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Third generation belly dance star Isabella shares what she learned from Suhaila and Jamila Salimpour, talks about the magic of Bal Anat, and reflects on dancing illegally in Egypt at 8 years old.

About Isabella Salimpour:

Isabella Salimpour is a third generation multidisciplinary artist, dancer, singer, and actress. Daughter of middle eastern dance instructor and performer, Suhaila Salimpour, and granddaughter of Jamila Salimpour. Isabella has been on stage since the early age of two, and assisting in her mother’s workshops since the age of eight. She learned Middle Eastern dance the traditional way, by watching and following at home. In addition to Middle Eastern dance, Isabella has studied a diverse range of movement and performance forms. Including ballet, jazz dance, tap, lyrical, musical theater, music composition, and vocal studies.

She has been a featured performer in several of her mother’s evening length dance productions. Including as a soloist in Enta Omri, a contemporary Middle Eastern dance ballet.

And in Bal Anat, which we all know, the world’s longest running Middle Eastern dance company. She also has a passion for teaching. And has taught workshops to both children and adults at some of the world’s largest Middle Eastern dance festivals.

Isabella lives in New York where she’s earning her BFA in music and jazz vocals, her bachelor in fine arts, at the renowned New School. She’s currently producing her forthcoming extended play, or EP, as we call it, which incorporates Middle Eastern motifs with ethereal melodies, and lyrics.

Isabella, welcome to A Little Lighter. It’s so great to have you on the show.

Isabella Salimpour:

Hi! Thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

Alicia Free:

Do you have a danceable ritual that you would like to share?

Danceable Ritual

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah. I mean, I do it all the time.

I dance when I’m cooking, when I’m watching TV, when I’m painting. Really any time I can incorporate it. I’ll be on the floor painting, doing my glute squeezes.

It’s kind of not even on purpose, just happening. And then I’m like, “Oh, I’m in mid-dance move. Got it.”

And before a show, I would say for me, I just have to listen to the music. I like having my own little private dress rehearsal before going on. Just to get my energy pumping and preparing for everything that’s about to happen.

Alicia Free:

So you like to be a little bit away from the other people in a production, having some of your own time before you get on stage?

Isabella Salimpour:

I do. Yeah. It really depends on what kind of dance I’m in, though. If I’m in a group dance, I’ll definitely want to be with all the people in the dance first, and kind of get our mojo running. Because it’s really about the energy and connecting, to make a good show. More than it is about I feel the choreography. Of course the choreography will be tight, but without the bond and the excitement, it lacks the sort of magic. So I think that’s super important. Then when I’m alone, I try and get my own little magic going on. So I’m like, “You go, girl.” You know, the usual. The use.

Tell us more about glute squeezes…

Alicia Free:

Nice. Now, you were mentioning your glute exercises. Will you talk a little bit more about that? Because I think you’re the cover girl for the online program, and you’re doing some glute squeezes in the pictures. Is that right? Is that you in that picture? Yeah?

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah. I do glute squeezes. I love them. I do them a lot for my friends. They think it’s very funny and awesome. And you can do them on beat with pretty much any song. But yeah, it’s just something that I notice I don’t even do on purpose. It’s just like, “Oh, okay, got it.”

Alicia Free:

It’s just incorporated into your everyday life, some glute squeezes. You’re on the floor and it’s glute squeeze time?

Isabella Salimpour:

Exactly. Yeah. It’s never planned. They just want to appear. They’re really excited.

Alicia Free:

You are certainly Suhaila Salimpour’s daughter. I love it. That’s so awesome.

Danceable Song

Alicia Free:

Is there a danceable song that you would like to share?

Isabella Salimpour:

Honestly, the songs that get me pumping or the cheesy Arabic songs that everyone makes fun of me for absolutely loving. Habibi Ya Aini, just gets me pumped. I just want to dance. Yeah. I’ll just never get over those.

Alicia Free:

Cool. Habibi Ya Aini. Our band used to play that.

Isabella Salimpour:

It’s so good.

Alicia Free:

Yeah. I want to learn all the lyrics and be able to sing it.

What did you learn about dance from your mother Suhaila and your grandmother Jamila?

