Salimpour School of Belly Dance

Learning from a master instructor is irreplaceable!If you do the work you will see the results guaranteed!

I honestly don't know where I'd be today if I hadn't started dancing at SSSD. It's more than just a place to dance, it's a community, a community of amazing women (and sometimes men!) who share a passion for dance and expression. I randomly took one class last summer, and then it took me a few months to come around and dance on a regular basis. People dance at SSSD for different reasons, and for me it was a way to stop exercising and to start moving. It's not that I wasn't active, I just hate gyms and exercising for the sake of exercising. I used to be an avid runner, but after dancing for almost a year now my running shoes don't get much use anymore. My knees are very thankful for that, I'm sure. While things have been changing a bit in the past few months -- Suhaila recently opened another school in Las Vegas, and we have some new faces teaching classes (yay, Kitiera!) -- I don't think there's ever a bad time to be at the school. In fact, Suhaila has been teaching some classes lately since she just got back from her world tour! Learning the Suhaila format is as challenging mentally as it is physically -- I've likened my experience of trying to master my muscles as being analogous to learning to play a musical instrument. I like that once you think you've actually conquered something there's another challenge to step-up to. Besides, it seems that when I'm struggling with a move and thinking that it's the hardest thing, if I look in the mirror at the resulting funny expressions on everyone's faces (including my own) it's hard not to laugh and have a good time.

I went to a noon time class and was surprised that more belly dance moves were not included in the warm up. we spent a very long time on general fitness class types of moves but without much concern for alignment or safety. (But I am a bit picky as a Pilates trainer no doubt). We did tons of drills with our tushes while seated but there was not a sense of the body as a whole with isolations for each area. They break the class down to one basic move per class so the actual belly dance portion we did only the twisting movement in place, then across the floor.I had heard such good things about the school that I was a bit disappointed that we did not do more belly dancing. I found the beginner workshop at hipline to be much more fun and incorporated more belly dance movements throughout the class.

I've taken classes on and off with Suhaila for 7 years and am considering committing to the membership, which is big! Her basic classes make me feel like I've worked every muscle. My core is a lot stronger, my butt tighter and my overall mood better after just one class a week. She's all about technique and building the muscles needed for bellydance, or even for just sitting, walking and standing. Beginner level classes focus on core movements followed up by 10 minutes of choreography. You're not "dancing" the whole class, but building basic movements for more complicated dance combinations. She breaks down the movements with time signatures and names them, which makes it easier to teach legions of dancers her formula. It's a more westernized way of learning, but has helped me learn the movements so they're second nature. The classes ain't cheap ($18 as of now) but I consider it like getting a personal trainer along with dance training. No other bellydance class works me as intensely, and they're usually an hour an a half long, which you may not get elsewhere. I quit my gym membership--this is way more fun!

I've tried the online classes. What a nice way to get a workout at home. I saw the ad in the Marketplace Magazine. It's fun to do a different sort of exercise, especially with dance and this sort of movement makes it very inviting.

THIS IS IT! I could not live without these classes, and this community. The teachers at this school take considered care to keep you fit and uninjured, always exploring an endless array of fun, powerful moves and choreography. It's reasonably priced, a gorgeous studio, easy to get to, and attended by friendly, noncompetitive, easy going people. You can enter in at any level and progress through Suhaila's format, as you gain strength and flexibility. I came in as non dancer and can now move like a professional, that's pretty amazing, considering I'm in my 50's now. I'm so comfortable at this studio where I might not be at others because of Suhaila's fantastic attitude towards women of all shapes, ages, sizes and abilities. Everyone can find a place at this studio and at every level of ability. I love it!!

I've been studying ballet/tap/jazz since I was a young girl and also taught all ages/levels for a number of years. When I transitioned into Middle Eastern dance, I found that most classes offered absolutely no structure to their training other than "watch what I do and copy as best as you can." Coming from a formal dance background, I found it so refreshing to discover the Suhaila Salimpour format which breaks down each movement in a structured way emphasizing quality technique and most important...safety! I cannot recommend this format/school enough. I have been a member for about 5 years having begun after I was already considered a professional dancer in the field with more than 10 years of training and experience under my belt. My technique improved 10 fold after attending workshops/classes here and yet I continue to be challenged to the core! This is not "fluffy" belly dance...this is the real deal so be ready to work hard, sweat and thoroughly hone your technique. If you are just starting, you can be sure the Suhaila format will give you a solid technical dance base.

