Ceremonies at Floating Stadium

[Ikarus360]

YOG-NDP Joint Rehearsals

http://www.singapore2010.sg/public/sg2010/en/en_news/en_stories/en_20100713_yog_ndp_joint_rehearsals.html.html

By Frankie Chee

FOR the next few weeks, rehearsals for the Youth Olympic Games' (YOG) opening ceremony and the National Day Parade (NDP) will be held at the same time on Saturday.

From left: Multimedia director Brian Gothong Tan, costume designer Frederick Lee, creative director Ivan Heng, opening and closing ceremonies chairman Brig-Gen Ishak Ismail and music director & producer Iskandar Ismail, surveying the Marina Bay Floating Platform.

The YOG rehearsals will piggyback on the NDP rehearsal road closures so as to 'minimise road closures and inconveniences to the public,' Brigadier-General Ishak Ismail said.

The committees of the two events came to the decision after discussing their needs.

The only exception will be the last ceremony rehearsals of the month on July 30, which is a Friday instead of the usual Saturday.

This is to avoid clashing with the NDP preview the following day, Brig-Gen Ishak, chairman of the YOG opening and closing ceremonies, said at a press conference yesterday.

The first such 'piggyback' will take place this Saturday. Motorists can expect road closures and traffic delays around the Padang area.

More than 7,000 young performers will gather at the Marina Bay Floating Platform from 3pm onwards to piece together the entire two-hour YOG opening ceremony under the watchful eye of Ivan Heng, the show's creative director.

At the same time, thousands more will be converging 500 metres away for the National Day Parade rehearsals at the Padang.

Yesterday, Heng unveiled some of the multimedia elements of the opening ceremony on Aug 14 and the closing show on Aug 26.

'This will be a multimedia show to bring the ceremony to the present, and because the youth of today are constantly engaged with all forms of media,' he said.

The set is made up mostly of freight containers, with a towering 34 metre-tall lighthouse in the middle.

But the most eye-catching feature is a 90.5m by 50.1m pool in the centre, which will be filled with more than 200 tonnes of water to a height of 5cm.

Some of the performances will take place in this Reflecting Pool, which will only be seen in the opening ceremony.

Acclaimed local composer Iskandar Ismail and his team of 22 composers and music arrangers have put together 39 tracks for the two ceremonies.

They will be sung by a bevy of current and newly discovered local talents, including 17-year-old Seah Wei Wen, and former national hockey player Geraldine Ho, whose song 'For What We Believe' will be performed at both ceremonies.

Six huge screens will flash a series of clips produced by multimedia director Brian Gothong Tan and a team of 19 to 24-year-olds to accompany the music.

Also previewed yesterday was some of the 80 sets of costumes by designer Frederick Lee and students from the Lasalle College of the Arts.

About 8,500 sets of costumes will be used for both ceremonies, including fire retardant ones for a show segment titled 'Playing with Fire'.

Some of Lee's designs featured LED lights or lasers, while those by the students were made from recycled materials such as used batteries and shuttlecock feathers.

[mr.x]

Sounds like it's going to be a great show!

[DesmondChan]

Friday night did go to the Marina Bay area, and they were conducting a rehersal for one part of the section. Hundreds of primary school students were there for practising. Couldn't see much on what they were doing from far, but quite organized.

Anyway, next coming Friday will be able to watch in the stadium itself, as the volunteers are invited to attend the final rehersal. Great! I will watch twice!

[huaiwei]

I will be watching too. It's great being a volunteer!