Warm up
veil work
zills
Dance of Eternity Choreography
All posts by najla
My experiance at a Suhaila Salimpour Workshop
A few years back I traveled to Michigan to have a rare occassion in being part of a 2 day workshop with Suhaila Salimpour. The workshop was amazing and there were many things that I came away with after the two days were over. Suhaila is very well known for her technique and glute squeezes. Suhaila is where I learned that in order to have better control over the movements and for them to be sharper it must be down with muscle. We spent at least the first hour warming up followed by strengthening our arms legs, quads, glutes and stomachs. Then moving on to glute squeezes standing followed by a series of different rhythms and foot patterns with ups or downs and so on. We also spent several hours each day on zills. The workshop was very fast paced and it was necessary to keep up. I must say it was really hard but I was able to keep up with the class as we were all covered in sweat and sheer exhaustion! At the end of the workshop which would have been Sunday evening, I was so sore I could hardly move! It was amazing though and it is one of those workshop moments that I will never forget. It was very exhilarating and even though I was tired I had a surge of energy going though me. Suhaila is a 2nd generation belly dancer, her mom who is Jamila Salimpour and was the first her was the orginator of tribal belly dance in america. (http://suhailainternational.com/Jamila.php)
Click on the link below to watch a performance of Suhaila:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nIKBQ5ozZU
Photo by WG Images
Kids Class
Every week I spend a half an hour with the kids, specifically girls that attend the summer program at Carver Community Center. The reason I am writing about this is because it is a very important part of what I do and one of the many reasons why I teach. The ages I have range from 4-12 which is great because I get to work with all different age groups and they can learn from each other in a controlled and positive atmosphere. So what do we do in class?
First, it is all about having fun, creating a positive image and self-esteem while getting the kids moving and learning about a dance form along with another culture. Today we worked on flexibility and stretching and talked about the importance of both and why we do it. These girls are really smart and in fact, a few weeks ago one of the girls came to me before class and told me she forgot to do her homework. How cute!
We also worked on working together as a group and how important it is and what happens if one dancer does not do the same thing that the other dancers are doing. I have been teaching the girls the debke’ which is a circle dance holding hands. I asked the girls why we dance in a group togehter and what does it help each one of us focus on. I had answers such as moving, a few I don’t knows…one girl spoke up and said, ” it’s about working together” and she is right I had her repeat it so everyone could hear it again. I lead the girls around in a circle repeating the steps and showing them as they followed me.
As we continued around the circle, I changed the tempo as we started stepping more quickly. A few of the girls feet got tangled up and well you could imagine what happened….the circle stopped as some girls fell down and the circle became disarrayed. I then asked the girls what happened and why we talked about what we do affects those around us and those next to us. After leading the girls through simple belly dance moves such as hip thrust and the washing machine we ended the class having races walking on tip toe and playing red light green light belly dance style. The girls have fun and I do as well. Plus, getting the chance to teach them this wonderful art form!
Intermediate Class
Carver Community Center 7-8pm
Kids Class
Carver Community Center 3:30- 4:00 pm