Sahara Dance

Our Faculty

Na’la

Born and raised in the cornfields of Pennsylvania, Na’la first discovered belly dance in 2000, when she was shown the Turku video featuring the Ghawazee dancers (now Zafira). It was love at first sight.

Na'la

She started studying tribal style (teacher: Bambi, VA) and cabaret (teacher: Bonita, VA) and religiously followed the FCBD instructional series. She co-founded Shakra in late 2002, and by 2004, Shakra was getting recognition as a unique performance art troupe that had a style all their own.

Na’la’s choreography and personal style came out of a fusion of all her past experiences. Ballet/tap/jazz during her childhood, creating choreography for talent shows and cheer-leading in middle school, theater from a young age through college, belly dance when she moved to DC, African when she learned it existed, Bhangra, Hip Hop and Modern when she wanted a little something different, her love of movies and cinema, and her own personal exploration and willingness to delve into her dark side; all these mold and shape her art.

She is honored to be a teacher in the dance community, and hopes her students will incorporate what they learn into their own artist dance expression. Na’la also looks forward to being a student for the rest of her life.