1 Day to Go: Rio Welcomes the World

The Olympic Torch is in town  - Rio's about to welcome the world tomorrow night!  Put yourself in the shoes of every Brazilian here.  Tomorrow will hopefully be a time for them to celebrate their history, culture, and their importance in this world of ours.  Imagine the feeling every Brazilian will have when their team enters the stadium or when their national anthem is performed for the world.  It should be an amazing event.

courtesy of AP

Although I can't show any snippets of this year's ceremony before it happens, I want you to know some of the things that are going on behind the scenes.  First, there are thousands of performers, directors, managers, and technicians from around the world, working feverishly in multiple languages.  Thankfully, there is a staff of translators that relay directions through individual headsets - just like the United Nations!

 But in all seriousness, these also allow for the soundtrack to be pumped through so everyone stays on target, and it allows for everyone to move at the right time, receive commands, or translate all of these items.  It is a very necessary tool, and one that has been used for these large ceremonies for years.  Here is someone's very sneaky hidden camera from 2012 in London - listen for the dots (beats to the music), the commands, and finally the music cues in their headset once they are on the field of play.

Perhaps when they do one of the many close-ups, you can look at the ground and see a series of letters and numbers.  The entire "stage" is called "field of play" here, frankly because it is an enormous stadium - much larger than a stage, but it is made into a perfect grid.  This allows for choreographers, actors, and lighting designers to be perfect all the time - always locating the same exact spots.  This is one of the practice facilities with the exact same layout - you can see the grid markings on the floor.

Above the field are a series of wires, pulleys, motors, and trains to pull large objects through the air, including cameras.  It will be a long time before anyone can match the size of the Sochi production, but since Sydney 2000, every Olympic ceremony has used the air space over the field as a canvas to move large objects in spectacular fashion.  The following videos I have included show the original concept art followed by the actual moment in the production.

Because of the complexity of the production, some musical events are prerecorded and some are performed live.  The protocol events (I'm proud to say) are live and have often been performed by classical or folk artists, acoustic instruments, and arranged in the western art music tradition.  Much of the other music performed has been prerecorded so the choreographers, designers, and broadcasters can make precise plans for their various tasks.

A new innovation (and one of my favorites) has been the use of projections to put the viewer into a sort of virtual space.  Sochi made for a great little segment with the soldiers of Peter the Great.  Although it looks like they're walking the entire time, they are actually walking to the very middle of the stadium and marching in place, spinning every once in a while.  Although when the projection system lays a moving map, it appears as if they're moving.

These are just some of the things that are happening behind the scenes.  I hope you enjoy the show tomorrow!  Until then, here is a final little teaser...the Olympics are in Brazil!

2 Days to Go: Behind the Curtain

Two days to go and behind the scenes here at the opening ceremony, there are some exciting and innovative ways that the show accomplishes so much!  You better read this one, there are some things here that Russia would HATE for me to "spill the beans" about.  Perhaps people are amazed at how something like this comes together, but it's no secret - it takes a LOT of people working many hours, but sometimes we get so close only to change something at the very last minute, at the very last rehearsal.

In 2014 in Sochi, we performed the last dress rehearsal for broadcast supplemental video.  For instance, if something went wrong during the actual ceremony, then a correct version could be put into the broadcast - you know where I'm going with this.  Although the whole world saw the asterisk, click the video below the picture to see what Russia saw!

Another interesting change from the 2014 Sochi rehearsals and the final result was the cauldron lighting. Sochi had a domed arena and an outdoor cauldron.  One way to fix this would be to light an indoor cauldron that would ignite a series of flames through the top of the stadium and run all the way out to the outdoor cauldron.  The following is a concept video of the Sochi cauldron.

I remember this being poorly covered up in the stadium; there were frequent attempts to fix the movement.  It never worked well, so it kind of flew in and out unnoticed in the ceremony.  It was to appear like this, then flatten out before an inner ball being lit.  The inner ball was removed before the ceremony.

Here it is flattened.  Once lit, a series of fireworks/fire cannons would string the "flame" to the roof where for weeks there were fire cannons being tested, before they "pulled the plug" and just decided to have two runners light the very last of the fire cannons near the cauldron.

Final cauldron test with fire cannons

Here was what actually happened after the concept was scrapped.

So, sometimes a LOT of change happens between the final dress rehearsal and the actual show.  Tomorrow I'll have several more "behind the scenes" elements to talk about - you won't want to miss it.  As always, if you want to see every summer Olympic opening ceremony, go to www.olympicceremony.org.

Today's teaser - remember yesterday's (if not, you have to click "Behind the Scenes: Rio 2016" on the green bar above).  This was some construction work only few weeks ago!  Wonder what it looks like now?  There are more secrets behind the curtain...

