance Studio), and the classes are going great. We decided to start one class while construction is under way so when the studio opens we can also have a level 2 class for those starting their training early with me. It's a 90 minute class, and I can barely get everything in I want. It's been years since I taught a weekly class, and my desire to go for hours (like in workshops) is so strong it's like torture stopping after only 90 minutes. I'm having a blast!

This month was our first year at Maja's Tribal Festival in Florida. It was very well done, and the event was full of the "tribal sentiment" I love to be around. It was great hanging out with some of my students who were teaching at this event, and the weekend was one big party, really. Maja has been very persistent in trying to get me at this event for years. I'm so happy it worked out for this year, and I look forward to the next.

Getting the opportunity to teach Ellen DeGeneres my glute squeezes was the cherry on the cake. It was an honor to be on her show, and she was so warm and giving during our taping. Thank you all for watching and for sending her so many letters and e-mails, which could get us back on the show. This time I might even get to dance!

So as rehearsals for Sheherezade have started again, I look forward to the future and what it all holds. Thank you all for your love and support, and I will see you soon at either one of the Mother Ships or in my many travels.

Editorial by Suhaila®

I got Isabella and myself ready for the show. We stood looking at ourselves in the mirror admiring our matching costumes. Matching costumes is one of the benefits to having a daughter that dances, so whenever I make myself a costume, Alnisa (who is my costumer) knows that a mini costume will have to also be constructed as well for Isabella. So there we were checking each other out with big smiles on our faces. I had one more task to complete which was a phone call to my mother before we headed down to the stage. I don’t always call my mother before each performance anymore, but tonight was special being that it was our full Bal Anat show being presented in St. Louis for the first time. 

When my mother answered the phone I got a little emotional. I re created Bal Anat for my mother and our legacy in the year 2000. I felt it was very important to bring Bal Anat back since it was the first Tribal dance troupe and inspiration and foundation of what is American Tribal today. Not only is Bal Anat a concept that is in its original form, but under my direction we are also bringing a contemporary vision to it as well. I only wish that my mother could be at each and every performance, but since she will not fly I hold her close to my heart and try to do her justice and make her proud. This night was special since we were able to bring Bal Anat out of California and to the Mid West, which had never been done before. My mother was so happy I called and told me how proud of me she was and through our tears I told her how proud of her I am each day. So after I reapplied more make up since some of it was running down my cheek, Isabella and I headed down to the stage.

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Guest Article                 

Guest Article

by, Aida Al Adawi

What kind of dancer are you? Tribal? American Tribal? Gothic? Fusion? I am a dancer in progress. I will always be a dancer in progress. I am a “working dancer.” If you don’t work, you don't eat or pay your bills. It was and still is my “real job.” How on earth did this happen? Does one start in the beginning and continue or start now and go in reverse? I guess because life, just like one’s art, is an ongoing process, it really doesn't matter.

My parents taught us that to be a different color, religion or nationality meant you were special. They were scoutmasters and active in the PTA, band boosters and any other organization that was important to my sister, two brothers and me. When I was 2 my music career began in rhythm band lead by the founder of the Junior Bach Festival, Tirzah Mailkoff. When I became 4, I started piano lessons, using a telephone book to boost me up. Beginning in the 8th grade, I studied bassoon with Walter Green, the principal bassoonist of the San Francisco Symphony. Through high school I played bassoon in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra. Summers were spent at scout camp and at Cazadero Music Camp. I taught the San Francisco boys chorus under the direction of Madi Bacon for a couple of seasons and worked on a regular basis with the San Francisco Opera company.

In 1969 I graduated from Cal State at Hayward performing both instrumental and vocal music. My career was heading toward a career in opera and the symphony. In the summer of 1970, some musicians were in need of a tenor shawm player for the Renaissance Festival. I was given two days to learn the instrument and music before we started rehearsing. Bal Anat followed our show at the festival, and if I didn't leave before they started, I couldn't leave. Hilary Lorraine, a member of Bal Anat, encouraged me to come and study with her mentor and as fortune would have it, Jamila started teaching at Cal State after the festival. It didn't take long before I was taking classes in Hayward, San Francisco, Marin County, Berkeley and anywhere else she taught.

