Core Dimension™: Suhaila Salimpour’s Movement Practice​

A Research-Based Framework for Dynamic Embodiment, Somatic Awareness, and Contextual Movement

 

Core Dimension™ is the movement methodology created by Suhaila Salimpour, housed within the Salimpour Center for Embodied Dance and Cultural Studies. It serves as the foundational practice of Suhaila’s approach to SWANA dance, while also functioning as a standalone somatic discipline that can be applied to daily movement, communication, and across diverse dance and movement traditions.

 

Rooted in decades of research, teaching, and embodied study, Core Dimension™ develops somatic awareness, embodiment, musicality, and intentional movement. It integrates anatomical alignment, rhythm, emotional intent, and spatial awareness, exploring how movement interacts with cultural, social, and performative contexts.

Core Principles

Core Dimension™ engages the body and mind through somatic understanding, structure, and awareness of space. Its framework draws from both traditional SWANA movement practices and modern somatic theory, integrating Suhaila’s signature elements such as gridwork, timing structures, and emotional intent.

 

Students cultivate grounded movement, coordination, and a conscious relationship between motion and meaning—skills that extend across dance and movement traditions.

Applications

Core Dimension™ supports multiple professional, creative, and personal contexts

  • Personal Practice: Use Core Dimension™ as a daily somatic discipline to improve posture, fluidity, coordination, and presence.
  • Dance & Performance: Apply principles to choreography, improvisation, and stage placement in any dance or movement form.
  • Teaching & Instruction: Core Dimension™ provides the foundational principles for instructors in Suhaila Salimpour’s programs, including teacher licensing courses offered through her online Institute.
  • Workplace & Communication: Apply Core Dimension™ principles to professional environments—cultivating presence when entering a room, sustaining energy during meetings or presentations, and integrating breath and grounded posture in public speaking.
  • Cross-Disciplinary Integration: Adapt Core Dimension™ principles to contemporary, theatrical, or fusion movement while maintaining the intentional essence of the form.
  • Everyday Life: Transfer gridwork, spatial awareness, and emotional intent to interactions in public, professional, or social settings.

Take the Next Step in Core Dimension™

Learn more about Core Dimension through our various learning platforms and programs.

Context within the Salimpour Ecosystem

Core Dimension™ is a featured component of the Salimpour Library and Archive, which houses over 1,200 hours of instruction by Suhaila Salimpour. It also forms a central part of the Suhaila Salimpour Institute of Online Education, where learners can engage in structured coursework and testing for certification and teacher licensing at various levels.

 

Through the Salimpour Center for Embodied Dance and Cultural Studies, Core Dimension™ continues to expand its reach—bridging dance scholarship, somatic study, and lived cultural expression.

 

Students cultivate grounded movement, coordination, and a conscious relationship between motion and meaning—skills that extend across dance and movement traditions.

Relationship to Yallah™

Core Dimension™ informs the foundation of Yallah™, a Salimpour platform for community and learning experiences. While Yallah™ presents performances, lectures, and events that explore SWANA dance and cultural studies, Core Dimension™ provides the somatic framework and movement language that guide those explorations. Together, they embody the Center’s mission to connect embodied movement practice with cultural inquiry, creative development, and community engagement.

Core Dimension™ is a registered trademark of Suhaila International, representing a proprietary movement methodology developed by Suhaila Salimpour. All Core Dimension™ materials, events, and related intellectual property are protected by copyright and trademark law. Use of the name, content, or materials requires prior written authorization.