About us

Laura Neyskens put her first foot on stage at the early age of 11, touring extensively all over Europe. She discovered traveling and performing to be her greatest passion, and soon joined the contemporary dance company of Alain Platel (1998). There she met the young dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, which marked the beginning of a long collaboration. Next to dancing in several of his dance productions (2000-2019), she also featured in his company as rehearsal director and choreographer. Since 2017 she frequently works with the Belgian director Chokri Ben Chikha, as assistant and choreographer of his company. Meanwhile, for over 18 years Laura has been developing an interest in Indian dance, which resulted in co-founding the dance collective Bollylicious (2015). Putting together her contemporary dance and Indian dance background, she takes this project a step further by creating Maghenta.

Ayla Joncheere took her first Indian dance class at the age of 12. Due to her interest in Indian dance, she decided to study "Indian Languages ​​and Cultures" at Ghent university. She obtained a PhD in the same subject (2016). Her research project (2012 - 2016) was entitled: Kālbeliyās - Dancers, Gypsies or Snake Charmers: Staging of Authenticity and Dynamics of Identity. During her PhD, she specialised in dance anthropology and heritage studies. She is fluent in Hindi and is currently still working as a post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University. In the meantime she has emerged as an international expert of the dance and music traditions from Rajasthan. She leads various research groups, conferences and projects in and around Rajasthan, such as Kalbeliya World. In addition to her academic career, she has always remained active as a dancer and choreographer in Bollylicious, continuing to develop her organisational and business skills. This cocktail of research, arts and management led to the founding of Maghenta, which she passionately leads together with her colleague, Laura.