Suhaila Salimpour, of Sicilian-Greek and Kurdish-American heritage, is a second-generation belly dancer and a pioneering figure in the global dance community. A former house dancer at the legendary Byblos nightclub in Beverly Hills, she toured internationally for over a decade, performing across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and North America. As the visionary creator of the first codified pedagogy and certification system in belly dance, she transformed both performance and teaching, building a worldwide network rooted in discipline, anatomy, and cultural respect. Now directing the Salimpour School of Dance, she continues her mother’s legacy through global online education, choreography, and community leadership. A recipient of the Gerbode Foundation’s 2024 dance award and the Isadora Duncan Special Award (2023/24), she also serves on multiple dance boards and is completing her MFA in Dance at Saint Mary’s College of California.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Suhaila’s decision to pursue an MFA in Dance after decades on stage

• The need for Arab and immigrant voices in academia

• Her research on how colonization codified cultural dance forms, and the idea of “outside and inside colonization”

• The growth of the Salimpour School into a full online institute

• Three generations of Salimpour women carrying the dance forward