AYLA JONCHEERE (Gent 1988) has been passionate about dance half of her life. Ever since she received the musical score of Latcho Drom from her elderly brother for her twelfth birthday - a gift that would determine her future significantly - she became intrigued by Gypsy culture and their dance forms.

One year later, in 2001, she began taking 'Indian Gypsy' dance (Kalbeliya) classes. This was her first contact with Rajasthan and more particularly with the Kālbeliyā dance style. The energy of her teachers, the nature of the dance style and its corresponding culture, resulted in her fascination - some called it an obsession - with Kalbeliya dance culture. Since her first dance class she has attended every Rajasthani performance accessible by car, often pursuing these artists beyond Belgium's borders.

In October 2006, by then fully emerged in Rajasthani and Kalbeliya culture, she enrolled in the 'Languages and Cultures of South-Asia' (Indology) program at Ghent University, in pursuit of a more thorough knowledge of Indian culture from the academic angle. Whenever her study program offered an opportunity for personal work (papers, presentations, etc.), she always chose to focus on some aspect of (Rajasthani) dance culture, while practicing the methodologies taught in these courses and developing her academic skills. In 2009 she submitted her Bachelor paper on 'Traditional Arts in Rajasthan', providing a contextualized survey of the existing and documented folk arts (music, dance and puppetry). For the course 'Gender and diversity' (in the minor 'Culture and Diversity') she co-wrote a paper on 'Dance and gender – Why are there so few men who dance?', with Laurence Van Eenaeme (also Indology student and dancer in Gori KaDance). In her Master year, for the optional course 'Music Ethnology', she conducted interviews with Rajasthani musicians. Her Master thesis, submitted in 2010, involved a study and translation of Ḍholā Mārū, an old Rajasthani folk tale and very popular subject material of Rajasthani songs. Throughout her academic career, she continued to develop her expertise in Kalbeliya dance and enlarged her knowledge of Eastern dances in general.

She started learning Oriental dance (2006) with Maya Sapera, Niki Constantinu and occasionally with Sarah Chebaro. Also Classical Indian dances take her interest, for that purpose she followed yearly workshops of Kathak (with Shila Mehta, Mumbai) and some dance classes of Bharata Natyam. She  also appreciate Indian popular culture, and therefore joined her first Bollywood dance group, Gori ka Dance.  On top of her devotion to the Indian dance, she has a strong desire to continue her academic interest in (Rajasthani) dance and culture. Contrary to the immense popularity of and interest in the artistic sphere in Indian (and also more specific Kalbeliya) dance, so far no significant scholarly research has ever been done conducted into this subject. Therefore she has conducted a pHd-preposal at the university of Ghent, hoping to be able to develop her passion for dance, both on practical, but also on intellectual level. In October 2011, her project received funding from BOF, and in January 2012 she could start working on her project/dream, entitled: "From private "folk" to "Indian/Rajasthani Gypsy" dance on global stages: the history of Kalbeliya dance (ca. 1960 to the present) and the conceptualization of Indian "classical" versus "folk/tribal" dance."