Touki Delphine: FIREBIRD (a special Dartmouth community experience)

Stravinsky'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.