Bollylicious is a very conscious balancing act whereby four dancers from Belgium try to be intercultural mediators through Indian dance. In their versified performances, they fuse and present Indian dance in a contemporary way while respecting its traditions. They use different styles of dance, from Bollywood to multiple Indian folk dances and (semi-)classical dances, and integrate those with multiple other non-Indian dance styles, such as contemporary dance, flamenco and Salsa.
Their main objective to represent the diversity and richness of Indian dances in an original and accessible way for both Indian and non-Indian audiences.
During the lecture-demonstration, Dr. Ayla Joncheere (dance anthropologist at Ghent University and one of the founding members of Bollylicious) will contextualize Bollylicious as a dance collective, explaining their methodology of creating artistic work. This talk will be combined with a series of dance performance demonstrations.
Supported by the famous Belgian choreographer Alain Platel (Les Ballets C de la B) Bollylicious has been vying for a place to represent the Indian dance culture on a professional platform which is dominated by Western Contemporary Dance since 2013. They produced their first production ‘Bombay Express’ which has toured over 20 theatres in Belgium by now, and also travelled to the Netherlands, New York and India. Their second production ‘Sitara’ premiered last year and is also touring internationally.
Bollylicious takes great pride in receiving respect and appreciation from audiences around the globe, including the country that inspired them so much, India. They are excited about the strong support of Indian audiences in India as well as in the diaspora: Bollylicious performed for India’s Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, they performed at the Jaipur Literature Festival and they have been invited by multiple royalties of Rajasthan, including Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur. At the same time they are promoted by Belgian institutions as pioneers in intercultural artistic work between Belgium and India: e.g. Bollylicious performed for the Belgian King and Queen in Delhi and for Europe Day in Mumbai.