Choreographer
Wayne McGregor
Music
Kaija Saariaho 'Circle Map'
Set Design
Wayne McGregor & Catherine Smith
Costume Design
Moritz Junge
Lighting Design
Lucy Carter
Photographer
Wilfried Hösl / Bayerisches Staatsballett
Based on six four-line poems by 13th-century Persian Sufi mystic Rumi, McGregor began the creation of Sunyata with contemporary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s “Circle Map’, a spherical, dreamy yet concrete physical composition for orchestra and electronics. Difficult to dance to, McGregor saw the work as an “exciting physical experiment field” to explore with the dancers. The title of the piece Sunyata refers to the Buddhist concept meaning emptiness and transience.