Week 5: Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics was amazing. I kept thinking about how the technical brilliance of the theatrics could be used in theatre. Especially the use of the projections of the floor. They were extremely realistic, to the point that I felt like I was watching a movie.

The Olympic ceremony looked at the history of Russia. One period of their history that was extremely interesting part of their history was the Soviet Era, both historically and theatrically.

It was extremely avant guard, both in the sets and the dance. The lighting was red and intense, reflecting the kentic energy of the dancers with their interactive sets. The red also worked well with the driving Soviet march. As one can see in the picture, they balanced the red with cools.

There was a lot of dance through out the performance. In the pictures of above, the floor is an example of the projections. They cross walk the dancers are on in the bottom picture is a projection. Anyways, the dancers were lit really well for not being able to put shins in a theatre in the round sort of space. It was extremely artistic, and reflected various themes.

Here is another example of the projection on the group. As each country entered the map would changed to their country. The whole stadium is nicely lit, with a combinations of warms, and cools.

One interesting part of the ceremony was that when they danced to Swan Lake with these LED things. They sort of looked looked like wings, but at the same time you couldn’t really see the bodies of the dancers. Russia showcased ballet several times, as it is a very important part of their culter. Swan Lake, one of the most iconic ballets in the world, could have used a little more visibility. Granted, it could have been affected by the cameras angles. Perhaps in the stadium one could see their bodies better.