From Sept. 24 to Sept. 27, the Hopkins Center for the Arts staged an experimental production of Stravinski’s orchestral ballet score “The Firebird” at the Daryl Roth Studio Theater as a “prelude” to the building’s official reopening. Unlike a traditional performance in which the original score is performed by a live orchestra, the show consisted of a “mixtape version” in the form of contemporary arrangements by Touki Delphine, the artistic collective behind the show, according to the company’s artistic director Rik Elstgeest.
Since 2019, Touki Delphine has performed this production of “Firebird” at venues across North America and Europe. This show is a prime example of the immersive musical installations made from “discarded materials” that the company is known for, according to its website. The mock orchestra in “Firebird” consists of 16 panels of 619 total recycled car taillights programmed to light up with the music. Elstgeest described the result as a “symphony of light.”
Throughout its 45-minute runtime, variations in sound were echoed by the kind of light displayed. Solo piano moments were accompanied by light plinks while loud bass moments were paired with dense beams.
The audience experience prior to the show was unique. Rather than taking seats at the theater, audience members gathered at Moore Lobby before a Hop staff member led them on a 12-minute walk around the Hop to the theater. Everyone was also given a silver poncho to wear, creating a sense of community.
The show is “meant to make people go out of their comfort zone,” according to Elstgeest. “Most people never sit in a poncho together.”
According to the Hop’s director of programming initiatives Johanna Evans ’10, the 12-minute procession served as both a pre-performance immersion into the show and as a tour of the new Hop, which has been under renovation since 2022.
“We don’t always have a part of the show specifically designed to get people in the zone, so what’s cool about this piece is that you get into this otherworldly headspace before you even see this installation,” said Evans.
Evans also explained that the choice to present “Firebird” in the black box Daryl Roth Studio Theater was deliberate.
“Although ‘Firebird’ has been at huge outdoor venues as part of giant festivals, it [was] a really interesting experience for our audiences to feel totally immersed in this [space],” she said.
Elstgeest said he hopes that the show’s innovative form will attract a younger audience to Stravinski’s music.
“[I like] the idea that young people … [may have] never [been] to Stravinsky in a concert hall, but they go to our performance and they hear Stravinsky notes and they go ‘Wow! This is crazy music, but I like it,’” he said.
Elstgeest said he wanted the show to feel a little like the 1940 Disney movie “Fantasia.” At the same time, he also explained a more serious intention for the show.
He said that while Touki Delphine is not a political group, they wanted to convey a warning against overconsumption with “Firebird.”
“All our installations are recycled products, mostly from the scrapyard — so car products — and the car is kind of a symbol for consumption,” Elstgeest said. The lights for the American shows were also sourced from Vermont in another attempt to use local resources.
Elstgeest added that the anti-consumption angle via repurposed car parts became an unexpected theme for the company’s other current performance pieces. For instance, he said their piece “Relay” incorporates 3,000 relays, or “small transformers” found in cars from 300 scrap cars.
Micah Lauzon ’29, who attended “Firebird,” called it “really unexpected but also really nice.”
“I think they captured what the music sounded like with the taillights very well,” he said.
Evans, who “lived at the Hop” when she was a Dartmouth student, said that “Firebird” marks the start of a new era for the Hop as it reopens.
