Torino Opening Ceremony

[Lorriane Nasuti]

Theceremony was attended by 35,000 spectators with the presence of numerous international and Italian guests on the stage and heads of state and government on the stands. The event was broadcast live to an estimated two-billion audience worldwide by 32 television cameras.

The ceremony saluted the region's culture and history, was highlighted by Italian celebrities and showcased Italian designs. There were the customary parade of athletes and raising of the host nation's flag and the Olympic flag. Apart from the choreography, the fireworks, and the pageantry, the ceremony was a reminder of peace as a goal of these Games. It climaxed with the lighting of the Olympic Flame.

The theme of the program was "Passion Lives Here," and the 4000m2 stage was shaped like an anatomic heart with a mosh pit in the centre where the athletes congregated for the second half of the ceremonies. The athletes were thus put in the centre of action and in front of the stage, emphasizing that the heart of each athlete was the focus of the Games.

There were sentiments of self-conceit amongst TOROC for not including a tribute section during the Opening Ceremonies honoring the Past Host Cities of the previous installments of the Olympic Winter Games that was the very first part of the XIX Olympic Winter Games that had been held in Salt Lake City, USA on 8 February 2002.

The ceremony was conducted in French and English, the two official languages of the International Olympic Committee, and Italian, the language of the host country.The program was executed by 6,100 volunteers and 240 professionals after 15,000 man days of work.

The Opening Ceremonies began with a traditional countdown by the spectators. Italian gymnast Yuri Chechi as a shaman striking an anvil with a hammer opened the first scene of the program representing the industrial past of the Piedmont region. Each strike spewed up a fountain of flames and were responded to with flames over three metres high, lit from 52 nozzles lined up around the piazza. A group of inline skaters in red unitards soon entered and executed their choreograph and formations. With the fire, costume and flood light, the stage was soon turned into a sea of red. In the mosh pit, performers executed synchronised swimming moves to the pulsing rhythm. It was said[by whom?] that the choreographer was inspired by synchronised swimming when he saw the event for the first time in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

The skaters then gyrated to the pulsing rhythm forming a familiar heart shape pumping to the beat. The formation was soon shattered when a lone skater symbolising a spark of passion shot through the beating heart. Six helmet-donning skaters then entered with two-foot flames flared from the back of their helmets and crisscrossed the stage.

Following the exit of the flaming skaters, the sounding of seven alphorns to the notes of the Occitan Hymn signaled the beginning of the next segment that paid tribute to the Alps and the seven Alpine countries: Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany and Slovenia. Artificial snow and life-size pine tree shapes set the mood for this segment as the stage was transformed from red to white.

It had been 14 years since the Winter Olympic Games were last held in the Alps, in 1992 in Albertville, France. The 13 million people living in the mountainous region were represented by dancers waltzing in their national costumes. Life-size cow effigies were pulled in and paraded around the stage representing the significance of the dairy farming industry in the Alpine region. Three waltzing couples in cow suits soon entered the scene, while cow bells were heard ringing from the crowd.

After the stage was cleared, 50 performers in white unitards entered with very large white balloons on their heads symbolising the arrival of the snowflakes. A change of music signalled the exit of the snowflakes and in the mosh pit performers formed a snowflake which was lit up by flashlights as the segment came to a close.

This section paid tribute to the Italian flag, whose entrance was led by 26 Olympic medalists in white suits and gowns marching in two files. Following the athletes was model, singer and future French first lady Carla Bruni carrying a folded Italian flag. Bruni wore a sparkling gown by Giorgio Armani, inspired by crystal and ice.

The stage was flooded in the Italian colours red, white, and green by the coloured spotlights at the top of the stadium as the entrance of the President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge and the President of Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was announced.

The flag was raised to the solo rendition of the Italian national anthem after a short pastoral orchestra introduction (as opposed to the usual marching introduction). "Il Canto degli Italiani" was performed by nine-year-old Eleonora Benetti wearing the Italian tricolour. Her verse ended as the choir, conducted by Roberto Bertaina, joined in for the much more rapid refrain.

