Gori Ka Dance Orchestra

'Gori' is the hindi word for 'white girl'. Gori Ka Dance means 'dance of the white girls'.
Gori Ka Dance Orchestra is a project that was set up in 2008. The project unites the dancing
group Gori Ka Dance, musicians of Va Fan Fahre and musicians from India, Mahabub and
Sattar Khan.
Maya Sapera
Maya Sapera (¡ã1977) started her dancing career informally. At the age of five her mother
introduced her to oriental dance and Arabic folklore. These first dancing steps were the basis
of a long and professional training in Indian and Arabic dance. She started Bharata Natyam
(Classical South Indian dance) when she was six. For 20 years Jetty Roels, the school director,
taught her this classical Indian dance style. Musician Mahabub Khan from the well©\known
group Musafir introduced her to a second Indian dance style, Sapera dance, a gipsy dance
style from Rajasthan. From then on Maya attended many courses and trainings in Belgium
and abroad, amongst others with well©\known teachers such as Mahmoud Reda, P.R. Rajesh
and Hassan Ibrahim. Apart from Arabic and Indian dance she practiced diverse styles such as
classical ballet, flamenco, contemporary dance, jazz dance and South©\American dance.
For Maya Sapera dance is more than only dance. It is a starting point for further cultural
research and understanding. The central point in this investigation is the context of dance
itself: where, by whom and how is dance ¡®danced¡¯. Spontaneous dancing at different
occasions such as weddings, funerals or birth ceremonies are situations which bring Maya
closer to the ¡®soul¡¯ of the dance she wants to investigate. In this way it is important to get to
know, understand and feel the different cultural aspects surrounding the dance.
Maya Sapera has been touring in Europe and beyond (Belgium, France, Morocco, Bolivia,
Egypt, Chzech Republic, Greece) and featured among many different national and
international groups, such as the Ballet National du Folklore in Cairo in 2001, Alain Platel in
2005 and regularly with Rajathani bands Rangeela and Musafir.
Sattar and Mahabub Khan
Sattar Khan was born in Kerap, a small village of Rajasthan located in the North©\West of
India. His father, as his ancestors, were musicians, carriers of a tradition as well popular as
traditional. He became master in the art of playing the dholak.
Sattar Khan has a long experience playing with the group Musafir and he played with
musicians such as Natasha Atlas, Ghalia Benali, Mary©\Anne Roberts, ¡­
Like his brother Sattar Khan, he belongs to an old family of traditional musicians, who passed
on there art for generations from father to son. For more then ten years he travelled around
the world (Europe, Africa, and Asia) to play on festivals with the traditionnal music and
dance group Musafir. He also played with Gulabi Sapera, Thierry Robin, Lo'Jo Triban, Natasha
Atlas, Transglobal Underground, Pieter©\Jan De Smet, Kiva, ¡­
Va Fan Fahre
¡°¡­Belgian brass band Va Fan Fahre¡¯s second album is not your usual Balkan fare, but takes
the genre to many unexpected corners of the musical world¡­¡± (Fly Global Music Culture ©2008)
Va Fan Fahre was founded in 2003 and produced until know two album : Romski Robbery
(2005) and Zet je maar (2007). In the top 1000 of the World Music Charts Europe 2005 their
first CD was rated 127th. Both albums feature Mahbub Khan as a guest singer. And on live
concerts Va Fan Fahre regularly invited Maya Sapera.
In 2008 musical director of Va Fan Fahre, Michael De Schryver and Maya Sapera,
choreographer of dancing group Gori Ka Dance, came up with the idea to develop a new
project under the name Gori Ka Dance Orchestra.