JATILA

Jatila has been dancing since she was a child in New York City. She studied ballet at the American Ballet Theater School and Ethnic Dance from Carola Goya and Mateo, founders/directors of the EthnoAmerican Dance Theater, and danced in their company for six years. After graduating Barnard College she moved to California, and continued studying Bharata Natyam with Katherine Kunhiraman of Berkeley, and spent a year studying Bharata Natyam on a government scholarship in Madras/Chennai with V.P. Dhananjayan. Jatila came to Santa Barbara in 1999 and met Alexandra King, and fell in love with the wide variety of Middle Eastern Dance styles through Alexandra and the UCSB Middle East Ensemble. Jatila is a principal dancer with both the Middle East Ensemble and Alexandra King's Seher, and performs regularly with both troupes. She is also a featured soloist once a month at Shiraz Persian Restaurant at 4444 Hollister Avenue in Santa Barbara. Besides her classical and folkloric training, Jatila has been folk dancing since she was 8. She performs Bulgarian and Macedonian dance with Nova Zdravitsa, Santa Barbara's Balkan Performing Ensemble. Tamil World said of her, "She was born to dance. Her feet are meant for rhythm (thala) and her face for expression (bhava)."

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