The Firebird

“The Firebird” is a ballet in one act first staged by the Ballets Russes in 1910 and composed by Igor Stravinsky. It is a classic story of good triumphing over evil, drawing on elements of several traditional Russian folktales. In it Tsarevich Ivan, while walking in the woods, encounters the Firebird and traps her. She begs for her life and in return gives the Tsarevich one of her feathers that he can use to summon her if he is in need. Continuing on the Tsarevich comes upon a beautiful Tsarevna and her enchanted companions. They are all captives of the sorcerer Kashchei the Immortal, so the Tsarevich calls on the Firebird to fight him and his minions. In the end he is able to destroy the sorcerer’s soul (which was stored in an egg) and break the enchantments on the Tsarevna and her companions.

            My initial consideration while designing this ballet was the choreography and what limitations it might impose on the structure of the costumes. Though it has been interpreted by many different choreographers over the last century, The Firebird does require a couple key elements, namely that the titular Firebird be en pointe and that she and Ivan Tsarevich perform a pas de deux that includes lifts. Other than that it is mostly important that the various other characters be able to move, with the ferocity of their movements largely dependent on the choreographer’s will. The roles that are not danced in my version of the ballet are Kashchei and his retinue (guards and acolytes), the minions of Earth, Air and Sea, and the statues, though this last group does dance in the Celebration number at the end when they transform into knights.

            The ballet as a whole draws on a variety of medieval Russian, Georgian, and Turkish elements but I have decided to specifically pay homage to the exoticism that made the Ballet Russes so popular by bringing in Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox motifs and forms. In the first part of the ballet, which I have termed ‘Enchantment’, this takes the form of medieval Russian influences. Cabochon cut gemstones, broad trims and veiled head dresses. Though there is a fair amount of gilding it is offset with a color palate of moonlit and ethereal purples and blues. Kashchei’s palace is a dark and brooding place filled with enchanted twilight. This serves to highlight the Firebird herself, making her dominate every scene she enters in her hot oranges and reds. In the second part, which I have termed ‘Celebration’, the palate shifts into golds and white with highlights of hot blue. The costumes are lighter and less modest but covered in gold and geometric patterns influenced by Byzantine mosaics. The shift in palate and style is meant to reflect the Firebird and the light and hope she has brought to the forest.

            For Kashchei’s minions of Earth, Sea and Sky I have decided to integrate multi-person arrangements to achieve inhuman movement and scale. The Earth Minion is two-person costume in the style of a Japanese Lion dance, with a puppeted head. The Sea Minion is similar, though it contains three dancers en pointe. The Air Minion is a large puppet moved by four or more people (two to operate the wings, two for arms etc.) Each puppet draws on images of Russian folk beasts as well as festival puppets from around the world. Like the dancers themselves, the Earth, Sea and Sky Minions transform from menacing monsters to benevolent spirits for the Celebration finale.

            In the end, the effect is one of a lush and exotic world transformed from a shadowed and haunted place of darkness into a glittering celebration of the triumph of good over evil.