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Laura Neyskens
Laura Neyskens started her career at the early age of 11 in the theatre production Bernadetje (1996) by Arne Sierens and Alain Platel. Later she played in Mouchette (1998), Allemaal Indiaan (2001) and Iets op Bach (1998), where she met Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui as a young dancer. This encounter resulted in many years of collaboration. She danced in Cherkaoui’s first production Rien de Rien (2000), Foi (2003), Myth (2007) and the feature film Anna Karenina (2012).
As of 2009, she takes on bigger responsibilities. She assisted Larbi in his choreography for Adams Appels (2009) by theater company Olympique Dramatique and became rehearsal director for the opera tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (2010-2019) directed by Guy Cassiers, in which she also dances.
In between, she danced with les ballets C de la B in Bolero (2009) by Lisi Estaras and Asobi (2014) by Kaori Ito. Laura choreographed and danced for Kris Goubert's art installation The Gift (2018) at the Ghent Light Festival, and for composer Steven Prengels at the WWI commemoration Peace to the World Concert (2018).
Laura is also part of La Guardia Flamenca, a company that offers a new take on flamenco. She sings and dances in Anda La Banda (2005), Carrément Carmen (2008), Club Flamingo (2012) and Vagamundo (2020).
In 2015 Laura co-founded the dance collective Bollylicious, which aims to introduce a wide audience to both traditional and popular Indian dance. Through performances, dance acts, workshops and lecture performances, Bollylicious brings Indian dance to the artistic, corporate and educational sectors, from Paris to New York. The productions Bombay Express (2015) and Sitara (2017) mainly tour in Belgium and India.
This experience led to the creation of Maghenta, a platform for Indian-inspired arts. This umbrella organization stimulates further research in the innovation of contemporary and Indian dance, promotes artistic exchange and (co-)produces new work. Every two years she organizes Indialogue, a festival and conference on Indian-inspired arts.
Since 2017, Laura regularly works with theater director Chokri Ben Chikha. She participated in Artiesten Zonder Grenzen (2017/2018), the intervention 200 jaar UGent (2017) and choreographed and assisted Ben Chikha for the productions AMNE(I)S(T)IA: Say Sorry (2018), Testament van een journalist (2021) and Flemish Masters (2021). With many projects ahead, she continues this collaboration as a member of his company, Action Zoo Humain.