Isabella Salimpour:

I would say they taught me everything about dance. I grew up watching them dance and watching them teach, watching how they teach, even in their language.

The most important thing that I learned was actually incorporating my own emotion, and phrasing to dance movements to really make it unique.

For example, just specific little arm movements, and how you can move your head with that. And how that changes the emotion of the song, and things like that. Which I found important and helpful, just because it really helped me connect with the dance and the song.

Each of us, we all have our own different phrasings. My mom, she didn’t really teach me her phrasing, but I know her phrasing. She does a lot of head backdrops. She does a lot of quick arm waves that lead to like a exterior hip circle, or like a specific undulations. It’s a little hard to explain, but it’s always very her.

They never told me how to dance, or like how to get a movement, unless it was technique wise. And they felt I could be doing it better, or I wasn’t getting it. One way that I really enjoy that my mom teaches, is when she teaches her choreographies. She always teaches it by talking about the emotion of each movement.

So like when you hit out and you’re in straddle, then you come back in, she talks about what you’re feeling. So not only is it that movement, but it’s the energy that goes with it, and how you’re incorporating a moment. And then of course you come up with your own moment, which comes with the emotional prep of working with the song, and the dance. I always enjoy the choreographies that she does that with the most. Like Enta Omri, we did that a lot. And that show, I was really emotionally connected to.

Alicia Free:

In episode 36 of this podcast, Anna Horn was talking about being part of the creation of that show, too. When your mom was first birthing it, if you will.

And she’s talking a lot about the emotional aspects of it, that’s pretty amazing. I haven’t heard of other people choreographing like that. So I think that’s really special.

When your grandmother, Jamila, was nearing the end of her life. She lived with you and your mother.

What was it like to have three generations of dancers in your house?

Isabella Salimpour:

For me, it was normal. I’ve always been super close with my family. And my grandma was practically at our house every day, no matter what. And she was a huge part in raising me. I can’t imagine really a day without her involved.

So it felt complete.

It felt really nice. I was raised by both of them and we had such a special bond. So it was just beautiful. And I’m so thankful to have been home during that time to share that moment with her, and to share that moment with my mom. it was really beautiful and really genuine.

Alicia Free:

Yeah. It’s special. I’m asking my mom to come live with me over and over again. And she’s not into it yet, or maybe never will be. But I just really admire when a family enjoys spending time together, and can be together. It’s really wonderful that you guys could do it.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah. Oh my God. We’re all super close. If anything, maybe a little too close.

Alicia Free:

What do you remember about belly dancing on stage illegally in Egypt when you were only eight years old?

Isabella Salimpour:

I remember my mom first off mentally preparing me. And then I remember getting to backstage and trying to go backstage, and I was in a coverup, but I was in my costume. He could tell. And the security guard would not let us back there. And my mom said, “Go.” And I snuck behind the curtain, and I went back and she was talking to him. And supposedly he actually quit after that. Because he thought he was going to be in so much trouble. But of course, technically we weren’t doing anything illegal just because we were under American protection in that certain aspect.

But yeah, it was crazy.

And then I got on stage and people were shocked. The news showed up, everyone started recording. People had never seen something like that.

And even the next day we were walking on the streets, and people would come up to me. And there was a bunch of news articles about me, and pictures of me dancing. And everyone was just shocked. It was a huge deal. People could not believe it. And some people were like, woohoo! And some people were like, hell no. You know what I mean? Yeah. That was interesting.

Alicia Free:

Because kids in general are not allowed to perform on stage in Egypt. That’s the law at the time at least. Right?

Isabella Salimpour:

Oh yeah. It’s super illegal.

I think also because in the Middle East, dancing, people view it differently. Like in America I noticed people have a different perception about it than in the Middle East. It’s a little more serious in the Middle East in terms of a role.

So I think when kids do it, people freak out. Or at least they used to.

Alicia Free:

Baby Fayrouz, they were comparing you to kind of a Shirley Temple figure in Egypt at the time. Pretty cool. So yeah. You were causing serious controversy at a very young age. Congratulations.

Isabella Salimpour:

Thank you.

Alicia Free:

So you weren’t scared?

