Ep 156. Suhaila Salimpour: Renegotiating Your Dance Identity

Belly Dance Life

Suhaila Salimpour grew up caught between two worlds: the strict, Shi’a Muslim household of her father who passed away when she was 10, and the free-spirited Hippie fantasyland of her mother, renowned belly dance innovator Jamila Salimpour. By the time she was 14, Suhaila was the sole breadwinner for herself and her mother, traveling across the United States on the weekends teaching her mother’s dance method and creating her own revolutionary approach to belly dance. She also lived and worked as a professional entertainer in the Middle East, with residencies in some of the finest venues. She worked with musical ensembles of over 40 musicians, including Arab pop stars Ahmad Adawiya, Amr Diab, and Sabah.

Upon returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s, Suhaila returned to teaching regular dance classes and developing the first-ever certification program in Middle Eastern dance. Today, the Salimpour School has five satellites run by licensed instructors in the United States, Europe, and Egypt, as well as a thriving global community of thousands of students, including the new Suhaila Salimpour Institute of Online Education. In 2019, the Salimpour School began its residency at Mills College, where Suhaila is also an Adjunct Professor. She teaches Core Dimension™ and Embodied Movement in the Department of Dance and Theater.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Growing up as the daughter of a well-known belly dancer and part of a Muslim family

- Living and performing in the Middle East

- Going through dance depression and losing your artistic identity

- Reasons why Suhaila started a certification program

- The Salimpour method of teaching

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Suhaila Salimpour on Instagram, FB, YouTube and website. Information about her online school and institute is available here.

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Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast