Maya Sapera

🪔 About

Maya Sapera is a Belgian-based dancer, choreographer, and educator specializing in Indian and Oriental dance forms. She began performing Indian temple dance at the age of six and commenced teaching at sixteen, the same year she performed her arangetram in Indian temple dance (Bharatanatyam). Sapera is a laureate of the "Beste Belgische Danssolo" (Best Belgian Dance Solo) in 1993. Her extensive training in Indian dance includes Bharatanatyam with Jetty Roels for 20 years and Kathak primarily with Guru Shila Mehta for 12 years. She has also undertaken internships and additional training with notable figures such as P.R. Rajesh, Leela Samson, The Dhananjayans, Aditi Mangaldas, and Vidha Lal, among others. Sapera is the artistic director of the Maya Sapera Company and a co-founder of Nupur Zankar Belgium, an institution that offers Indian-acknowledged Kathak training in Belgium. She also teaches Kathak dance at the Embassy of India in Brussels. Her career highlights include performing for Alain Platel in Belgium and for Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui at the Musée Etnografique in Paris in 2009. She lived in Egypt from 2001-2002, dancing for the National Ballet of Cairo. Sapera has created and presented numerous productions, including AGNI (2011), Milaap (2013), and Belgium meet Bollywood (2013) for Europalia India. She is also the host of the podcast series "Cross-Roads in Dance," where she explores the creative processes of dancers and choreographers. Awards & Honours: Beste Belgische Danssolo (1993), 1st Prize, Contest Bellydancer of the World (Bollywood category) (2011), 1st Prize, Contest Bellydancer of the World (Folk/Kalbeliya category) (2015).