Laura Neyskens
Laura Neyskens, put her first foot on stage at the early age of 11 in the theatre production Bernadetje (1996) by choreographer Alain Platel and author–director Arne Sierens. Continuously she participated in Mouchette (1998), Allemaal Indiaan (2001) and Platel's renowned dance performance Iets op Bach (1998), where she met the young dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
What resulted in a long collaboration: his successful first production Rien de Rien (2000), Foi (2003), Myth (2007). She was asked to sing and dance in the musical Adams Appels (2009) of theater company Olympique Dramatique, in which she also assisted in choreography. She participated as a dancer in the Joe Wright's oscar nominated movie Anna Karenina (2012), starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law. In La Scala Milan she functioned as rehearsal director and dancer in the opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (2010-2016) in a direction of Guy Cassiers and conducted by the world famous Daniel Barenboim.
She also is one of the founding members of La Guardia Flamenca, a street theatre company with a strong penchant for humor, that toured many summers with performances such as Anda La Banda (2005) and Carrément Carmen (2008). Club Flamingo (2012) is their first indoor show.
Dance styles: contemporary dance, Kalbeliya, bollywood, flamenco, oriental dance, salsa.
Bollylicious productions: Bombay Express and Sitara.
Ayla Joncheere
Doctor Ayla Joncheere followed her first Indian dance class at the age of 12. Intrigued by Indian dances, she also studied Indian Languages and Cultures at the university. She currently holds a PhD degree in the same subject.
Her BOF-funded research project (2012 – 2016) was entitled Kālbeliyās – Dancers, Gypsies or Snake Charmers: Staging of Authenticity and Dynamics of Identity. She is fluent in Hindi and currently works as a teaching assistant Hindi and post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University.
Dance styles: Kalbeliya dance from Rajasthan and other Rajasthani folk dance forms (Ghoomar, Terah Taali, Chari dances), Gypsy and Oriental dances from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Bollylicious productions: Bombay Express and Sitara.
Tom Decuyper
Tom Decuyper started dancing at the age of 13. He has been working fulltime as a dancer for more than a decade, mainly teaching Cuban salsa.
He owns his own dance school, Pasion Latina, based in Gent. After 10 years, they are succesfully running one of the biggest salsa dance schools in Belgium. Besides that he works for several companies as a freelance teacher or performer. His recent achievements include 'Bal Global' (Danspunt), teaching at a theatre school in Gent and dancing in the musiclip 'Little Soldier' from singer/songwriter Renée.
Tom Decuyper also made a bollywood choreography for the movie "The Surprise", a Belgian-Dutch production that will premiere in May 2015. (With Jan Decleir, Jeroen van Koningsbrugge and Georgina Verbaan, directed by Mike van Diem)
He is also co-creating and performing in the new street theatre production 'Aurora Tornalis' (Cirque Masala)
Dance styles: West-African dance, Cuban salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Kalbeliya, Bollywood, Flamenco, Oriental and contemporary dance
Bollylicious productions: Bombay Express and Sitara.
Julie Thomas
At the age of 8 Julie got her first role in a musical. She played Gretl in the Musical ‘The Sound of Music’ by Joop van den Ende, now better known as Stage entertainment (2003- 2004). It was because of this first experience on stage that she just knew she wanted to be a performer. Afterwards the musicals Pinocchio (2005-2006) by studio 100 and Annie (2008-2009) by Musichall followed.
Even though she still loves musical, dancing was always her favorite discipline of the three. She decided to get a bachelor degree focused on Modern/ Dancetheatre at the Fontys Dance academy in Tilburg. During her education, she got to work with Choreographers such as, Helder Seabra, Anton Lachky, Laurent Flament, Filip van Huffel, Tony Adigun….. . In her Fourth year she got 2 internships: one as a Dancer in Waltz, Infinite and Stairs ( Krisztina de Châtel ) and another one as a swing and repetitor in Under my Skin ( Isabelle Beernaert ). She graduated In 2016.
After her Education she worked again together with Isabelle Beernaert : once for a commercial show of Keune hairproducts (2016) and her full evening performance ‘Ne me quitte pas’ (2017). Since 2016 she is a part of Company NOI ( Valentina Nigro) with whom she performed DONNA, Aqua Dance and Timeless beauty. She also teaches contemporary and jazz at Pivolté and Let’s go Urban.
Dance styles: contemporary, modern, jazz and ballet.
Bollylicious productions: Bombay Express and Sitara
Guest dancer: Sooraj Subramaniam
Sooraj Subramaniam grew up in Malaysia, training in the Indian classical dance styles of Bharatanatyam and Odissi, and later on in classical ballet and contemporary dance forms.
He continued classical ballet training in Australia and graduated from the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts, at Edith Cowan University. Concurrently, he co-directed Mudhra Dance Company teaching and performing Indian classical and contemporary dance.
Since moving to the United Kingdom Sooraj worked primarily with Srishti - Nina Rajarani Dance Creations, performing and teaching Bharatanatyam extensively. He has also performed with Akademi, Balbir Singh Dance Company and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.
Whilst in London, Sooraj began training also in Kathak, adding to his rich dance vocabulary. His own work is an organic amalgam of these styles, and he aspires to create work that is honest, relevant and enjoyable.
Sooraj now lives in Belgium, and continues to freelance, presenting solo work and collaborating with companies and independent choreographers on dance commissions across Europe.
Dance styles: Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak, contemporary dance and ballet.
Bollylicious productions: Sitara