Just as the Games themselves have grown over the years, so have the ceremonies and celebrations around the games. The Opening Ceremonies, one of the greatest spectacles in the world, are always a closely guarded secret; never leaking hints of what the world will get to see but we are sure to be amazed by the design and the technology that they are sure to employ.
Since September 2007 when the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) introduced the Ceremonies team that will lead the Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and nightly Olympic Victory Ceremonies preparations have been under way. Leading the team is executive producer David Atkins, David Atkins Enterprises (DAE) of Australia, producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Sydney 2000 Summer Games and the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006, in Qatar. Atkins and DAE's Catherine Ugwu and Ignatius Jones will collaborate with a world-class team of Canadians to tell the unique story of Canada through the Games Ceremonies. The Ceremonies team also features leading figures drawn from Canada's music, producing, creative, and events industries including Sam Feldman, Bruce Allen, Nettwerk Records' Dan Fraser, Canadian College of Performing Arts cofounder Jacques Lemay, director and image creator Érick Villeneuve, and VANOC Ceremonies' staff members Ian Pool and Marti Kulich.
When selected in 2007, Atkins admitted that working on the Olympic Games becomes a bit addictive. “The pressure is quite extraordinary on every member of the team,” he says. “These are once-only events. It's a highly-charged experience with years of work coming down to one night, one time and one place.” It's not surprising, then, that the majority of the Ceremonies Team has worked on past Games Ceremonies, including Calgary 1988, Sydney 2000, and Torino.
To learn more about the members of the Olympic Ceremonies Team click here to check out the biographies.