Isabella Salimpour:

Honestly, everything we do is different. Growing up, I couldn’t really relate to anybody.

So someone’s telling me that’s weird, or that’s wrong. I’m like, well, I don’t get that. It just doesn’t click with me. So I think at eight years old, I was like, well, I’m doing my thing. Y’all do your thing.

Social Media, Pressure and Expectations

Alicia Free:

And your mom also mentioned that she kept you out of social media until you were about 18.

Isabella Salimpour:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). She never wanted me to feel pressured into this life, in terms of holding the legacy. Which I gladly want to do. And I’m excited to do. And I’m super thankful to be a part of.

But just in general it can be a lot of pressure just because there’s stigma around my family, which creates external preconceived notions from people.

And then there’s people who expect a lot from me like, “Oh, what are you going to create?” And I think she didn’t want me to have that kind of pressure at a young age. Because that’s something that she felt immediately growing up, because she started really early.

So yeah, she just wanted me to do what I wanted to do. And express myself how I wanted to express myself. And then she wanted to wait until she felt I was old enough, which I really appreciate. I think that’s a great way to do things. I will do that with my children.

Alicia Free:

She did mention a conversation with you when you were 11, where you felt pressure. People were saying, “Oh, what are you going to create? Your mother created this format, your grandmother created this format. What are you going to create?” And I think that was part of her decision with social media.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah, definitely.

I mean, as a kid, I had a lot of people coming up to me like, “I can’t wait until you create your format.”

And that all comes from love. Nobody was trying to put pressure. They just kind of assumed that.

But as a kid, that’s a little bit of pressure. Because I’m also like, well maybe I want to play soccer.

I think that’s why she decided to do that.

Alicia Free:

Even as an adult, we don’t realize that we’re saying the same thing to people over and over again. The person that receives it knows that the same thing has been said to them over and over again.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah.

Alicia Free:

It’s like when someone’s in fourth grade, everyone says, “Oh, do you like your teacher?” It’s like, they get so tired of hearing this question over and over again. What’s your favorite subject in college? Like we have these canned questions that we ask everybody at a certain stage of life. At least in American culture. I could tell you what those questions are. And so you had this lineage. These expectations coming from all kinds of people, and you had to keep on hearing these questions. So it sounds like you’ve really come to terms with them. Like you’ve been given the tools, and you’ve done the work to figure out how you respond, and what you really want.

Isabella Salimpour:

Oh yeah, definitely. This is something I love, and I want to be a part of. And I’m thankful that people associate me with the lineage. I’m happy to be a part of it. But also as a young girl, you don’t reach that stage yet where you’re like, “Oh, I can do what I want to do. The pressure doesn’t necessarily matter. I can do what I want to do in life.” And so as a young kid, you’re like, okay, I got to start… I even got a little notebook and I was like, okay, kick ball change. What’s the next move? Add a little figure eight here. It’s very funny.

Alicia Free:

I think that’s just helpful for us all to hear to realize what question we keep asking people that they might not want to answer anymore. You spoke a little bit of this already. I’m going to ask you just for a little bit more. So you’re in your early 20s. Do you think ballet dance is just part of your life now? Or do you think you’ll be belly dancing your whole life?

Isabella Salimpour:

This is definitely a life thing for me. I’m definitely going to be doing this for the rest of my life. And this is definitely going to carry on throughout my family. Whether, let’s say my kids are going to be immediately involved or not.

I definitely want to keep this alive. This is such a unique lineage, and it’s something that really made me who I am.

I feel like the reason I was able to grow, and mature, and be comfortable with myself was because of this format and the way I was raised. And yeah, I’m really excited to do all that; to dance, to teach, to direct. I think it’s just so beautiful. It’s a huge way for people to connect. I’ve seen so many people benefit from it. And I just think it’s wonderful.

Alicia Free:

She’s a lifer. I love it. If we belly dance for 10 years, we get so many benefits from it. But if we dabble in it for six months or a year, like it’s a Zumba class, or a step class or just one piece of your dance vocabulary, we miss so much. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong. But there’s so much that you never get.

Isabella Salimpour:

Oh no, definitely. In terms of movement, in terms of choreography. And then also in terms of community.

