Salimpour School – Becoming an Artist

This is an entry for the Salimpour School Summer of Love Contest. 

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I´m 32 and I´ve been creative my whole life. Ever since I was a child, I loved to paint, draw, do pottery, dance, and just create whatever was possible. Dance and sports in general have been a big part of me for so many years. I have literally no idea how belly dance came to me. I guess it was not me who found it but the dance found me. I didn´t even tried my first lesson yet I´d already decided that if I really start belly dancing, I´ll be good and will become a teacher. Those innocent and silly dreams of beginners…

I found Salimpour School thanks to the tribal fusion scene and as many other dancers. Although those teachers have probably very limited skills and information from the immense sea of knowledge that the Salimpour School can offer, I´m still grateful to them that they credited Suhaila as their teacher. Of course, as a tribal dancer I´ve also known of Jamila Salimpour and Bal Anat. How could I have not! The Internet was already a thing so I found the school´s website and saw that I would have to come to America to study with Suhaila. I have to admit travelling is really not my cup of tea and my resources were limited.

Fastforward a few years when I continued my studies in tribal fusion dance and started to travel around Europe to various dance festivals. In 2013 I came to Marseille for Tribal Umrah where I could finally meet Abi (a.k.a Asharah as she was still known back then). Abi had already started her studies with Suhaila and was getting deeply immersed in the format and I was watching her journey through YouTube videos. My joy was even bigger when Maelle was added to the teacher team so that meant more classes in the Salimpour format. I think I did all the classes I could at that festival and I even paid for a private with Abi. The turning point, however, was the information that Maelle was organizing Salimpour format workshops in Brussels and that I could go to my first level 1 three-day in just a few months. And that I could get certify and start my journey too!

I truly believe that everything has its right time to happen. That moment in Marseille, that was my time to finally do something about my desire to study with the Salimpour School and with Suhaila directly. So I paid for the workshop and went to Belgium. Fortunately, I already had strong foundations thanks to tribal fusion. Unfortunately, that was probably where it all started with me being ill at almost every workshop I had with Suhaila. As if these are not already hard enough, there has to be a health issue so that I could have an extra challenge and really prove myself. I made it through the test with a fever and threw up only half an hour later on my way back to the flat I was staying at. I still regretted I couldn´t have stayed for the Jamila level 1 certification.

We were all really lucky Maelle was such an ambassador for the Salimpour School. She brought Suhaila back for level 2 weeklong only a few months later. Of course I couldn´t miss this for a world. Although I was somewhat lazy when I came back from level 1, I made a rigorous training plan in the spring of 2014 and got in good shape for the next level which I passed. Then thanks to Anna who organized a Jamila level 1 workshop in London in 2015, I could also start my studies with this incredible format which I´d been so drawn to. I had already learnt how wonderful the community of dancers involved in this school is and I was very proud I could bring two of my own students to London to find out for themselves.

After London, I started thinking about my first trip to California, because I knew that if I wanted to progress, it is inevitable to come to the mothership. My travel resistance was huge and I guess I was just too scared of the commitment so in the end I missed on the opportunity to come for the winter level 3 weeklong. Little have I known though that the end of 2015 would be such a turning point in my life. I became 30 and something in me started to change and something new was growing. It was the passion for more; I was feeling the hunger and I needed to act on it. At the end of the year I ended a very long relationship and for the first time ever I started living just on my own. I felt such a freedom that at the moment of the biggest financial insecurity I purchased both Jamila level 2 and Suhaila level 3 workshops and booked a flight ticket. I knew I just had to do it. Did I mention I believe in the right time for everything?

That summer of 2016 I´ve passed my Jamila level 2 test. The whole trip was the time of my life and my first Suhaila level 3 opened the door to what the Salimpour School can really do for me. I was finally learning what it means to be an artist and I was no longer shy to call myself one. I enjoyed every day of the classes despite angina which obviously got my body thinking I also need it for my second level 3 this January. As I am getting ready for my third trip to the US, I am sending my body signals that this time, no illnesses please. The level 3 test will be enough. Do you hear that my body? I love you healthy!

One more thing I have to say is that ever since I started with the Salimpour School, everything I learnt had immediately transformed into my own classes; I passionately share everything I can with my students. The Salimpour School with both its Suhaila and Jamila format is something I truly believe in not only thanks to my progress and evolution but also through that of my students. I´m ever so proud that I´ve also become a little ambassador that inspires others to study with the Salimpour School. And I look forward to their future development so that we could share the stage together and rock it with some amazing choreographies from Suhaila and inspire even more dancers to join the family.