Different cultures mean different perspectives, so also about costumes. Although originally completely black, in the course of time also red, yellow and blue became part of the typical Kalbeliya costume. Quite controversially, in 2006, Maya decided to wear a white costume on stage for one her performances. At first, the Kalbeliya community remained in favour of black because the word kala, as in Kalbeliya, actually means “black”. Traditionally, black is the colour of the Cobra Snake, which they consider a god whereas white was expected to attract “bad luck”. Maya, on the other hand, defended her choice and argued that saped (white) is part of the word Sapera, which is another name often used for the same community. They laughed and acknowledged that she had a point. Later on, other dancers too started to wear the white color. Today, the dance creations developed by Maya are quite innovative but keep in touch with traditions. Khatu in her own way, is doing the same. This will make their encounter even more interesting. The encounter of two sisters Maïté Baillieul, the film director of the documentary, is also the sister of Maya Sapera. Although their personal bound was always very strong, they never had a chance to work together on a professional basis before. Maïté Baillieul is the person behind the creation of the documentary MILAAP. As an artist, she has already proven that her work can be both valuable and personal, as can be seen from her graduation project entitled “Centers Peta Fuga” (2005). She received the highest distinction and was selected for “Coming People (SMAK)” and ‘Young Artist”, after being selected by Hans Martens. In fact, it was this project that awakened the filmmaker in Maïté. In 2010 she received support from the VAF for the screenplay of her feature film “The death of Fritz”, which is now in preproduction. Although Maïté quite explicitly chooses to dedicate her skills to the profession of filmmaking, from video art to feature film, the exploration of the documentary genre arose from a spontaneous idea and years of dialogue between two sisters. Maïté Baillieul considers MILAAP as a new learning opportunity and an introduction to the field of documentary. She takes the artistic responsibility and very carefully considers every step of the process to make it result into a successful and interesting product accesible to a wide pubic. Coincidentally Milaap, which means encounter in Hindi, is an opportunity for the two sisters Maïté Baillieul and Maya Sapera to encounter each other artistically. As they respect and understand each other very well, their strong bond creates an extraordinary working atmosphere, which comes with an energy boost. THE DOCUMENTARY Milaap (‘encounters’ in Hindi) tells the story of the Belgian Maya Sapera and Indian Khatu Sapera, both acclaimed dancers and specializes in Kalbeliya-dance, the Sapera or gypsy dance from Rajasthan. Through an intimate and unique portrait of Maya and Khatu the filmmakers try to translate the complex and erratic nature of the artistic
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