Illustrations

Act 1: Alice Bloomfield
London-based artist Alice Bloomfield explores human emotions in her illustrated and animated works. Her linear, figurative style is reminiscent of manga with cool colors and rich compositions. She describes her art as "opulent, disturbing and shabby" and finds her inspiration in 70s interiors and anything dark and mysterious. While studying illustration at the University of Brighton, she discovered her love for animation and moving images. After graduating, she created the music video "As Is" for Puma Blue. She was then signed by Black Dog Films.

Act 2: Gage Lindsten
Gage Lindsten is a visual artist, filmmaker and game designer from Chicago, Illinois.

Act 3: Jiahuan Wang
Jiahuan Wang works as a freelance illustrator in Paris. She previously studied at the illustration department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium. In her illustrated world, she depicts stories of love and violence as well as hidden and intense fantasies that flow like a river of desire in daydreams, gentle yet powerful. She uses contrasting colors, delicate lines and soulful color gradients to create an intense emotional atmosphere.

Act 4: Antoine Leisure
Antoine Leisure was born in 1993 in Nancy in north-eastern France. He grew up in Thionville, a small town in Lorraine near Luxembourg. In Paris, where he now lives and works, he studied graphic design, type design and editing. After completing his master's degree, he assisted various artists. He has been drawing for as long as he can remember and paints in his own studio. In 2021, he began exhibiting works in two group exhibitions in Paris. His work is created in the studio, painting on canvas and drawing at home for other people. He also creates visuals for artists, record covers and clothing brands in Japan, the United States, Germany, Australia and France.

Act 5: Pete Sharp
Pete Sharp is an illustrator and animator from the West Midlands, UK. He graduated from Brighton University in 2013 with a degree in Illustration before relocating to South East London in the same year. There he worked as a printmaker, specializing in screen printing, and as a production technician for an industrial lithography press. In 2016, he began his animation career as an art director for a music video. Since then, he has directed a number of short animations and music videos. He has also contributed character design for the HBO series "Scavengers Reign". Pete's personal work explores everyday, real-life stories through vivid science fiction comics and animation.

Act 6: Raman Djafari
Raman Djafari is an illustrator, animator and filmmaker working in both 2D and 3D. Currently he is based in Berlin, Germany. Through colorful imagery and fragmented narratives, he invents a realm of honest emotionality and idiosyncratic fragility in his work. He creates surreal worlds and characters that oscillate between the familiar and the fantastical. Raman has directed music videos for artists from around the world including Elton John, Dua Lipa and Ashnikko and collaborated with people and organizations such as Adult Swim, Medium and The New Yorker. He is currently represented as a director by London-based animation studio BlinkInk.

Act 7: Masanobu Hiraoka
Masanobu Hiraoka is originally from Kyoto in Japan. He taught himself the craft of animation and graduated from Digital Hollywood University in Tokyo in 2006. He has been working as a freelance animator since 2010, pursuing his passion. He developed his own style, inspired by his personal animation projects based on metamorphosis and fluid movement, which he sets in an improbable reality. He has been responsible for numerous animation projects throughout his career. These include collaborations with artists such as Battles, Flying Lotus, Stephanie Gilmore and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Sounddesign

Renu Hossain (RENU)
RENU (Renu Hossain) 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. She has worked as a percussionist for Grace Jones and other pop icons. She learned from percussion masters in India, Brazil and Cuba and creates compositions for dance, theater and film. RENU released her album "They Dance in the Dark" at the end of 2017 with great success. RENU is a tabla student of Sri Chiranjit Mukherjee (senior student of Kumar Bose) and follows the classical path of learning "Guru shisha parampara", which can be translated as "master-disciple journey". RENU is currently producing Filmy Electronica & Experimental impressions. The sound design of "Sakuntala's Ring" is based on a sound recording of "La Bayadère" with the Bavarian State Orchestra conducted by Michael Schmidtsdorff. The recordings were made in May 2023 at the Nationaltheater Munich.

