Sakuntalas Ring

Based on the digital comic Sakuntala's Ring, published by the Bayerisches Staatsballett (www.in-toon.com), the theatre has developed a participatory dance piece on the legend of the figure of Sakuntala. Her story is created by the Indian-born dancer Anoosha Shastry using elements of classical Indian dance. Amateur performers develop new choreographic elements to accompany the scenes danced by Anoosha Shastry and add their own ideas to the original. The production will be shown at the UniCredit Septemberfest in autumn 2024 and later as a mobile production in the greater Munich area. The sound design was created by Renu Hossain (RENU), a London-born, Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist of Bengali origin. For her musical arrangement, she worked with an original recording of La Bayadère, which was recorded in 2023 with the Bavarian State Orchestra under the direction of Michael Schmidtsdorff.

Indian-born dancer Anoosha Shastry uses elements of classical Indian dance to create the story of the girl Sakuntala. In the course of the story, she encounters demons, demigods, a fisherman and the love of her life. Her chosen one gives Sakuntala a ring that is associated with both happiness and misfortune. Seven international illustrators have each designed one act of Kalidasa's verse drama from the 4th century and have left it open as to how the story ends. Their work can be seen in the performance in printed form in the stage and costume design. Amateur performers develop new choreographic elements for the danced scenes by Anoosha Shastry and add their own ideas to the drawn templates and the dancer's choreographic scenes. In this way, each performance of Sakuntala's Ring takes a different turn and holds surprises in store for both the audience and the performers.

The choreographer and dancer Anoosha Shastry comes from the South Indian city of Bangalore. She is a professional dancer of Indian classical dance Bharathanatyam with over 20 years of training. She is a founding member of the Association of Indian Classical Dance Germany (KITD) and completed her artistic training in the Bharathanatyam dance style with the highest honours and was awarded the title of Vidushi. Anoosha Shastry worked with the Bayerisches Staatsballett in 2023 in preparation for the revival of La Bayadère and is now creating the story of Sakuntala with the means of classical Indian dance. The sound design that can be heard in Sakuntala's ring was created by RENU (Renu Hossain). She is a London-born interdisciplinary artist of Bengali origin. She lives in Berlin, London and Granada and works as a composer, producer, tabla player, percussionist and curator.