3 Days to Go: Feijoada and Favelas

There are only three days left until the Opening Ceremony!  If everything goes as planned (and I hope they do this time) it will be one BIG party.  No doubt, there should be plenty of jaw-dropping moments to enjoy from your TV at home.   There are some exciting new innovations and from what I have experienced of Rio, the ceremony describes Rio's artistic contributions to wold culture in a stunning way.  Also, in case you missed any posts or are curious, by clicking the button above that says "Behind the Scenes: Rio 2016," you can find all my earlier posts.

With that said, since I've been on my feet all the time, I've been walking many miles every day, sometimes eating small meals at strange intervals.  So today I made sure to have a decent, sit-down meal downtown by the Old Cathedral.

Old Rio Cathedral - they still perform mass here in chant!

Not the largest church, but certainly beautiful!

No, I couldn't make a "happy plate"

To give you an idea of what is going on here - this is called Feijoada, and I've had it before in Miami with my Brazilian/American friend and former college dorm roommate, Michael.  He also introduced me to Guarana, which is a soda - more popular than Coke down here.  My feijoada meal pictured here is stewed black beans and various pork parts (quite salty), rice, water, a shot of tequila and lemon (for some reason - I didn't ask for that, but I wasn't going to complain!), cooked cabbage with bacon, mandarin oranges, fried pork chunks, and masala.  The people around me laughed at the sight - as did I - but how should I know that it would be so much food?  It cost me $13.50 USD!

For Americans, you would certainly enjoy Rio (especially in Winter) - they have had significant negative press lately, but hopefully once the games begin, and the media lands in Rio, you will hear again and again the same things that I write about and that many of the tourists here comment.  It is a friendly place, you get a bang for your buck (as you can tell), and especially in Winter - it is cool, beautiful, and you will have a hard time finding any bugs, or anyone who has had a bug sighting.   I feel safe, there are many police out and about, and yeah, it smells terrible sometimes, but so does New York City, and I love that place too.

Tomorrow is the last of the dress rehearsals.  There are still a few areas that need work, or need to be tested.  Sometimes a segment is dropped from the program because the visual effect or preparation just isn't up to snuff.  That may be the case here, but there is still time to tinker so we'll see.

Today's "teaser" needs a bit more explanation than the past ones.  For months, I've been preparing for Rio, but back in May, long before I arrived on site, a special construction project began in Maracana specifically for the Opening Ceremony.  The grass was removed, a wooden stage was erected covering the stadium floor, and thousands of seats were removed!

This was just the beginning of the process, and I'll give you two more great teasers before the ceremony, but the concept behind this was to create a ceremony that best described Rio's history.  You will see this unfold in great spectacle, but in describing Rio, the history of all the music that originated here (samba, bossa nova, funk carioca, choro) and in describing the ethnic diversity - all of those stories begin in the favelas, the slums of Rio.  Even the great Brazilian film, City of God, which is also Rio's nickname, is about life in the favelas.  Not surprisingly, the director of that film is the chief artistic director of the ceremony.

Rio Favela

As they plaster the sides of the many mountains, which tower over the beaches and wealthy, seaside neighborhoods, the favelas are a curiosity to most but a vital part of the cultural history of this city.  So, thousands of seats were removed and slowly, a large "favela" was built within the stadium, serving not just as a backdrop, but a feature from which the story of Rio will be told in the ceremony.  Is your imagination racing yet?

Under construction!

Brazil is Loud!

Most days I see this beautiful city through cars like these.  They safely pick up and drop off staff, but as I am still new to the Brazilian culture, I love looking, thinking about what life must be like.

The puzzle-pieced sidewalks of stone, sand, and grime are crowded with people going about their day.  Many aimlessly passing the time, reading the newspaper on a bench or staring at what the genetic diversity of this place has given its beaches - beautiful people that is.  Vendors call; tourists fill corner stands for barbecue and Guarana; a homeless man grabs his pet dog's grungy front paws to dance to the music of a street-busking accordion, tambourine, and drum trio. 

But for those memories, I learned more about being Brazilian yesterday than I have through any of my stay so far.  The people, these joyous people, love to celebrate so raucously that their singing overcame the stadiums amplification many times.  Our first full dress rehearsal went exceedingly well.  

Fireworks are hard to take pictures of...

There are some items that won't be practiced for an audience, including the cauldron lighting, but the visual and technical effects worked or rather fooled the mind.  The story line is comprehensible and (thank goodness) the anthems sound fantastic.  A few things need some work in the parade - particularly some pronunciation problems - but cross your fingers and toes that all the athletes can be corraled effectively.  That's rather difficult to practice.

Brazil loves to party, and the audience LOUDLY sang and danced as passionately as they could throughout.  No, you won't see the formal propriety of Athens 2004 (by far one of my favorites), and it won't be as orderly as Beijing 2008, but it will certainly be Brazilian, and most importantly FOR Brazil.  It is part hilarious, vivacious, intimate, serious, colorful, and unbelievable - but when you watch, pay attention to the crowd if the coverage allows you to.  Their joy will infectiously bring a smile to your face.

It will also be an education for the viewing audience not only in the history of Brazil, but also for its music.  I've mentioned some of the major styles in previous posts, but honestly, I think the ceremony will be a great teaching tool for all these Brazilian music genres.  I realized yesterday that I didn't mention a style called Funk Carioca or Favela Funk when I was covering the other music genres.  It may seem pretty harsh at first (especially to stuffy academes like myself) but keep an open mind and the visual elements will help you to understand it.  Actually,what you will hear is mostly favela funk and samba fusion.  More on that to come, but just like many popular music genres, it often reflects culture and allows for people/groups to uniquely and passionately express themselves.  And this music, just like the other major dance genres in Brazil, originates in the favelas.

Teaser...well, I've run out of rather ambiguous teasers it seems...maybe tomorrow you'll get a really good one!

Symbols of Peace

This will be posted as we are performing our first full dress rehearsal.  I'll make sure to give you any details tomorrow (of what I can share that is).  In the meantime, two days ago, I posted about some parts of the protocol of the ceremony to look for, and what past ceremonies have done - the cauldron lighting and the presentation of the Olympic Rings.

Hold your nose! Maracana, with an open sewer line in front!

One final moment to pay attention to is the release of doves.  This has a rather strange history.  The Olympics were very young by the time World War I ravaged Europe.  The 1916 Berlin Olympics were canceled and there was serious doubt as to whether the Olympics could move on after the conflict.  In a brilliant move, the IOC awarded Antwerp, Belgium the games in 1920 - the most devastated country in the war.  It was a way to celebrate peaceful competition and with that, the ceremony added a few new elements:  oaths, the Olympic flag, and release of doves (symbolizing peace).

The oaths and Olympic Flag presentation have remained unchanged since that time.  The Olympic Hymn tradition is even older, beginning with the first modern games in Athens in 1896, but the release of doves ran into some issues.  After 1920, the release of doves became a visual spectacle in a ceremony that didn't offer much spectacle outside of the parade of nations and cauldron lighting.  Many early ceremonies were very austere and simple.

By the 1980s, the Cold War instigated, by far, the largest ceremonies up to that point in time - mega events in Moscow and Los Angeles, each with enormous flocks of doves being released as part of the celebration.  Then in 1988, Seoul tried to adapt to this trend.  They produced a large (and very long) ceremony, but the cauldron would be set high within the Olympic Stadium - a nice place a perch if you were a lazy dove.  Then this happened (warning: burning living things).

For the doves that escaped, some plummeted to their deaths hitting the athletes below and spectators.  Obviously, many in the viewing audience were appalled, so the IOC instituted a brilliant protocol change eliminating live doves and instead requiring an artistic "release of doves."  Here are some of my favorites versions of how the recent Olympics have adapted this new tradition.  Again, the clips are short since I've cued them up, so why not watch them all!

Atlanta 1996 - dove kites

Nagano 1998 - dove balloons

Sydney 2000 - projected dove on cloth (also 2004, didn't include that here)
...and holy smokes she can belt high - ouch!

Salt Lake City 2002 - dove kites with ice skaters

Torino 2006 - aerial gymnastics dove

London 2012 - flying bicycle doves (pretty amazing)

Sochi 2014 - ballet dove (my favorite)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKhuvril8Rs&t=147m0s

Today's teaser...practicing in the dark...

Shock and Awe

Bring in the audience!  Tomorrow, begins the first of two full runs with audience.  As is the case in most every Olympics, the ceremony is recorded three times.  Traditionally, this was necessary so the television broadcasters would be able to specifically edit portions of the ceremony into, or know which ones to take out of, the television broadcast.

Shameless selfie with Maracana

Many of you, I suspect all of you, remember the epic ring failure from Sochi.  That was one of the moments that could have easily been edited out, and a successful version put in.  Actually, the Russian broadcast did just that!  But we all felt devastated in a way when that happened, because the opening segment is usually one that is intended to pack a punch.  More on that in a bit.

But every so often, a segment is deleted from the broadcast like the 2000 member marching band in Sydney (2000).  But by far, one of my favorite moments that didn't see airtime in the US was in 2012.  There was a tribute to those who died in the London subway bombings, which happened the day after the games were awarded to London - 7/7/05.  The segment features 52 dancers representing the 52 who died in the 4 attacks in a performance called "An Ending (Ascent)"- performed to the old hymn, "Abide with Me."  It's about a father taking his son into eternity - I nearly cry every time I see this.

