Qabila Foundation

Alia

Alia Gamal grew up in Orange County, California surrounded by her Arabic family, as well as other Arabic immigrant families. This influence created a love for history, art and music and inspired her to study Arabic music, dance, and cultural anthropology as an adult. Through her studies, Alia continues to find Arabic dance connecting her back to her roots and heritage. This connection has been further fostered by studying and working with Aubre Hill and the Qabila Folkdance Company. She is inspired to share the Arabic art that helped her explore her own identity in ways that can also represent the culture to others.

Amy Lea (Dancer)

Janan (Dancer)

Janan started learning bellydance in the 1980s in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, where she studied with Simone's Seventh Veil Dance Troupe, of which she was a member for about three years. She continued learning (with Sadia Camille) and performing while living for several years in Tokyo, Japan. She has trained with a number of instructors in the Bay Area including at the Suhaila Salimpour School (where she was Level 2 certified) and has been a student of Monica Berini for several years, concentrating mainly on Egyptian styles. She is a founding member of troupe Khamsa, which also focuses on folkloric dance. She has also been a student of Middle Eastern percussion with Mary Ellen Donald for more than 10 years.

Melody Burns (Dancer)

Rachel Noel (Dancer)

Rachel Noel is an award- winning fusion dance artist who’s been creating and sharing art for 25 years. She has performed and competed in dance troupes and as a soloist in Oregon, Nevada, Canada, Europe and all over California. She studies with a wide variety of teachers and thoughtfully incorporates inspirations from many different dance styles to create her own explorative signature voice. 

Rachel grew up in Bakersfield, CA studying Western dance styles, including ballet, jazz, hip- hop, contemporary and modern dance. As a child, she was also deeply passionate about theatre arts and music, splitting most of her after school time between dance classes, choir practice and play rehearsals. Her love for the performing arts followed her into young adulthood, when she took her first bellydance classes at 18 years old after years of being inspired by this incredibly special dance form.

In 2015, Rachel began studying Turkish Oryantal with Nilay, joining her dance troupe Zultanite after a few months of dedicated study. Since then, has performed with multiple troupes and studied folk traditions, cabaret and fusion styles with such amazing artists & teachers as Shoshanna, Zoe Jakes, Kami Liddle, Aubre Hill, and Amy Sigil. Rachel is a graduate of several advanced level intensive dance programs, including Massive Academy 2023 and two Butoh training courses at the Ren Gyo Soh school out of New York State. In 2020, Rachel won multiple awards at the Hamilton International Bellydance Competition and a nomination for Best in Fusion at the Raqs International Film Festival. In 2021, she won a Cali Catalyst grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation to support her project, Only Skin Deep, which uplifts the voices and talents of artists of color and mixed heritage in Humboldt County, CA. In 2022, she won multiple awards at the Bellydancer USA competition and was acknowledged as the City of Eureka’s Artist of the Month for November.

Rachel is a teacher, arts event producer & curator, host & director, youth mentor & educator, child & family caregiver, socio- emotional wellness facilitator, human rights & community advocate and non- profit volunteer.

Roxie (Dancer)

Roxie, a dancer of mixed Mexican-American-African heritage, cultivated an early passion for physical movement through gymnastics, hip-hop dance, swimming, and theater. As she matured, her interests shifted toward formal dance studies, including salsa and tango, with a particular passion and admiration for belly dance. She currently performs with Mind's Eye dance company, featuring Jill Parker. Having studied different forms of belly dance for over a decade, Roxie is thrilled to join Qabila, where she looks forward to deepening her engagement with the rich traditions of Arabic music and dance culture.

Starlight (Dancer)