Opening/Closing Ceremonies Discussion

[IanS]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Basically they want to do the exact same thing China did in 2008, and got so much backlash for.

This story only came out because the VSO made it public too.

I'm not sure what the fuss is all about.

VANOC has organized the ceremonies to provide the music in a certain way, as it is entitled to do.

VANOC asked the VSO to participate, which it is entitled to do.

The VSO refused to participate, as it is entitled to do.

VANOC will no doubt hire some other musicians to do the recording, as it is entitled to do.

Where's the problem?

[johnjimbc]

Two observations about this:

1. I have basically read two quite substantially different takes on this in the news. The first seems to imply that VSO would have been recording songs but that at the actual performance, different musicians and a conductor would be on stage. Those musicians that night would be playing (not "miming") and the conductor would be conducting those musicians. However, in addition to those musicians, a pre-recorded version would also be transmitted for a much broader sound. That pre-recorded version would also be broadcast for the feed being transmitted around the world. The second take on the story is that the conductor and musicians that night are simply miming . . . i.e., they aren't performing at all but just "pretending" to. I am not quite sure how a violinist pretends to play without touching the strings (seems like it would be obvious to me), but that's what the second take on the story implies.

In my opinion, those two scenarios are two entirely different. The first scenario, quite frankly, doesn't seem like a big deal to me. The second seems a lot more suspect. It bugs me that different news accounts of the same dispute present such entirely different scenarios.

2. All along, this has sounded to me like a more personal dispute. It sounds as if the VSO conductor, and by extension VSO board, was upset that their conductor wasn't asked to be the conductor on stage that evening. To me it sounded more like a personal issue than a righteous stand to protect the "integrity of the musicians." Given that a number of individual VSO musicians are apparently participating, just not under the VSO banner, seems to indicate they aren't too worked up about it.

The press release that came out sounded more like higher ups at VANOC and the VSO both stepped in to "mend" a personal dispute that broke into the press. That was a smart thing to do, from a pure public relations point of view. I'm glad they did it, with both organizations making more positive statements on the matter.
___________________

In the long run, it's hard to imagine this will be a big deal. I am hoping the resolution is true and complete. By it coming up now, two months before the ceremony even occurs, perhaps it will make everyone a lot more sensitive to how appearances can lead to controversy. In other words, maybe this flaring up now will keep everyone on their toes so they don't "cross the line" as the plans for the performance are finalized. Right now there is still time to adjust anything they need to make sure the performances avoid any such criticisms.

[Waders]

An article from 24 Hours Vancouver http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2010/01/03/12335006.html

Cauldron at the centre of PC Place? Any idea how this may work in the Opening Ceremony?

By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS


The producer of the 2010 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies pleaded for major spending at B.C. Place Stadium in a report obtained by 24 hours.

David Atkins Enterprises Productions Canada’s Ceremonies Capital Works report listed 21 items “required so that a world-class ceremonies can take place.”

“The opening ceremonies are a vital part of any Olympics and set the tone and vibrancy for the rest of the Games,” said the April 14, 2009 document. “If these works are not completed then the ceremonies will suffer and this will

directly impact on the Games.”

Improvements were called “fit for purpose” or “capital works required for broadcast and media concerns.”

A key item was the building of the Olympic cauldron in the centre of the stadium floor.

The four metre by four-metre by four-metre, concrete-lined chamber required a one-metre diameter, 13-metre deep clear internal shaft. The report also called for carbon dioxide detectors, upgrades to air pressure control systems and a constant internal air pressure of 300 pascal to keep the fabric dome inflated.

The VANOC board voted secretly last May 20 to spend another $8.3 million at B.C. Place.

VANOC deputy CEO Dave Cobb said in June that it was a capital cost “directly tied to the show that our executive producer wants.”

“We like to keep what we're doing secret until the ceremonies happen for the surprise element,” Cobb said.

The federal government pledged in February 2008 to pay half of VANOC’s $40 million budget for opening and closing ceremonies.

[SpongeG]

global news opened with the leaked info

sounds interesting

they are using curtains to cover up the "ugly dirty" white roof, those tents at the old plaza of nations are where the performers are rehearsing

they are painting something inside the stadium - i think they said the aisles grey and they are putting curtains in all the entrances

[GeeCee]

Aaahhhh spoilers!!

[SpongeG]

leaked pic of the performers...

[Yume-sama]

Wooo, curtains!

Originally Posted by SpongeG

leaked pic of the performers...

You wish we could pull people that famous. The victory ceremonies prove not.

[SpongeG]

i believe they have pink passes

(if anyone watched global - you need a pink pass a green pass or a blue pass) to get into certain tented areas...)