Project management

Martina Borsche, project management and visual dramaturgy
Martina Borsche is a photographer and curator. She completed her Bachelor's degree in International Relations at Boston University. At the Istituto Europeo di Design Madrid she received a Master's degree in European Art Photography. Since 2013 she has worked as a freelance photo editor in the publishing industry. Her personal photographic work focuses on long-term projects that can best be described as anthropological studies of her immediate surroundings and communities. Since the 2021/22 season, she has been working as a visual dramaturge for the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Serge Honegger, project management and dramaturgy
Serge Honegger studied German language and literature, art history and organizational theory. He completed his doctorate at the University of St. Gallen with an interdisciplinary thesis on leadership modalities in the arts based on written choreographic instructions. Among the theaters where he has been engaged for productions in the fields of opera, dance and drama are the Zurich Opera House, the Staatsoper unter den Linden, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Theater St. Gallen, the Schauspielhaus Zurich and the Watermill Center New York. He has worked as a dramaturge for the Bayerisches Staatsballett since the 2020/21 season.

Martina Zimmermann, Head of Communications Bayerisches Staatsballet
Martina Zimmermann studied English Literature, Theater Studies and Business Administration at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University and the University of Birmingham (UK). After completing her studies, she worked as an editor, deputy project manager and senior consultant in the corporate TV sector, where she was responsible for international projects. She has been Marketing and Communications Officer at the Bayerisches Staatsballett since 2017.

Design concept / corporate design / print products / website

Kolja Buscher, Bureau Borsche
Stefan Mader, Bureau Borsche

Thank you
The project team would like to thank the following people and organisations for their professional help and support in terms of personnel and content:

Inka Albrecht, Managing Director, Gärtnerplatztheater Munich
Dr Johannes Beltz, Deputy Director, Museum Rietberg Zurich
Frauke Berger, manga and webtoon expert
Marlin Beringer, manga and webtoon expert
Jaqueline Berndt, PhD, Professor of Japanese Language and Culture, Stockholm University
Veronika Boehlke, Head of Administration of the Bayerisches Staatsballett
Serge Dorny, State Artistic Director of the Bavarian State Opera
Carolin Fleischer-Heininger, Japan Centre, LMU Munich
Catarina Garcia, manga and webtoon expert
Laurent Hilaire, Director of the Bayerisches Staatsballett
Thomas Hirschmann, Behavioural Economy
Felix Hunger, Visual Designer Süddeutsche Zeitung
Dr Joachim Kaps, Managing Director Altraverse GmbH, Hamburg
Sandra Kliem, manga and webtoon expert
Désirée Kunstmann, manga and webtoon expert
Christian Loferer, Member and Chairman of the Board of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Maureen Noe, Musicboard Berlin
Anne Pätzke, Altraverse GmbH, Hamburg
Christina Plaka, Manga Drawing School Rhein-Main
Hannes Radke, manga and webtoon expert
Olga Rogalski, manga and webtoon expert
Lisa Schmidt, manga and webtoon expert
Michael Schmidtsdorff, conductor
Sebastian Schmitt, publishers Atrium and Arche
Professor Dr Evelyn Schulz, Japan Centre, LMU Munich
Anoosha Shastry, choreographer and expert in classical Indian dance
Ralf Singh, manga and webtoon expert
Dr Uta Werlich, Director, Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich
Kilian Wilde, manga and webtoon expert
Dr Lukas R.A. Wilde, manga and webtoon expert, University of Tübingen
Dagmar Wyka, manga and webtoon expert
Annette Zühlke, Director of Music at the Bayerische Staatsoper
Team from Bureau Borsche
Team at Druckerei München | BluePrint AG
Team at Gotteswinter and FIBO Druck- und Verlags GmbH
Team from tanz:digital at Dachverband Tanz Deutschland
Team from the sound department of the Bayerische Staatsoper
Team of the Kind & Co department at the Bayerische Staatsoper
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
and the whole team at the Bayerisches Staatsballett