I saw Jamila as a mentor and sensei. She truly encompassed what an artist should be. It was not about her, but her craft. Her teaching was an ongoing process of refining what we now know as her format. She started giving names to help identify the steps and techniques. Frequently they were named after the first dancer she saw perform them. Her incredible natural musical ability manifested itself with her elaborate finger cymbal patterns.

I remember studying a bit of flamenco from Rosa Montoya, being in the back of the class trying to make sense of rhythm, arms and feet. Nothing was broken down. It was jump in and sink or swim. If you wanted to learn badly enough, you kept coming back, and slowly, if you were lucky and practiced a lot, you might make some headway. Much like the Oriental dance, the tradition had been handed down for generations.

Jamila was not only a creative teacher, she was drop dead gorgeous. She had charisma and a presence that was mesmerizing. Her stories were as wonderful as her teaching. We were not allowed to take notes in class, so I would sit in my car after class trying to remember everything we had studied. Little did I know that years later I would be following her around the kitchen reading them aloud so she would correct them. This lead into her teaching manual, which made its debut in Lansing, Michigan.

At that time I was still in my symphony mode. Being a double reed player made me the perfect candidate for learning to play the mizmar, a Middle Eastern oboe. Since I left the Bay Area in 1982, I have worked all over the U.S., toured Canada with Holiday in Greece and toured South America with Rana and Naim. I have never stopped teaching and am constantly learning.

All those years ago, if I hadn’t been recruited to play in a Renaissance group, I would have never seen Jamila and my life would have been very different. While here in Michigan I was blessed to meet Thomas Andrew Aston, who founded the theater department at Oakland University. He taught and performed mime. His expertise included set designing, lighting, playwriting, juggling, and performing the role of Shakespeare and Igor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. The best 17 years of my life were spent with him raising two boys. A year and a half ago, out of the blue, he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and “crossed the river” into the greater universe. He was the one person in my life who loved and respected me as an artist. He would ask me what my legacy would be. It took many years to have an answer for that: It is to archive both of our extensive collections.

Suhaila and I have kept in touch all the years that I have been gone. As she has come into her own as an artist, teacher, wife and mother, one thing has remained constant. It is always about the “process” and not about becoming self-absorbed. She has remained just as down to earth as she was when she was little. This kind of honesty in one’s life is what real artists are made of. The fact that she too has found the “love of her life” fills my heart with such joy. Every time I write to her, it ends up opening another window in our past. When she asked me if I would consider writing for her newsletter, it was the perfect time.

When I read about our days in North Beach, I am stunned with some of the things that are written as fact. For example, I didn’t get fired for wearing a Bedouin dress 24/7 and I am not Jewish, not that it really matters in the large scheme of things. What is important is sharing our experiences, and even more important is honoring those who have paved the way for us to exist in this field of dance. Achieving a level of proficiency is not the end but the beginning. If you disgrace either your art or your mentors, you can be stripped of your titles. Accountability is important.

A couple of months ago I was in the Bay Area and shared a wonderful lunch with Jamila. As I said in the beginning, she is my sensei. I wanted to thank her for bringing me into a life that has been so fulfilling. As we visited, I had so many questions about her continued studies. She shared her research and newest finger cymbal patterns. It was a very special day.

Over the 36 years I have been proud to be a part of Jamila’s school of dance. I have saved everything I could, not realizing that archiving was to be my legacy. When Suhaila came to our home, I showed her boxes of videos, audio recordings, flyers and pictures I am in the process of cataloging for posterity. Now I know for sure they will all go to her. So will my extensive library and collection of artifacts. The circle will be complete, and it will all come back home where it belongs. The goal is to make it available to all those who come after us. I have so many stories and memories to share, and I am so honored to now be a part of Suhaila’s legacy as well.