The Kalbelia dancers would be an excellent topic for gender studies. Before Gulabi Sapera, Kalbelia women were only allowed to dance in public during a specific spring festival (I don't know what the festival was-- I'm guessing Holi). The Chief Minister of tourism in Rajasthan (also a woman) saw Gulabi dancing at this festival as a child and encouraged her to dance on stage. The other people of her caste were totally against it, but her father agreed. After that, the tourism ministry wanted her to move to Jaipur to do regular performances-- her family was against it because they had been threatened with being outcast from the Kalbelia tribe if they did. She had already seen the benefits of dancing for money, because she was supporting her whole family with what she made dancing on the street. She ran away with one of her brothers in the middle of the night to go to Jaipur. Eventually, after having had a lot of success and even going to the US to perform at the Smithsonian when Rajiv Gandhi was in Washington DC, her tribe and family forgave her and now she is probably the most respected person within the Kalbelia caste. She wants to continue the tradition by training other Kalbelia girls to dance and has also helped with the livelihoods of a lot of musicians from the Rana caste, who are her musicians (except for the pungi players who are also from the Kalbelia caste). It is interesting because she has achieved so much in spite of being a woman and in spite of being from a low caste. She travels all over the world to perform. She was just in New York last spring. She has also opened up dance as a profession for other Kalbelia girls and women.