She took ballet lessons at the Baku School of Choreography from prominent Azerbaijani ballerina Gamar Almaszadeh.

After returning to Baku in 1946, she made her first ballet performance as Tao Khoa in The Red Poppy by Reinhold Glière at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre where she worked for the next 30 years.

[1] Her early performances in Azerbaijani ballets by Afrasiyab Badalbeyli, Soltan Hajibeyov, Gara Garayev, Fikrat Amirov and Arif Malikov brought her great fame, which was recognized by the awarding of the Order of Lenin to her.

She also became head of the Azerbaijan State Song and Dance Ensemble founded by her teacher Gamar Almaszadeh.

In 1972, at the age of 45, Leyla Vakilova retired from ballet, even though she continued her teaching career at the School of Choreography until she died in 1999.