Nabila´s name is of partial Arab origin (Jordanian father, German mother) and was given based on the name of her father's most favourite sister. Her Jordanian cousin was an enthusiastic fan of Nagua Fuad. Being teenagers, both watched innumerable oriental dance videos. They also adopted lots of moves, which they had seen during family parties and weddings. Nabila had no problem going that route, since she was a passionate dancer, who had received a classic ballet education with 5 years of age. She added Jazz-, Afro-, and Samba dancing in years to come. In 1985, Nabila witnessed a performance of an oriental dancer in Berlin. This individual was the great American dancer Feyrouz, who became her role model from then on out. Having made that live-changing experience, she realized that she found something extraordinary among all other dance categories - oriental dance. It was this kind of spark that she was looking for all along, but could not find it in rather rigid ballet.

Foto: André Elbing

She finally travelled to Egypt, the motherland of oriental dance, in 1989. It was then when Nabila met Raqia Hassan and Nadia Hamdi. Later on, both dancers gave her dance lessons. She also emphasized getting to know Egypt´s atmosphere including its people and culture. It started back then that she decided to make a transition from being an oriental hobby dancer into becoming a professional oriental dancer in Germany. Her Arab father never welcomed this decision. He still dislikes her occupational choice up to this day. Foto: Faris Cairo Nabila´s dance career took off. She travelled to Cairo four times per year and stayed for a month each time. Watching the newest shows and meeting friends was part of her getting the "Cairo Input". These experiences shaped her character tremendously. Spending time in Cairo, she met many fellow dancers from all over the world. Most of them, such as became good friends. Some of them are: Diana (France), Jillina (USA), Devorrah (Spain) and Jallila (USA/Germany, who has already been her good friend and colleague in Berlin). However, the most influence in dance came from the American Sahra Saida, who started her long-term tenure at the Meridain hotel back then. Nabila was able to view Sahra Saida´s shows at least 4 times per Cairo visit, which gave her great inspiration. Nabila, who best learned oriental dance through feeling and experiencing it, needed to attend Cairo's oriental dance shows in order to develop. Other very crucial experiences were the dance lessons given by Mdm. Raqia Hassan and Mdm. Nadia Hamdi in Cairo. Both, the traditional folklore and the modern Cairo style collided here, and opened up the big oriental dance world for Nabila, as well she joined workshops from Mr. Mahmoud Reda (Kairo), Kathleen Ferguson (USA), Feyrouz (USA), Jillina (USA), Diana (France). Performing in Germany, she performed backed by live Arab music. One of her live bands was Mahmoud Fadl´s nubic band, Salamat. It was him, who gave her lessons in musical rhythm and cymbal play later on. Meanwhile, Nabila is one of the hottest dancers in Berlin. She already organized her own dance shows in Berlin and was known through many national TV appearances. Inspired by her Cairo trips, she wanted to perform and create shows on the regular basis. She wanted to produce shows full of entertainment and dancing! In 1996, she eventually had the chance to implement her plans, as she accepted a job at an Arabian 5-Star Club in London for 6 months. Backed by live Arab music, she performed there every night. The program also starred live singers such as Riad Mansour from Iraq and others. In 1997, she was hired by an Arabian 5-Star Club in the beautiful, Mediterranean city of Geneva, Switzerland. The job lasted for 6 months once again. She worked in a nightly program featuring the fantastic drummer Agiba, who is a previous member of the Egyptian dance group "Kaumia" and Egyptian singer Zainab Taufik. Since she worked together with her Egyptian colleagues all the time, Nabila started to fall in love with the Egyptian Ballady. This love grew steadily and made her the Ballady-dance specialist when she returned to Germany. In 1999, Nabila starred as guest dancer in her long-time friend´s, Sabina Zaida, show "Bazar Oriental" in Germany. Both collaborated to host this oriental dance fair with over 2,000 guests in the year 2000. They also published a German oriental dance magazine since 2001. This magazine evolved to become the first worldwide "Belly Divas" yearbook.Over the years, Nabila continued to educate herself and became one of the most wanted oriental dance instructors in the world. Beginning with the year 2000, she visited many events and festivals where she was either performing or instructing. Her list of trip destinations is long and names: Finland, England, Russia, Switzerland, Austria and, of course, Germany. Moreover, she will host a workshop at Cairo's notorious "Ahlan wa Sahlan" festival in June, 2006. Nabila once realized that her life's happiness and fascination was triggered by the oriental dance. Because of that, she stuck and will stick to it.