Dance with Aqeela A.

Aqeela first fell in love with dance at the age of five in Brooklyn, New York. Her earliest memories of dance include learning jazz, tap, and ballet at The Dance Spot, a local dance studio. While attending Talent Unlimited, a performing arts High School in New York, she had the opportunity to go beyond her daily ballet and modern training by studying graham technique with The Martha Graham Dance Company and flamenco with Ballet Hispanico. Growing up in New York City, Aqeela was exposed to Hip-Hop culture and fell in love with the movement and music during her time in High School. After turning 21, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the commercial dance industry. She has been on the Ellen Show, Hulu, and has danced with a variety of artists including, but not limited to Beyonce, Nick Cannon, Sean Paul, and Kat de Luna. After two years of dancing in the industry, Aqeela was certain that her dancing days were over. She was accepted into Teach for America and taught Kindergarten for two years in rural Oklahoma. Starting her own dance club at the school and watching her students blossom and grow inspired her to dance again. The question was...which style?! During Teach for America, she met her husband, a native Atlantan and they moved back to Georgia after their two year commitment. In Georgia, she was introduced to the Calo Gitano Flamenco Dance Academy, which reignited her love and passion for flamenco that she discovered in High School. Through Calo Gitano, Aqeela met artists from Spain such as Miguel Vargas, Carmen Ledesma, Lydia Caballo, and Daniela Tugues. After a year of studying Flamenco with Calo Gitano, she spent the summer of 2018 at the National Institute of Flamenco studying under Joaquin Encinias. During this time, Miguel Vargas had convinced her that she should move to Seville and train to become a bailaora. So she bought a one way ticket for Spain and in August she found herself studying intensively under Miguel Vargas, Ursula and Tamara Lopez, Lorena Franco, Ana Morales, and Alicia Marquez. Now, in her second year of studying flamenco, Aqeela knows more than ever that she wants to spend her entire life studying and learning this beautiful and passionate form of expression. Her dream is to one day open up her own school where she teaches children a variety of styles they can use to express themselves.