The belly dance community is one of the best communities I’ve ever been involved with personally myself.

Everyone’s different, everyone’s from a different place. Everyone looks different. And I just think it’s beautiful.

It shows you like, wow, we don’t need to look or be a certain way.

And then it also shows you that people from different places can connect, which is beautiful.

Also, it’s really body empowering. Just being able to move your body in that sort of way. And have that kind of control over your body, whether you’re using it in a sensual way, or whether you’re doing technique, whatever you’re doing. I think it’s beautiful that you even have that kind of control over your body.

Alicia Free:

I agree that the belly dance community is just so much fun, and interesting, and funky people with very different perspectives. A lot of very alternative kinds of mindsets, and it is pretty fantastic.

Isabella Salimpour:

Definitely.

Alicia Free:

And another thing too, I mean you’re studying music. And have been exposed to so much Middle Eastern music. If you put the time in as a dancer, you’ll get the music so much more. There’s so much available there. That’s not available to most people that listen to the top 40 radio in the US.

Isabella Salimpour:

Oh yeah. Sometimes I’ll be talking to my jazz friends because I studied jazz. And they’re like, jazz, Arabic music has the standards, the classics. And they’re also important to learn on top of the top 40s and things like that. Because they’re done by all different types of musicians, and they’re all done differently, and they will have a different style and feeling to them. But it’s the same lyrics.

And also the lyrics are, at least in Arabic, so poetic. It’s just gorgeous.

Alicia Free:

Do you want to talk at all about any similarities you see between jazz and different middle Eastern music? Genres or composers, anything like that?

How are Jazz and Middle Eastern Music Similar?

Isabella Salimpour:

Sure. What I really love about jazz, and what I really love about Middle Eastern music is that they’re both really, really complex, and profound. And possibly in different ways. I connect mostly with Middle Eastern music through intervals and melodies. Like the scales they use, and the mode they use, and just specific things that they use in their music, really move me. And it’s something that I incorporate in my music.

And then with jazz, jazz is just so complex because it’s so intellectual. It’s really hard to understand or connect with jazz. For some people, not all people. Unless you’re really understanding what’s going on, because it can be overwhelming at times. Just everything that’s happening. Because it’s like classical music, but improv.

Both Jazz and Middle Eastern Music are really complex and profound. They both make you think and reflect.

Which I think is interesting, because not all music makes you reflect. And not all people want to reflect when they listen to music.

Alicia Free:

Great point. So your mother mentioned that you have been the finale dancer in Bal Anat. What was that like?

What does Bal Anat represent to you?

Isabella Salimpour:

I love being the finale dancer I’ve been doing Bal Anat my whole life. So I’ve done a lot of dances, and I love all the dances. What I love about the finale dance is that it’s supposed to symbolize the transition from tribal to cabaret. And not like so literal, like, Oh, we went from tribal to cabaret. But the immersion of a new subculture of dance in our lives, which is why Bal Anat is very tribal.

Each dance is their own community. So you have the pot dancers, and they’re from a specific community. You have the Moroccan, you have the Algerian. And the finale dancer is the person who represents everyone, emerging into this new world.

So that’s been really beautiful for me to express. And I’m really honored to represent everyone at the end of the show, and represent the show itself; and my grandma and my mom.

Bal Anat is magic to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s one big community of people from all different places, all genders, all sizes, everything. Nobody feels uncomfortable. It’s just kind of one big family. And it’s really, really beautiful to see. There’s probably like 60 to 90 people in the cast, which is insane. But everybody is bonded. It’s like a little circus.

Alicia Free:

Did your grandmother tell you anything about when she was a circus?

Jamila Salimpour in the Circus

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah. The only thing she told me was how much she loved the elephants. And how she thought was so messed up, that they were so cruel to them. Because, she used to ride elephants. That was her surface talent. And then how she got sent home because everyone got lice. And that’s why she stopped working at the circus. But she tells me that it was intense, in that community. And it wasn’t necessarily all positive, but it wasn’t all negative. It was just like an experience.

Alicia Free:

Everyone got sent home because of lice.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yes. Because they were like, what? Everyone’s itching? Go home!

Alicia Free:

So interesting.

