FIREBIRD
a special Dartmouth community experienceStravinsky's 'Firebird Suite' is reimagined as an immersive and otherworldly installation–a dance of 500 recycled car taillights.
Presented as a prelude to the reimagined Hop, FIREBIRD embodies the Hop's commitment to global dialogue and sustainable creation. As it tours the US, including engagements at WOW Festival San Diego and Governors Island in New York, it offers a thrilling first glimpse of the adventurous, internationally resonant work that will soon animate our new spaces.
In this bold reinterpretation by Dutch collective Touki Delphine, the 1910 ballet is transformed into a luminous orchestra of light and digital sound; with no musicians, no performers. The collective transforms 500 salvaged car taillights into a flickering, hypnotic orchestra where each instrument is replaced by a light source. FIREBIRD integrates an electronic, sonic composition and a dynamic installation, exploring technological reincarnation. A performance in which the audience feels the rebirth through sound and light, with the added opportunity to become part of the ritual. Invited to the US, Touki Delphine collected car parts from local junkyards to create a new, American version of their iconic installation.
FIREBIRD was developed in part at MASS MoCA. Major support for FIREBIRD is provided by the Performing Arts Fund NL. This program is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.
Funded in part by the Blye Fund for Artists' Residencies at the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the Steven W. Draheim 1966 Fund.
Photo by Bart Grietens
"Stravinsky borrowed and combined the melodies and timings of Russian folk music, the inspiration of his mentor Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the state of the world around him, and proposed a new encasing for the age-old legends, this time with provocative sounds and arrangements, presenting a new future in music and how it tells our story. We salvage Stravinsky's approach, and take in the world around us; introducing 100 years of industry and technology, the melting, combining and clashing of cultures, explore the relationship of human, technology, and nature, and propose our own message to the future." Touki Delphine
About the Artists
Touki Delphine (NL) is a boundary-pushing artist collective of musicians, performers and visual artists, making waves both nationally and internationally with their monumental light and sound installations built from recycled materials. Their work creates poetic encounters between humans and machines. Inspired by the climate crisis and the idea of nature as a living whole, they explore how technology can not only alienate, but also connect. www.toukidelphine.com
“An epic update of Stravinsky’s Firebird.”
The Standaard
Wonder at the World
The leap of a dancer, the trick of an illusionist, the spark of a new idea—each holds the power to awaken wonder and remind us how vast the world can be.
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Hanover, NH 03755
