Jamilla – Shadow Dancer

"What we hear is the quality of our listening."
– Robert Fripp

Desert Veils was founded by Jamilla in March, 1999, as Moab Utah's first belly dance troupe. There was nobody else teaching in this remote region at that time, yet few people were more qualified to bring the art of the ancient dance to this desert.

Jamilla of Desert Veils in Moab Utah
Jamilla

Jamilla is life-long professional dancer and dance instructor who began with classical ballet at the age of 4. She brings a high level of professionalism and discipline to her work, holding herself and her students to a very high standard in this desolate and isolated place.

She teaches two classes a week – advanced and beginners – in an old warehouse building in a studio that only recently installed barres. The ancient, rusting swamp-cooler drips in a corner of the small room, giving little relief from the heat. The building sits on the edge of a small town in the middle of the desert. Yet the dancing that is studied and performed in this unlikely space is of the highest quality. Jamilla insists on the best, and she is a good enough teacher to draw it out from those of her students who are willing to meet her efforts with their own.

Dancing In Utah

Jamilla's first teachers were Russians, and they were very strict about form even with their youngest dancers. "They didn't speak – they hit!", she said. "With a ruler." Jamilla credits her turnout, and her ability to this day to do splits with both legs, on the rigorous discipline of her early training. The Russians took their art very seriously, and instilled their belief in the importance of discipline and training into their students.

A descendant of pioneers, Jamilla grew up all over the United States, including Utah, which has never been known as a dance center. Jamilla and her older sister pursued dancing regardless, and in the mid-70's Jamilla studied Modern Dance and Classical Ballet as a dance major at Utah State University in Logan.

Dancing in Public

Jamilla studied belly dancing for over two years before she felt ready to perform in public.

Her first public belly dancing performance was given during a USU event in 1977. The belly dancing was prominently featured in the promotional advertising, and Jamilla said that every Arab on the Wasatch Front came to the performance. They could hardly believe there was a belly dancer in all of Utah. The auditorium held 3,000 people; the Arabs filled the first two tiers.

Jamilla had to walk through the audience to reach the stage – the way parted before her like the Red Sea. She danced alone. She was terrified until the music started, and then she entered her zone and brought down the house...

Dancing in San Francisco

She left Utah and studied dance with her sister in San Francisco, which at that time was becoming the center for a new style of belly dancing, called American Tribal Style. Jamilla's sister was a student of Jamila Salimpour's and a dancer at the Casbah. Jamilla was inspired to master the new dance, which she found incredibly beautiful.

Dancing in Hawaii

After Jamilla and her sister spent some time in Hawaii studying the Hula in the late 70's, Jamilla returned to her studies at Utah State.

Dancing in School

She got straight A's through two years of university-level ballet, under Maggie Moar. Jamilla also studied dance therapy, choreography, and folk dancing, and worked through the entire modern dance series under Marueen Taufer. She directed a belly dance troupe named Mountain Veils for two years, and taught at the Alliance for Varied Arts in Logan from 1978 - 1984.

Jamilla pursued a double-major in Environmental Studies and Dance. Her Masters' Thesis is titled: Non-Point Source Water Pollution from Non-Coal Abandoned Mines.

She continued to study belly dancing, and is still grateful for the training she received from a Lebanese drummer, her late friend Naz Samarrae. "He taught me how to shimmy," she said. "He'd play on and on. One time he played and kept me dancing non-stop for nearly half an hour, 'to see what you're made of', he said." He'd change the beat because "that's how you learn."

She continued her dance education with Carolena Nerricchio and Dahlia Carella, with some swing and ballroom dance for variety.

Dancing in the Desert

In the late 90's Jamilla moved to Moab, in the high desert of southeastern Utah. She founded Desert Veils Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Troupe, which took root and is now thriving. Desert Veils is gaining in reputation and size, and they are a local favorite at arts and music festivals, wedding receptions, and parties.

A talented photographer, Jamilla frequently hikes alone through the desert backcountry, resulting in a unique portfolio. The desert is not an easy place to be, especially for a lone hiker, but Jamilla is completely at home there.

Influenced by Isadora Duncan, who invented Modern Dance by turning to natural forms and energy for inspiration, Jamilla finds her inspiration in the forms and energy of the desert. She finds it in the lessons and patterns of the rocks, the plants, the clouds, the twisted branch of a dead, silvered juniper branch agaist a windswept sky...

Shadow Dancing
Shadow Dancer – A Self Portrait

Jamilla choreographs all of her dances in the desert. She takes her walkman and her pack up to Arches National Park or Canyonlands, and works through all the steps of a new dance from start to finish. She doesn't come down until she's done.

She choreographs and practices while dancing with her shadow in the desert. In the long light towards the end of the day, Jamilla will go out to a stretch of slickrock where her shadow extends far out in front of her, or against a cliff wall, and dances with her muse.

More About Jamilla

"We all dance for different reasons. Some feel empowered when they dance. This comes in many forms. The ancient sisters dance through us- if we are open to it -and through them we see the state of the world. Through them, we are given tools to to ground ourselves and through them, we find the support that surrounds our bodies in times of exhaustion. Like giving birth, preparation is the key and lends itself to breathing, stretching and trust. As long as we reach for the heavens and stay grounded in humility we will be filled with the source."
– Jamilla

Postscript

One night a few weeks ago during October's full moon, Jamilla drove up to Arches National Park around 3:00am, and stopped in the parking lot below the Three Gossips. The moonlight was so bright she could see color in the rocks around her. There was nobody else around for miles and miles; she had the Park to herself. The night was absolutely still. Turning up her car stereo volume full blast, she danced at the Ladies' feet. The monolithic cliffs towered hundreds of feet above her, and the music echoed down into the labrynth of Courhouse Wash and the Petrified Dunes beyond. Balancing a sabre on her head, she danced with her moonlight shadow to the hypnotic music and ancient rhythms for hours, until the the dawn appeared with her rosy fingers over the La Sal mountains...

– Mary Ecsedy, November 11, 2005