Before the night | The Firebird

This choreographic diptych explores parenthood as the first political and sensitive space: the place where reference points are transmitted, where limits are tested, and where one’s relationship to the world is formed.

Before the night is rooted in reality. At bedtime, in the intimacy of a children’s bedroom, two parents and ten children (performed by adult dancers) move through the evening ritual. Ordinary gestures become choreographic material: reassuring, setting boundaries, negotiating, containing overflowing energy. Beneath the apparent simplicity emerge tensions, fatigue, affection, and the complexity of the educational bond. Parenthood appears here as a fragile balance between structure and freedom, protection and emancipation.

With The Firebird, set to the music of Igor Stravinsky, the diptych shifts toward a symbolic universe. The children leave the real world for a fascinating yet unsettling realm, a metaphor for contemporary forces that capture imaginations and blur points of reference. The magical takes on darker tones; illusion becomes a form of control. Faced with this drift, the parental figures resist, striving to maintain a living connection with reality.

From the intimate to the mythical, this two-part journey questions our responsibility toward future generations. Between vigilance and trust, it sketches a sensitive reflection on transmission, freedom, and the capacity to create connection in a fragmented world.

Coproductions La Comédie de Genève, Espace Concorde-Vernier, Equilibre-Nuithonie-Fribourg, Kurtheater Baden, Festival de Danse Cannes – Côte d’Azur France, Le Spot-Sion, L’Onde Théâtre Centre d’Art, Reso – Réseau Danse Suisse
Residences La Comédie de Genève, Espace Concorde-Vernier
Partnerships “Binding First Dance” with the Sophie and Karl Binding Foundation
Supports Reso Co-production Fund, Ernst Göhner Foundation