Jatila has been dancing since she was a child. Born and raised in New York City, Jatila studied ballet at the American Ballet Theater School (Maria Swaboda) 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 and getting a Master's Degree in Geophysics from Columbia University, she moved to California, and continued studying Bharata Natyam with Katherine Kunhiraman of Berkeley. In 1987-88 Jatila spent a year studying Bharata Natyam on a government scholarship in Madras/Chennai with V.P. Dhananjayan. After returning to the U.S., Jatila performed as a solo Bharata Natyam dancer in southern California, and taught physics at Adolfo Camarillo High School from 1989-1999.

Besides dance, Jatila has been active in physics education. Each summer from 1990 - 1999 she worked with Professor Philip Lubin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, writing curricula in astronomy, digital image processing, and cosmology for high school and college levels.

Jatila came to Santa Barbara in 1999 as a lecturer in the Physics Department at UCSB, and met Alexandra King, dance director of the UCSB Middle East Ensemble. It was mutual admiration at first meeting, and Alexandra invited her to join the Ensemble. Jatila has been performing with them ever since, and continues to train with Alexandra.

After spending four years as a lecturer in Physics, Jatila decided to return to graduate school to obtain a Ph.D. in Education. She is currently working on her dissertation in women's issues and multiculturalism in physics education, jointly with the Graduate School of Education and Physics Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Jatila also studies Egyptian classical style with Nashwa Monir , native of Cairo, and has been personally coached by Master Souhail Kaspar, master percussionist who also coaches solo dancers. Whenever she has a chance to go "home" to visit her parents and family in her native New York City, she takes classes with New York's Master Deva of Middle Eastern Dance, Morocco .

Jatila is currently a principal dancer with both the UCSB Middle East Ensemble Dance Troupe, 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, and a regular performer at Zaytoon Middle Eastern Restaurant 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, which she revived in the fall of 2000, after the group had been "dormant" for nearly 25 years. Nova Zdravitsa performs regularly at the Santa Barbara Multicultural Festival, and other local festivals and events.

In 2005 and 2006 Jatila attended the Balkanfolk summer dance academy in Bankya, near Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2006 she attended the first Macedonian Pearl Folk Seminar in Struga, on the shores of historic Lake Ohrid, Macedonia.

Tamil World said of her, "She was born to dance. Her feet are meant for rhythm (thala) and her face for expression (bhava)."


Drum solo by young virtuoso drummer Ziyad Marcus, son of Professor Scott Marcus, director of the UCSB Middle East Ensemble. This drum solo was recorded live during a concert in November, 2003, when Ziyad was only nine years old.