[mr.x]

wow!!! so glad i have tickets.

[Waders]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

global news opened with the leaked info

sounds interesting

they are using curtains to cover up the "ugly dirty" white roof, those tents at the old plaza of nations are where the performers are rehearsing

they are painting something inside the stadium - i think they said the aisles grey and they are putting curtains in all the entrances

Follow extracts are from today's 24 Hours Vancouver:

Attendees of the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony won’t recognize the inside of B.C. Place. The April 14, 2009 report from David Atkins Enterprises wanted all stadium aisles covered in cool-gray, non-slip paint with drapes at audience entrances. Atkins required the removal of ceiling-hung floodlights and speakers and advertising boards and screens. In their place are rigging for trusses, catenary and cable systems and five circular drapes needed to obscure the stained ceiling. “The eyes of the world will really be on the stadium,” said the report. “It will be impossible to hide the stained roof liner.”

[Waders]

A news article about Jean Grand-Maître, choreographer for the opening and closing ceremonies http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/ninety-minutes---thats-all-he-can-say/article1417770/

Ninety minutes - that's all he can say
Jean Grand-Maître, choreographer for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics, can reveal little about the show. The process has been like 'doing 10 Cirque de Soleil shows at the same time'

MARSHA LEDERMAN

VANCOUVER — From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published on Monday, Jan. 04, 2010 12:00AM EST

Last updated on Monday, Jan. 04, 2010 8:52AM EST


.'Hi honey, how was your day?" has become a complicated question for Jean Grand-Maître.

When he returns to the temporary Vancouver home he shares with his partner near Granville Island, there's not much he can actually disclose about his day. As the choreographer of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics, Grand-Maître is under a strict confidentiality order: so no asking for advice, no gossip about the dance routines or costumes or sets - just short, vague answers.

"I can just say today was tiring, today was amazing, today was fulfilling," says Grand-Maître over a much-needed latte (his fifth of the day). "But you can't say too much. You can't say how many people are in the room with you, what the concepts are - especially that."

The stress is high and the perks non-existent. Free tickets to the ceremonies he's helping to create? Forget it. Grand-Maître, like everyone else, had to enter the online lottery. He managed to get a single ticket for both the opening and closing ceremonies for his partner ("not the expensive ones," he says).

What Grand-Maître, 46, will say is that it is an exhaustive (and at times exhausting) process, bringing thousands of volunteers together to create ceremonies that he says will represent the essence of Canada.

"You want to show your country to the world in a beautiful way that represents us intellectually, artistically, our amazing diversity." He is careful to point out that he is executing concepts that are coming from above - from executive producer David Atkins and his team, but adds that he's on-side. "I wouldn't have participated if I didn't like what they were going to do."

Grand-Maître, whose day job is that of artistic director at Alberta Ballet, says many of the ideas came out of the symposia Atkins and VANOC held two years ago, bringing in big thinkers in the arts from across the country to discuss their visions of Canada, and the ceremonies. Grand-Maître did not take part in those discussions, but he has been working on the ceremonies since last February, spending one week a month, and the entire month of June, in Vancouver. He's now moved to Vancouver for the duration and will return to Calgary - and Alberta Ballet - after the Olympics.

The days are long - some of his colleagues are working seven days a week, 14 hours a day - with meetings at offices in the Downtown Eastside and rehearsals in the big white tent next to BC Place. (They'll move into BC Place for rehearsals in early- to mid- January). Grand-Maître has a team of about 15 choreographers and assistants working under him for the enormous project. "It's like doing 10 Cirque de Soleil shows at the same time, that's how big it is," he says. "And it's exciting, it's a whirlwind."

Time is divided equally, he says, between rehearsing the opening and closing ceremonies. "You're working on both simultaneously," he says. "This is rocket science scheduling."

When Grand-Maître is backstage wearing his headset for the opening ceremony on Feb. 12, it will be his first in-person Olympic event. At 13, he drove with his family from Aylmer, Que., to Montreal for the 1976 Olympics, hoping to get tickets once they got there. They were out of luck.

But he has certainly watched enough Olympic ceremonies on TV to know the bar is high. "They say the opening ceremonies set the tone of an Olympics, so if the opening ceremonies are highly successful, there's a better chance of everything going well." He's less concerned about the world leaders who will be watching, than he is about the athletes. "For them it's the beginning of the adventure after so many years of sacrifice."

While Grand-Maître's background is ballet, there will be no classical ballet in the ceremonies but rather "a complete fusion of things ... a fusion of ideas and thoughts and people from different mediums of art." Reading between Grand-Maître's cryptic lines, it seems there will be a strong First Nations component to the ceremonies - not a surprise. Also, he lets slip a length for the opening ceremony: an hour and a half.