Jamila Salimpour was the elephant rider.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yes. And that’s why elephants are actually her favorite animal. That’s why for her birthday, we always donate to the elephant charities. Because she used to ride elephants and she used to be so bonded with them when she was in the circus. And she hated how cruel they were to the elephants, because she was part of Ringling Brothers.

Damn Sexy Dance Move: Down to Up Figure 8

Alicia Free:

What damn sexy dance move would you like to share?

Isabella Salimpour:

I am a figure eight girl. I love figure eights. I would have to say my favorite figure eight is a down to up figure eight. With our movements that follow the hips. I just think that is so cute. And it’s like, you’re moving through lava. I love doing it slow, too. It’s a down up figure eight.

Let’s say your right hip starts down and your left hip starts up, and you scoop up through the side. Kind of like how you do normal up to down figure eight, but it’s a down up figure eight.

Alicia Free:

Okay. So it’s on a vertical plane. So is it also called an up Maya sometimes?

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah.

Alicia Free:

Because you’re not really moving forward or back. You’re really just scooping up. Like you’re between two panes of glass kind of thing.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yes.

Alicia Free:

Cool. And when your arms follow, are they snake arms? What are the arms look like?

Isabella Salimpour:

I actually liked to do like little ice cream scoop arms. I mean, it’s a little snaky because they have to be loose. It can’t just be like chop, chop. But I like to scoop up with the hips and have the arms a little bit in front of the body. And a little bit of a shoulder movement with it, like a shoulder roll back.

Alicia Free:

Is it like you’re coaxing the hips up?

Isabella Salimpour:

Kind of. It’s like you’re hypnotizing someone.

It’s like a hypnotic thing. Where everything’s kind of moving at the same time.

A moving tick-tock clock, but not really.

Alicia Free:

Cool. I remember my dance teacher teaching one of these up maya’s, the up down figure eight, as you’re calling it. There was a little like scoop at the hip. I always thought of it as coaxing the hip up, and helping the audience, ask your hip to lift. I’m wondering if it looks like that.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah.

Alicia Free:

It was so great interviewing your mom. And her saying probably every belly dancer in North America has been touched by her format. And I just went, Oh my God, that must’ve been so much of what I was learning, with my first teacher.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah.

Alicia Free:

So pretty cool. Because I haven’t gone into your family’s format.

Isabella Salimpour:

Oh my God. No way.

Alicia Free:

Yep. I haven’t started any of it yet. So it’s been really fun to learn all about it this way. Learning about you guys first, actually before. So I’m hoping a lot of listeners will feel that same way. Where they’re getting to know you and your mother first, and then stepping into the format.

Isabella Salimpour:

I feel like that’s really important. There’s a lot of, like I said, preconceived notions about many things, either positive or negative. So it’s always good to get to know the family behind the training, for sure.

Alicia Free:

Yeah. Especially because you guys are so community oriented. And so much of what you do is for this bond and this relationship between people.

Isabella Salimpour:

Absolutely. We’re huge on that.

Featured Lighten My Body Food: Nutritional Yeast

Alicia Free:

What is one vegan whole food ingredient that you love?

Isabella Salimpour:

My roommate in New York is super vegan. So she put me on to a lot of vegan things. And every time we eat popcorn, she sprinkles nutritional yeast on top of it. Because it kind of tastes like Parmesan cheese. So you’ll put vegan butter in it and then you’ll put nutritional yeast on top and mix it in. And it’s so good. It tastes like one of those nacho cheese sprinkle, popcorn things.

Alicia Free:

Have you ever heard it called nooch?

Isabella Salimpour:

No.

Alicia Free:

Yes. Like a slang term for nutritional yeast. Which I also love.

Isabella Salimpour:

I love that.

Alicia Free:

And a lot of it is fortified with B12, which is something that vegans can’t get from plants. Vitamin D and B12, are the only two things that we can’t get from a whole food plant based diet. So I also love nutritional yeast very much. And it’s unknown. So many people are living their lives without having it on their pasta. And it’s just such a delicious thing, especially on popcorn.