467 performers, each wearing one of the 5 Olympic colours, created a 20 meter tall ski jumper formation, after the playing of the Italian national anthem. The choreography showed an animated ski jumper gliding down the take-off slope, flying through the night air and eventually landing safely in perfect form on the ground. Puffs of air could be seen as the jumper prepared his jump. Performers carrying a blue banner then entered to show the skier gliding down the slope. In flight the figure was lit up by headlamp flashlights in a formation of a ski jumper in peak flight. The ski jumper eventually made a graceful landing on the ground as performers released confetti (to represent a snowplow stop) and cheered as the segment came to a close.

The Sparks of Passion reentered the stadium in this segment where the largest and tallest Olympic Rings for the Opening Ceremonies would be created. Acrobats could be seen maneuvering on three ring shaped frames floating up and down along four lattice columns on the opposite end of the stadium to the stage and the mosh pit. Dancers in red unitards below gyrated to pulsing beats as the theme of passion returned for this segment of the program. While the acrobats descended to the ground, two additional ring shaped frames were raised. The five circular frames were flipped vertically revealing the five Olympic Rings shimmering in light. The rings were then illuminated in the Olympic colours and the structure was lit up in fireworks. The black ring in the centre of the symbol was substituted with white since it is impossible to produce black light.

The national teams then entered underneath the five-ring structure in the traditional Parade of Nations. As with all Olympic games, the first team to emerge was Greece, since it was the birthplace of the games, and the host nation Italy entered last. The rest of the nations entered following the alphabetical order according to the spelling of the country in Italian, the language of the host country, as is tradition.

North Korea and South Korea marched together under the Unification Flag for the first time in the Winter Olympic Games; this would not happen again (either Summer or Winter) until the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Altogether, 80 National Olympic Committees participated in the Games, an increase from 77 in the previous Winter Games.

The Moschino designed the clothes of the women bearing the placards with team names in Italian for the athletes' parade. The dresses were shaped as snowy mountain tops, complete with pine trees and small houses lit up by embedded lights. Miss Italia, Edelfa Chiara Masciotta, was carrying the placard for team Italy who wore a special dress designed to pay tribute to Turin. When assembled on stage the ladies represented the Italian Alps' beauty, strength, and poise.

The march of the Olympic teams was accompanied by a selection of 1970s and 1980s American and European disco music, including "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, "YMCA" by the Village People, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "Daddy Cool" by Boney M and songs by the Doobie Brothers and Eurythmics among others.

The following table lists the countries and territories in the order of their entrance. It is worth noting that not all the athletes participated in the opening ceremonies, as some may have chosen to prepare themselves for races and competitions that were scheduled the very next morning. Other commitments may have prevented some athletes from participating in the parade. For example, most men's hockey teams would not arrive in Turin until the following week since most of the players are involved with the NHL. On the other hand, the parade included officials, judges, coaches and other team staff.

After a short homage to Dante and The Divine Comedy, there were Renaissance and Baroque displays, with an homage to Arcimboldo. A scene was based on the Birth of Venus painting. The role of Venus was played by Czech supermodel Eva Herzigov, emerging from a shell like in the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. A dance played a major part in the ceremony, as well as displays of flag waving and baroque bands.Sportscaster Bob Costas called it a celebration of the emergence from the dark days of the Middle Ages, embracing the intellectual pursuits of art, literature and music.

The segment started with a modern ballet performance which led from a replica of Umberto Boccioni's sculpture "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" to a celebration of Futurism.Roberto Bolle performed as lead in the dance part.[3] He represented the futuristic hero, dancing with other mechanical dancers to show modernity, technology, and speed.The second part was performed by kung-fu athletes representing futuristic soldiers, while in the final section a group of bodybuilders pushed 6 motorbikes in the center of the stadium, thus emphasizing the role played by speed and technology in Futurism.

Italian driver Luca Badoer drove the 2005 Ferrari F2005 car bearing only the Olympic Rings, Torino 2006 name and Italian tricolore to the centre of the stadium, performing 'donuts' and revving the V10 engine for a few minutes.

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