Jill Collins is a dynamic dancer, choreographer, and educator whose versatile career spans contemporary, theatrical, and Middle Eastern dance. She began performing professionally as a teenager and later earned her BFA in Dance Education from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2007, she joined Jillina’s Sahlala Dancers, eventually becoming Artistic Director and owner in 2021. Jill has toured internationally for over a decade with Bellydance Evolution, serving as both featured dancer and rehearsal director, as well as co-director of the company’s training branch, BDEx. In 2015, she founded Cathartic Art, a collective dedicated to advocating for mental health through creative performance. In addition to her work with Sahlala, she performs with LA Choreographers & Dancers and holds teaching credentials from Dance Masters of America and SharQuí: The Bellydance Workout.

In this episode you will learn about:

- How a Craigslist audition unexpectedly launched Jill’s journey into belly dance with Jillina’s Sahlala Dancers.

- The challenges of transitioning from ballet to belly dance—especially shifting posture and grounding.

- How the gig and performance landscape changed after the pandemic, including shifts in audience attention and show structure.

- The ups and downs of taking over Sahlala Dancers during the pandemic and rebuilding it from near scratch.

- Her current focus on work-life balance, adding Zoom rehearsals, and developing educational outreach performances.

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Jill Collins on Instagram, FB, and Sahlala Dancers website.

Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com

Find out what’s missing in your musicality and connection to Arabic music in 60 seconds. Take the quiz: www.maqamquiz.com Created by Maya Youssef.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast