The Firebird and the Phoenix, which rises from its ashes.
The immortal firebird of life and joy, whose splendor and strength remain indestructible and impossible to tarnish.

In his interviews with Craft, Igor Stravinsky explains why he prefers to see the “Orchestral Suite” used for The Firebird rather than the full version of the ballet, which he rather openly spurns. From this point onward, the choice of the ballet that precisely follows the original partition seems outmoded. What’s left is pure music, linked of course to a certain choreographic vision, but incapable of following the meanderings of a complicated scenario. So there is no question of replacing the argument with another or of transforming it. Let us try instead to release the emotion that runs through the succession of “numbers” of the reduced partition, by focusing on the two major elements that mark the creation:

STRAVINSKY, the RUSSIAN musician
STRAVINSKY, the REVOLUTIONARY musician.

The dance should be the abstract expression of these two elements present in the music. There is a deep Russian sentiment and a certain break from musical tradition, expressed by an unexpected rhythmic violence, which recalls the slightly negative reactions to the creation.
 
The Firebird is the Phoenix, which rises from its ashes.
The poet, like the revolutionary, is a firebird.

Maurice Béjart