It is all being overseen by Atkins, an Australian, who created the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Grand-Maître gushes about Atkins: He is full of energy and ideas, an innovator, a great leader who knows how to motivate volunteers. "He's a machine ... a beautiful inspiration," says Grand-Maître. When things are tense, Atkins cracks a joke. He never loses his temper despite the enormous demands.

"As it's getting more and more intense, you feel like he's a guy on a surfboard riding a hell of a wave. There's an energy but at the same time, precision. It's quite a ride."

The pressure is certainly on following the eye-popping opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Games. How will Vancouver be able to top that?

"You can't. Basically you go in a completely different direction," says Grand-Maître. "For me [Beijing] was an extraordinary performance that will never be done again. They rehearsed I think for three years. Now if you ask a guy in Vancouver to rehearse for three years he's going to give you the middle finger and go play beach volleyball."

There are rumours: Céline Dion and Bryan Adams will perform; Sarah McLachlan won't (hard to believe); a huge pit is being dug underneath BC Place to accommodate the shows' technical requirements. None has been substantiated. And at every single rehearsal, the volunteers - and staff - are reminded of the strict confidentiality agreement they have signed.

It's not an easy thing to keep secrets in the age of camera phones and YouTube (cellphones are allowed into the rehearsal hall but have to be shut off), but Grand-Maître says it is important to keep the secret.

"The IOC's very, very adamant that this has to be a surprise to the world. And I understand that, because it should be unveiled like a Christmas gift."

[mr.x]

DOWNLOAD THE DAVID ATKINS ENTERPRISES DOCUMENT ON THE CEREMONIES:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2010/01/03/DAEP.pdf



- plead that it will be impossible to hide the stained roof without curtains

- removal of stadium advertising boards

- removal of stadium audio system

- removal of stadium sports lighting

- removal of 2,000 stadium seats and stored elsewhere until after the Games

- tons of rigging

- CO2 detectors for cauldron

- 8,500 temporary seats on bleachers on the stadium floor

- large drapes that can be rigged/derigged in an hour for Victory Ceremonies so that Closing Ceremonies performers can practice during the day

- drapes at all audience entrances

- stained roof inner liner to be hidden by five circular drapes, will improve acoustics

- aisles painted

[mr.x]

Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
Opening ceremonies won't be traditional
The Canadian PressPosted Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:32 PM ET

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Official won't rule out lip-synching at Games ceremonies
Hosts, Opening and Closing Ceremonies

VANCOUVER - As Olympic organizers scurry around putting the final touches on the 2010 Winter Games, one major piece of the puzzle is falling neatly into place.

The producer of the opening ceremonies says he's been able to cancel some rehearsals because his volunteer performers are ahead of schedule.

But David Atkins says that doesn't mean there's no pressure in putting on the show that will officially introduce Canada and the 2010 Games to the world.

He says the production is a balancing act of many interests designed to tell a story that he hopes will make Canadians proud and create something different from what people are used to seeing -- but that's all he's saying.

Despite more than 4,000 people being involved in the show that takes place one month from today, few confirmed details have leaked out.

Atkins says that's proof people are excited about being a part of the event and don't want to ruin the surprise.

[Yume-sama]

I'm skeptical. I just hope it's not horribly lame. But everything I know about Canada says it will be.

We should have brought in the Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil to make it more interesting than it will be.

[mr.x]

^ the Cirque was responsible for the Torino 2006 handover "disaster," and they wanted full creative control of the Opening/Closing or no involvement at all. I say good riddens to them.

[Yume-sama]

Hmmm. I didn't watch that Olympics. Canadian Mens team was too awful!!

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by mr.x

^ the Cirque was responsible for the Torino 2006 handover "disaster," and they wanted full creative control of the Opening/Closing or no involvement at all. I say good riddens to them.

Cirque has a lot of "interpretive" stuff that ordinary people find boring or don't understand - like a mime walking across the stage with an umbrella type of thing. On top of that, Cirque is old hat nowadays given their exposure on tour, on CBC and in Las Vegas.

I can't recall anything about the Calgary ceremonies.
I do recall giant teepees for the Montreal ceremonies (can't recall which, opening or closing)

[mr.x]

^ Calgary's opening is on YouTube, it was an Alberta ho-down with cowboys/girls and dinosaurs.

[SpongeG]

calagarys was fun i remember it well

i don't recall the torino hand over being a disaster unless you don't like avril lavgine?

a lot of the openings have been to pretentious and trying to hard to impress forgetting about the athletes and the fact that they are the games

[officedweller]

I think the handover ceremony was slow and stereotypical - the ice fisherman.
But then again, London had a double decker bus at the Beijing closing ceremonies.