The best belly dance school to learn solid technique! Dancers travel from all over the planet to attend Suhaila workshops, and we are so lucky to have her located in the heart of the bay area!Free class cards for first-time students are a great way to get introduced to the format. Come with a towel and water bottle...seriously kickin' workout.Love this studio!!!!!

They use a shame based approach to develop a loyal following of young women with little prior knowledge of belly dance who will pay ridiculous amounts of money. They claim to teach technical precision but the technical precision isn't comparable to other educators, who I won't name here. There's a lot of pressure in the air to fall subservient to the cult of Suhaila. Her mom was an amazing dancer. She is a successful businesswoman. Part of how they operate is to create their own language and to drill into you that you aren't learning properly if you don't call things what they do. They will pretend to not understand if you don't use their vocabulary. It feels like this place is operated by one giant personality disorder. They take the approach to education that some take to horses -- they want to break people to build them up again. Honestly, I would be down if the teachers were really beautiful, hypnotic dancers. But they aren't. It's a cult. Don't waste your money if you want to learn to be a beautiful belly dancer. But if you are looking to tighten up your rump this class will help, hence the one star. Also, if you're convinced that the only way to become great is through self hatred this probably is a good fit for you, too.

I looked forward to the technical style of teaching and technique advertised as I approached my first class- the level one beginners drop-in. As a young 54 year-old who has led a sedentary few years in graduate school, I had lost much of my strength and flexibility of late, and as I age. But I have enjoyed dance classes on and off for many years as my preferred exercise plan- including belly dance. My goal was to take courses over the four weeks that I was visiting here to get fitter.In class, so many students were extremely flexible, and the warm-up was good, but demanding. Alas, I was unable to either kneel on the wood floor, nor accomplish 20 boys push-ups. I modified the kneeling parts to keep up with the class, and also did a plank for 10 counts, instead of the push-ups, until my arms were shaking. Then, I dropped flat and tightened my core as I let my arms recover so I would be able to continue with the class as the push-ups part were done. This is when my class experience was abruptly ended in the warm-up.The secondary teacher come over to me and said that there was etiquette that I was infringing, as I recovered my arms (for 5 counts?) in the layout position on the floor. In addition, that I was affecting the energy of the whole class. She asked me to follow her and was escorted me out of the room. I was surprised and taken aback, but wanted to respond gracefully, so I quietly followed her and got dressed to leave. I did try to speak with her outside of the class as I prepared to leave. I shared that I was trying, but apparently was not as strong as I hoped to be. She mentioned that modifications were acceptable, yet, had not offered any to me. I must admit that I was slightly mortified by this experience and have had disturbed sleep trying to imagine what I could have done differently to not "offend my class's energy/etiquette", as it was claimed. In my other dance/yoga/exercise classes over the years, including belly and flamenco at the SF ballet school, I have always had such good class experiences, even if/when I was not as strong or flexible as some of the other students, and self-modified if needed. I was always made to feel welcome and appreciated in all my dance classes in the past.I am not really sure why my class behavior was interpreted this way. This treatment makes me feet a bit like the older, sick animal in the herd that gets culled out by the predator for dinner- as I was "culled" out of this beginner's class, as perhaps, the oldest, and least flexible one there. Yet, even today, I am still graceful, love dance, feeling strong, I was working my body to its potential in class at that moment, and, I was mostly keeping up. I was really looking forward to the core strengthening and isolations and technique. But, I was not able to experience or take advantage of any of it.As it was the Yelp reviews that encouraged me to attend SSS, I felt that others similar to my condition/age might want to be forewarned that a kneeling pad and strong upper arm strength seems to be a prerequisite for the warm-up in level one drop-in class and allowing one to participate in the classes there. Be wary of the possibility that you ability will be perceived as not measuring up, and then being asked to leave because you are affecting the "energy" of the class.