Cheatin’ Millet Croquettes Italian Style

Isabella Salimpour:

I put my mom onto it. Because usually we eat popcorn, we put olive oil. I know we’re so Italian for this. But we put olive oil on our popcorn and then we put garlic salt. And I was like, Oh my God, mom, we have to try to nutritional yeast with our garlic salt, olive oil popcorn. It’s so good. And now she’s obsessed.

Alicia Free:

Nice. I just made a sauce that went with a quinoa salad that I made. And it was nutritional yeast, and tahini, and garlic all blended together. And fresh lemon and some olive oil, and it was so good. It was from the Oh She Glows cookbook, this amazing vegan cookbook. It was my first time mixing nutritional yeast, and tahini, and lemon. And it was just on the moon delicious. Good one.

Make You Shine Costume Tip: Wear Nude Colored Underwear

Alicia Free:

What is one costume tip that you would like to share?

Isabella Salimpour:

Wear nude underwear, because you are always bound to accidentally flash. And if you’re underwear’s a different color, or if you’re not wearing any underwear at all, the audience gets a surprise. So yeah, it’s always good to wear nude underwear. Because then nobody really notices that it’s a costume slip. They just think, “Oh, I saw a leg,” or something like that. But when it’s a different color, people definitely know.

Alicia Free:

Good one. I think I have one pair of nude underwear somewhere from some Cleopatra costume I made.

Isabella Salimpour:

Oh. Also, sewing them into your costume is helpful.

Alicia Free:

Right. Because some costumes don’t have the sides for any underwear. Have you done that before?

Isabella Salimpour:

Sewn them in?

Alicia Free:

Yeah.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah. Actually my Bal Anat costume, my underwear is sewn in. Yeah. Because that skirt is crazy. If I didn’t have them sewn in I would be a mess, girl.

Alicia Free:

Yeah. You just don’t know what’s going to happen.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah. For real.

Feel Good, Look Good Habit: In the morning stretch, drink water and listen to the birds

Alicia Free:

Do you have a feel good, look good habit that you want to share?

Isabella Salimpour:

Yes. I do. The routine that actually is ingrained in my life, is just having a cup of coffee, taking my vitamins with a big glass of water. And stretching while I’m drinking my coffee, and listening to bird sounds. It’s just what I love to do in the morning. It clears my head, because it’s really easy to wake up in the morning and be like, “All right, I have this to do. And I have this to do. And I have with this whole plan today.” But yeah, I would say mornings are my favorite time to really decompress. Because, at night I do decompress too. But I’m also like, well, I’m going to go out, too. And I get distracted at night. So morning is great.

Alicia Free:

So drink a cup of coffee, drink a whole glass of water with your vitamins, and stretch, and listen to the birds.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah.

Alicia Free:

That’s lovely.

Tell us about something exciting that you have coming up.

Isabella Salimpour:

Well, I would say my EP, is very exciting. This is something that I started working on a year ago actually. And I taught myself everything. So this being done is like a huge accomplishment, at least internally, just for me. Just the fact that I was able to get this done. I’m just really, really excited for this. This is actually what’s keeping me alive during the quarantine. Is just creating, and exploring. And knowing that at least I’ll come out of this with something that I would have had on my checklist, even if this wasn’t happening.

Alicia Free:

Feels like forward movement.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah, definitely. I don’t feel like I’m sitting still. Because I go to school for music. And so my goal is to release something that I created, and I’m emotionally connected to. And I’ve been wanting to do that for a really long time. So this is awesome.

Alicia Free:

Great. And just so you know, this is being recorded during April of 2020. You might be listening to this years down the road, but this is being recorded during the coronavirus epidemic, of 2020.

Isabella Salimpour:

Yeah.

Alicia Free:

Isabella, thank you so much for being our youngest guests that we’ve ever had on a little lighter. And representing the 20 somethings out there. Really appreciate it, and having your perspective. And thank you so much for what you have done and what you’re going to do for the arts. And what your family has done for the arts, and that you’re part of it. And it’s a beautiful thing, and let’s just keep on expanding and growing the arts in our lives.

Isabella Salimpour:

Thank you so much for having me. This has been such an honor.

Alicia Free:

Best of luck with your music education, and with your career in the arts.

Isabella Salimpour:

Thank you!