Source: CCTV.com
09-17-2008 21:35
Performance of the London handover performance team.
LONDON 2012 Handover summary
The show features a series of iconic visual images, innovative dance performances and memorable musical moments that introduce London as Host City for the next Summer Paralympic Games.
The Paralympic Handover carries on from where we left the Olympic Handover. For the first time, both segments were conceived as to halves of one story-a journey to Beijing and a journey home bearing both the Paralympic and Olympic Flags, along with the hopes and dreams of the world's best athletes.
Our show celebrates the uplifting power of music and movement and the amazing performances that the Paralympic Games will bring to the UK in 2012, as elite athletes with disabilities from around the world push the boundaries of sporting and human achievement.
Handover highlights include:
The return of the London bus, revealing an interior that is predominantly green with lush grass and a hedge cut into the shape of the London skyline. On the unfolded petals of the bus, dancers beat out an urgent, edgy rhythm and above the bus Lord Nelson stands poised to join the celebrations. London's combination of internationally familiar landmarks, urban art and vibrant youth culture will create new opportunities for the UK and the world to experience the Paralympic Games.
Paralympic Ade Adepitan guides the bus to the Stadium. He is accompanied by young wheelchair gymnast and winner of a competition on the UK's most famous children's television pregramme, "Blue Peter", Gareth Picken (aged 9). Ade's role in leading the bus into the Stadium symbolises the focus on sport that drives the 2012 Games and the importance of sport as a positive influence in the lives of young people.
On high-rising elevators, from with the bus a young female drummer emerges with a full drum kit changing the sound from expectant to funky, followed by a recreation of the statue of Lord Nelson, transposed from his perch in Trafalgar Square to a more contemporary column. His eye patch replaced by sungrass, his sword with a guitar. The Paralympic and Olympic Games in London in 2012 will rock the UK and the world with a party-like celebration of sport, culture and amazing human performances.
A dance changes between street and contemporary dance groups, including disabled and able-bodies performers.
On a third rising elevator, a tea lady emerges with a mountain of cakes signaling that for the British, even in the rarefied atmosphere of a Closing Ceremony, everything stops for tea.
Performers dressed as Londoners from a range of backgrounds reflect the diversity of London life and our ambition for the London 2012 Games to be for everyone-where everyone is invited to get involved in the most exciting event in the world.
The involvement the CandoCo dance group-featuring dancers with disabilities performing together with able-bodied dancers, profiles and demonstrates true integration-a key principle of the London 2012 Games.
The unfolded petals on roof of the bus close, as the bus returns to its normal shape, but not before on final transformation. The bus leaves the Stadium dressed with the vibrant London 2012 Paralympic logo, as London's own journey of transformation as a Host City for the 2012 Games continues.
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