The long awaited London Olympic opening ceremony will kick off this Friday with British director, Danny Boyle's show titled, "Isles of Wonder."
Boyle is best known for his award-winning films such as Slumdog Millionare and Trainspotting and will attempt encapsulate the spirit of Great Britain with thousands of volunteer performers. He said to press, "The Ceremony is an attempt to capture a picture of ourselves as a nation, where we have come from and where we want to be. The best part of telling that story has been working with our 10,000 volunteers."
The ceremony's prop store, 3 Mills Studio has produced 12,956 props and the costume department has creatred 23,000 costumes for the event.
Rehearsals for the 10,000 volunteers participating in the opening ceremony started in April with rigorous practices leading up to the ceremony Friday. Volunteer performer Hassan Mirza, 30, Social Director of DigitalBinx and an American expat living in London said, "I've met some brilliant people through the experience. Danny Boyle and his production team have awesome leadership skills, which was inspiring to be around. It's rare to find that combination of positive energy, ambition and creativity. I'm very proud to have been involved."
The event is highly awaited after 2008's Beijing Summer Olympics which held an impressive show. The Olympic Ceremony is a way for the city and country it's being held in to showcase its unique cultural heritage in an artistic way.
The Opening ceremony starts on Friday July 27 at 7:30 p.m. ET and will take place at the Olympic Stadium in London, England. For viewers who didn't get to take the flight across the pond, watch it on NBC.
The basic schedule for the opening ceremony is as follows from the Olympic's official website:
- The ceremony starts with Queen Elizabeth II being greeted by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge.
- The parade of athletes will begin in alphabetical order, apart from Greece leading and Great Britain ending.
- London's Olympic organizing committee chair, Seb Coe, will give a speech and then Rogge will give a speech. After that the Queen will proclaim the beginning of the games.
- After the games are opened the Olympic Flag comes into the stadium and hoisted into the air to the British national anthem.
- A coach, athlete and judge from Team Great Britain will take a vow to compete and judge the games according to the rules of the particular sport.
- The ceremony comes to an end with the Olympic Flame entering the stadium. The flame is passed through the line of athletes before given to the last Torchbearer who lights the cauldron which signifies the commencement of the games. The flame will burn for the length of the games.
There are a number of flag bearers to watch this year including American three-time Olympic medalist in fencing, Mariel Zagunis, tennis superstar Maria Sharapova who competes for Russia and Great Britain's Chris Hoy, who is a five-time Olympic medalist.
