‘On The Wings of Hermés’ Floats Into Coconut Grove

The immersive, performative, poetic, and cinematic free-ticketed journey, “On The Wings Of Hermés” uses unusual devices to tell a story in seven different scenes at The Hangar at Regatta Harbor, Coconut Grove. (Photo by Nacasa Partners Inc./courtesy of Hermés)

“You are relaxed. You hear nothing but my voice . . .close your eyes” is how “Pegasus & The Quest of Seven Sources of Lightness” begins in the darkened The Hangar at Regatta Harbor in Coconut Grove.

After waiting to gain access after being held in a long corridor, the audience has entered the realm of the imagination, of unbound creation, of disbelief left at the door.

It is an invitation, amid the darkness, to step inside the story, which is meant to be between the seen and the unseen, real and wonderment, past and present, and an invitation to return to the child within.

“Scene II: The Flight of the Migratory Gloves” in “On The Wings of Hermés.” (Photo by Nacasa Partners Inc./courtesy of Hermés)

The immersive, performative, poetic, and cinematic free-ticketed journey is produced by French luxury fashion house Hermès as part of their annual thematic exploration — this year’s theme: lightness. Inside the former boat hangar turned into an event space, there are seven successive multimedia performances. Each of the scenes is a beautifully handcrafted world unto itself, brought to life not with special effects or AI, but through the elegant choreography of real hands, real bodies, and a gentle-voiced narrator. Nostalgia shifts the frame of reference backward to dreams made in innocence.

The narrative tells of seven winged foals, sired by Pegasus, the Greek winged horse of myth, who gained the ability to fly. Born with wings, they needed to find light to take flight. The story is told through choreographed puppeteers and dancers, live cameras and video, and luscious, comforting audio. These foals appear in seven surreal chapters: “Reverse Gravity,” “The Flight of the Migratory Gloves,” “The Circus,” “Anamorphosis,” “The Opera of the Four Bags,” “No Gravity,” and “Rewind.” Each segment explores lightness, whether physical, emotional, visual, or temporal.

A puppet show of migratory gloved hands flies, vintage toys populate the stage, and Kelly bags sing opera. The effect is transportive, and yet, the mechanics are never hidden. Surrounding each of the sets, the tech staff, the camera person, a director who yells “action,” and the actors all do their part, carefully orchestrated. Behind-the-scenes becomes part of the mise en scene. The fourth wall has been eliminated.

“Scene V: The Opera of Four Bags” in “On The Wings of Hermés,'” a free poetic and cinematic performance from Hermés’ Paris now playing in Coconut Grove. (Photo by Nacasa Partners Inc./courtesy of Hermés)

Above the activity, hang video screens. Each presents the actual scene below, live, now transformed into another genre of creativity. Not by CGI. Not by AI. But by proximity, intention, and human touch.

The grandfatherly narrator softly carries the tone of a bedtime story — the pacing gentle, the logic dreamlike. “Everything always ends well,” he tells us, not as a promise but as an incantation. He speaks to the child within — the part that still believes in magic, that hasn’t yet unmasked the man behind the curtain.

Not a spectacle of smoke and mirrors, but the opposite: a hypnotic lullaby that restores the belief of transformation. Real-life projection blends with handcraft and whispers of a freedom unbound by the laws of gravity or logic, informed by innocence and wishes granted. The effect is reassuring, and slowly and steadily calms and soothes.

The audience is instructed to travel as a group through each scene. There are some benches for sitting but mostly it is standing room. Children are invited to sit on the floor in front.

“Scene III: The Circus” in “On the Wings of Hermés,” which uses different devices to tell the story of “Pegasus and The Quest For the Seven Sources of Lightness.” (Photo by Nacasa Partners Inc./courtesy of Hermés)

As one chapter closes and another begins, it is time to move to the next scene. In the final vignette: “Rewind,” an Hermès logo with the horse pulling the Duke and Horse Carriage sits in a rectangle of pigmented sand atop a table. Four performers’ hands join the scene and, dance-like, gracefully slide, blur, and blend the image. As they begin, so starts the narrator, yet played backwards, slippery and garbled. The actors depart, the logo is gone. The video screen above plays the performance backward.

Time rewinds, order is restored.

Move by move, everything shits back into place, to the way it was, reminding us that nostalgia is not regression but recognition: a homecoming to the self before cynicism. It is hypnotic as the motion is shown backwards, a simple device reminiscent of early film; importantly, the voice is no longer heard backwards but moves forward in time, leading to the end of the performance.

“You are relaxed. You hear nothing but my voice. You have traveled through seven sources of lightness . . . so, my children,” says the narrator, “set off and travel the world in search of your own lightness.” You, too, can fly into an imagined space and time of your creation. These are not simply creatures of mythology, but metaphors, inviting us to find our own wings.

WHAT: “On the Wings of Hermés”

WHERE: The Hangar at Regatta Harbor, 3385 Pan American Drive, Miami

WHEN: 2, 4, and 7 p.m., through Sunday April 27. Doors open 30 minutes prior.

 COST: Free, but tickets must be reserved:  hermes.com/us/en/content

 INFORMATION:  hermes.com

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