clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2007-04-06 04:23 pm
clevermanka) wrote2007-04-06 04:23 pm
Entry tags:
Suhaila workshop dirt
The Friday workshops were great. I attended Rashid’s Folklore Fusion choreography and Kendra’s Hip Hop Bellydance classes. I didn’t do Tiffany’s since I was trying to save money and I’ve taken taqsim workshops before. Rashid was excellent—a perfect instructor, IMO. Very patient, clear, and energetic without being overwhelming. I’m not big on choreography-centered classes, but I enjoyed his. I wish Kendra has based her class more on technique. I would have enjoyed a class doing nothing but working on the unfamiliar stylizations and going back and forth across the floor. I was pretty uninterested in the choreography about halfway through the class. Not my thing. I had hoped to get some ideas on how to move my body in a new way, but she wasn’t very good at breaking down (ha ha) the technique and moved to choreography way too fast.
But now the Saturday and Sunday workshops. I have no idea if they were any good or not because I couldn’t attend a single bit of any of them. The schedule said Jamila Salimpour format Saturday morning; Zills Saturday afternoon. Well, apparently Jamila Salimpour format means all zills all the time. Now, a small group of zills, played in synch, by people who know what they’re doing is fine. But a group of fifty, with various levels of capability, and various tones of zills—not ok. I know from experience that such a noise gives me a terrible headache. And when I get headaches, they can last for days. So on Saturday morning, after warmup, when Suhaila said to get zils, I raised my hand. “I thought zils were in the afternoon?” I asked hopefully.
Suhaila assumed that I had (horror of horrors) forgotten my zills, and I got a lecture about how her mom would’ve been outraged to know a dancer didn’t bring zils to a workshop and a dancer should always carry zils in her purse, blah blah. I didn’t bother explaining that wasn’t my point. I just left the room when the workshop started. I waited outside in the lobby for a while, hoping that at some point the footwork would get difficult enough that the zilling would die down. No such luck. This group was a bunch of troopers.
I went back after lunch, thinking that now at least I could do the afternoon workshop. After a brief second warm-up, Suhaila told everyone to go get their zils again. Again, I had to leave. I waited for a little while, hoping things would quiet down, but no.
Sunday morning , it was the exact same thing. Warm up and then immediate zils. I was about in tears (I saved those for the bathroom, at least). I went and told Lois and Ken I was going to try to catch an earlier flight back home since it was obvious I wasn’t going to be able to do the morning workshop, either. Lois was very, very kind and gave me a little money to make up for it, but it didn’t cover even half of what I paid for the workshops, much less the airfare, hotel, and food to go to a workshop I didn’t get to attend most of.
While Tiffany and Kendra led the warm-up, I walked over to Suhaila and told her I was very disappointed that I didn’t get to do any of the workshop, that I’d been so much looking forward to learning her mother’s technique, but I simply couldn’t handle that much zilling. Before I even got half my explanation out, she said “Well, the drum choreography doesn’t use zils.” I told her my plane left at 4:00. She laughed and said “Well, that’s the way it goes,” or something equally flip. I honestly don't remember her exact words, because it was obvious she was blowing me off and I actually started to feel faint from disappointment. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I couldn't believe she could be so cavalier about it.
I was crushed. I wasn’t asking her to give me money back. I wasn’t hoping for anything except “Oh, I’m really sorry you didn’t get to do the workshop.” But she was obviously in too much of a hurry to get back to the Very Important Conversation she was having with one of the vendors.
That thirty-second interaction with Suhaila Salimpour guaranteed that I will never spend another dime on one of her workshops. In July of last year I was so impressed with her Level One class that I thought I’d take future classes and maybe even test for certification. Perhaps even do a full workshop at the studio in California. Not now.
I have no illusions that Suhaila’s School of Dance will suffer from losing my money. But I can tell you, seeing her disregard for the feelings of someone who can only afford to take one workshop a year? That speaks volumes for how she really feels about people. And I would rather spend my money elsewhere.
It’s too bad, Suhaila. Too bad you couldn’t spare thirty seconds to even pretend like you cared. You have some great ideas about dance and technique. You have amazing charisma and charm. But when it comes down to actual treatment of people, you really suck.
(x-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bellydancing)
But now the Saturday and Sunday workshops. I have no idea if they were any good or not because I couldn’t attend a single bit of any of them. The schedule said Jamila Salimpour format Saturday morning; Zills Saturday afternoon. Well, apparently Jamila Salimpour format means all zills all the time. Now, a small group of zills, played in synch, by people who know what they’re doing is fine. But a group of fifty, with various levels of capability, and various tones of zills—not ok. I know from experience that such a noise gives me a terrible headache. And when I get headaches, they can last for days. So on Saturday morning, after warmup, when Suhaila said to get zils, I raised my hand. “I thought zils were in the afternoon?” I asked hopefully.
Suhaila assumed that I had (horror of horrors) forgotten my zills, and I got a lecture about how her mom would’ve been outraged to know a dancer didn’t bring zils to a workshop and a dancer should always carry zils in her purse, blah blah. I didn’t bother explaining that wasn’t my point. I just left the room when the workshop started. I waited outside in the lobby for a while, hoping that at some point the footwork would get difficult enough that the zilling would die down. No such luck. This group was a bunch of troopers.
I went back after lunch, thinking that now at least I could do the afternoon workshop. After a brief second warm-up, Suhaila told everyone to go get their zils again. Again, I had to leave. I waited for a little while, hoping things would quiet down, but no.
Sunday morning , it was the exact same thing. Warm up and then immediate zils. I was about in tears (I saved those for the bathroom, at least). I went and told Lois and Ken I was going to try to catch an earlier flight back home since it was obvious I wasn’t going to be able to do the morning workshop, either. Lois was very, very kind and gave me a little money to make up for it, but it didn’t cover even half of what I paid for the workshops, much less the airfare, hotel, and food to go to a workshop I didn’t get to attend most of.
While Tiffany and Kendra led the warm-up, I walked over to Suhaila and told her I was very disappointed that I didn’t get to do any of the workshop, that I’d been so much looking forward to learning her mother’s technique, but I simply couldn’t handle that much zilling. Before I even got half my explanation out, she said “Well, the drum choreography doesn’t use zils.” I told her my plane left at 4:00. She laughed and said “Well, that’s the way it goes,” or something equally flip. I honestly don't remember her exact words, because it was obvious she was blowing me off and I actually started to feel faint from disappointment. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I couldn't believe she could be so cavalier about it.
I was crushed. I wasn’t asking her to give me money back. I wasn’t hoping for anything except “Oh, I’m really sorry you didn’t get to do the workshop.” But she was obviously in too much of a hurry to get back to the Very Important Conversation she was having with one of the vendors.
That thirty-second interaction with Suhaila Salimpour guaranteed that I will never spend another dime on one of her workshops. In July of last year I was so impressed with her Level One class that I thought I’d take future classes and maybe even test for certification. Perhaps even do a full workshop at the studio in California. Not now.
I have no illusions that Suhaila’s School of Dance will suffer from losing my money. But I can tell you, seeing her disregard for the feelings of someone who can only afford to take one workshop a year? That speaks volumes for how she really feels about people. And I would rather spend my money elsewhere.
It’s too bad, Suhaila. Too bad you couldn’t spare thirty seconds to even pretend like you cared. You have some great ideas about dance and technique. You have amazing charisma and charm. But when it comes down to actual treatment of people, you really suck.
(x-posted to
bellydancing)