Zhang Yimou: Race against time to rehearse the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, square dance in the warm-up
2022-01-23 11:54:07Source: Xinhuanet
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 22 (Reporters Ji Ye, Li Li, Lu Yuchen, Gao Meng) The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was held at the National Stadium “Bird’s Nest” on the evening of the 22nd. Before the performance, the square dance with a broad mass base also ignited the atmosphere of the scene. Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, introduced the latest preparations in an interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency.
It is reported that the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics will officially start at 8 pm on February 4, and before the start, there will be about 30 minutes of warm-up. In the rehearsal on the 22nd, the square dance performance in the warm-up session was performed by performers from the youngest 5 years old to the oldest in their 70s. They showed their different styles and expressed the expectations of ordinary Chinese people for the Winter Olympics.
Zhang Yimou said that, unlike previous hot spots that invited hosts and stars to perform skewering performances, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics did not have a host, and at the same time emphasized people’s nature. “China is a big country of square dancing. You can see it in any city. People go to dance and sing when they live a happy life, so I think (square dance) is very good.” He said.
For the warm-up of this square dance, Zhang Yimou made it clear from the beginning that he would not find professional actors, but planned to find ordinary people from all over the country. “Later, due to the epidemic, the final performers were mainly from Beijing and Hebei, and the staff were not all ‘big mothers’, but children, students of primary and secondary schools, the elderly, etc., and ordinary people of different ages. Show yourself on this international stage. The opening ceremony is the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, and I also hope that these ordinary people can show the world the atmosphere of our Chinese New Year.”
As the sub-director of the warm-up performance, Meng Yan said that this performance can be called “Chinese-style marching square dance”. “Our director team has carefully designed to express the passion, enthusiasm and emotion of each age group. We hope that through the expression of this ‘Chinese-style marching square dance’, we can show our slogan ‘together to the future’ and let the world feel To our passion and invitation.”
Earlier, according to Zhang Yimou, taking into account factors such as frugal hosting of competitions, cold weather, and epidemic prevention and control, the opening ceremony of this Winter Olympics lasted about 100 minutes, with about 3,000 actors. Compared with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2008, it is really different.
Zhang Yimou said that for this performance, they have been preparing for about two and a half years. The main task at this stage is to constantly run in and become proficient, find small problems and hidden dangers, and constantly overcome them. “By this time, rehearsals will take place almost every day, 24 hours a day and night. It’s not rehearsals with people, or rehearsals with performance devices. Now every second and every minute must be taken care of.”
Since the Bird’s Nest will not hold events during the Winter Olympics, this gives more space and time to the opening and closing ceremonies teams. “Because the Bird’s Nest only hosted a total of 4 ceremonies for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics, we were able to enter the venue very early and made certain changes and upgrades to the venue.” Zhang Yimou said.
As for the new technology in the Bird’s Nest, Zhang Yimou, for example, can capture the actor’s trajectory in real time through the ground screen, so as to realize the interaction between the actor and the ground screen. “We discussed this technology at the opening ceremony in 2008, and it was not possible at the time, but it can be done now.”