Calcutta premiere of Shunya Se : Thursday, 29 January, Rabindra Sadan, 7pm

Shunya Se was first presented in 2003 as a Samskritiki Shreyaskar production after we had worked on it on and off for over three years. This was the first time we took on the challenge of conceiving and choreographing an entire production for dancers other than ourselves. Looking back over the years, the response to this production still astounds and gratifies us. We learnt vital lessons from the experience - lessons that have found their way into the very nodes of how Ranan approaches the realm of performance.

Over the last five years, Ranan has performed excerpts from Shunya Se at various festivals and venues across India, always surprising audiences with the grace, vibrancy and visual magic that Kathak can create. We have been working on a revival of this production over 2008, with very successful premiere shows in Chennai and Jamshedpur in November 2008. We are immensely proud to present Shunya Se again in the city of its birth on Thursday, 29 January at Rabindra Sadan, 7pm.

Tickets priced at Rs. 40 are available at the Rabindra Sadan ticket counter from 1pm to 7pm daily. On the day of the show, the counter will open at 10am. Tickets are also available online at www.bookmyshow.com/Plays.aspx. Please note that booking online entails a small service charge. Please call 9831256730 or email rananindia@gmail.com for more information.

Excerpts from Shunya Se

For our monthly performance at Padatik Buildwell Theatre, on Friday, 23 January 2009, 7pm, Ranan presents glimpses into the making of Shunya Se- space, air, fire, water, earth . dance. Please join us for this FREE informal performance presentation and sharing at Padatik.
Tickets for the premiere on 29 January will be available here.

Crossings at 11th Bharat Rang Mahutsav

Ranan will be performing 'Crossings' at the 11th Bharat Rang Mahutsav (http://www.nsdtheatrefest.com/ ) organised by the National School of Drama on Saturday 17 Jan 6pm at Bahumukh Theatre, NSD campus, Bhagwan Dass Road, New Delhi.

Crossings weaves together the dance forms of Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Manipuri alongside text-based drama to explore the aspects of Lady Macbeth.
Four performers represent facets of Lady Macbeth in constant conflict to create a fluid performance woven from four strands – a verbal text constructed from the dialogue of the original play, a movement text drawing from the dance forms, a musical text created in response to both words and movement, and a symbolic text crafted from the imagery in Macbeth and the symbolism which imbues Indian classical dance.

This project began as an experiment in bringing together the languages of classical dance and text-based drama in January 2004 supported by a Fellowship grant from the Department of Culture, Government of India and has gone through several versions. Crossings has opened an International Shakespeare Festival in Kerala, inaugurated and won four major awards at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards in Delhi (2006: Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Music, Best Costume Design), formed the topic of discussions and writings at academic seminars and journals from Calcutta to Brisbane and been repeatedly held up as a yardstick for local interpretations of Shakespeare by leading Calcutta dailies. We recently returned from a show at the Ninasam Theatre Institute near Bangalore in October 2008.

For more information on Crossings, please visit : http://www.rananindia.com/crossings/Export1.htm

Ranan on Youtube

We recently opened an account on Youtube and have uploaded a couple of excerpts from Shunya Se. Do have a look. The links are http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=RdUNY-Hms3w and http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=G3WtgsTOTfA&feature=channel_page.

Shunya Se Curtain Raiser

Ranan at Ninasam Theatre Institute

Ranan was invited to participate in a unique Arts Management Workshop held at the Ninasam Theatre Institute, Heggodu, Karnataka from Friday, 19 December to Sunday, 21 December 2008. We were represented by Jayati Chakraborty and Vikram Iyengar. The workshop aimed to work towards a body of knowledge and methodology that will be useful for organizations engaged in arts and cultural development activity to strengthen their organization and management capability. It was conceived and facilitated by Professor Vijay Padaki from Bangalore and K. V. Akshara, Director of Ninasam Theatre Institute.