As I mentioned yesterday, the display of the Olympic Rings and welcome have been a part of the opening moment of the ceremony for decades.  Later, a countdown was added and since 1992, the nighttime ceremony would begin at the clock time of their year.  Does that make sense?  In this case, it is 2016, and the ceremony will begin at 20:16, or 8:16pm.  These have mostly been traditions, not protocol, but are often treated just as important in the planning stages.

By 2000, the countdown and Olympic Rings Welcome became a sort of "shock and awe" moment in the evolution of the ceremony, a way to say, "these are the Olympic Games" in the most powerful way.  They are all very different and spectacular, and don't last very long since I've cued them up for you - you might as well watch them all!

120 horses in Sydney (2000)

Fire on Water in Athens (2004) - one of my favorites 

Suspended Lights on Cloth in Beijing (2008) 

Smelting of Suspended Iron in London (2012) - also amazing

Snowflakes in Sochi (2014)

https://youtu.be/bKhuvril8Rs?t=17m

Today's Teaser!

Cauldron Lighting 101

In the ceremony, there are many protocol elements; these are elements that must happen as part of the ceremony.  Some portions are rigidly adhered to: anthems and flag presentations, speeches and declarations, oaths.  Others have complete artistic freedom like the cauldron lighting, the display of the Olympic Rings, and the release of doves.  I wanted to make you aware of these when you watch because it is always one of my favorite moments to see how each Olympics adapts the ceremony as their own.

Let's start with the most exciting moment in the Olympic Ceremony, the cauldron lighting.  The cauldron lighting originates in the 1912 Stockholm games, although largely unknown, even in Sweden.  Swedish public media did a radio feature in 2012 on my research about it, partly because it was something few knew about even though it was in the Olympic record.  Again in 1928, a cauldron was used in Amsterdam and in 1932 in Los Angeles.  By the time Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, they introduced a torch relay beginning in Olympia, Greece where the flame was lit by the rays of the sun.

From then on, there wasn't much innovation.  Essentially, the torch was hand delivered (and once by horseback in the 1956 Equestrian Games) to the cauldron in every occasion, until 1992.  In 1992, a truly magnificent event occurred in Barcelona:

Before that moment, say the 1992 Winter games in Albertville held just a few months before Barcelona and in many other instances, the cauldron was lit in the middle or beginning of the ceremony and artistic programs continued afterward.  The lighting was just one of several important elements.  After 1992, the cauldron lighting became the singular climactic moment of every ceremony, furthering the evolution of the ceremony as an art form.  In ceremonies to come, the cauldron lighting would become a plot element around which directors would build a story.

It's important to note that Moscow's (1980) mega-ceremony spurred a Cold War response by the US with Los Angeles' (1984) even larger ceremony, beginning a string of theatrical extravaganzas that still continue.  In a way, each host city was looking to one-up the previous city, especially in its most memorable moment.

In 1994, Lillehammer tested out another spectacular feat for the world-wide audience adding great risk and drama.

This added risk proved exceptionally powerful to the world-wide audience and especially to the media. The manner by which the cauldron would be lit soon became just a important as who would light the flame.  It was so obsessed over in the media that when the Atlanta (1996) and Nagano (1998) lightings failed to capture the awe of Lillehammer and Barcelona, they were highly criticized.  

With a massive amount of pressure, director Ric Birch knew just how to find that drama in Sydney (2000).  His ceremony story arc, with character building, even an operatic score focused toward an enormous secret - where was the cauldron?  Birch decided to completely hide it.  And with an innovative lighting, Sydney faced near disaster when things didn't go as planned.  For the television audience though, it proved to be a nerve-wracking, yet exceptionally exciting few minutes.

Athens (2004) furthered the trend of introducing a technically bombastic cauldron lighting with this mechanical beast.  Thankfully there wasn't a glitch, but check out the tilted, movable jumbotron!

The ceremony of Beijing 2008, the biggest in history, also increased the drama and technicality of the cauldron lighting by not only hiding the cauldron until the very last minute, but suspending the final torch bearer hundreds of feet in the air as he "runs" a final lap.

Unfortunately the spectacle ran into a major mishap in 2010 in Vancouver.  Every Winter Games until this point used the simple hand delivered lighting for the most part.  In a surprising move, Vancouver attempted a hidden cauldron that spectacularly emerged from the domed stadium floor, but one of the arms of the cauldron failed to rise.  I'm unable to embed this, so you can watch it by clicking here.  The lighting begins at the 3 hr. mark.

Since then, London and Sochi offered rather simple cauldron lightings - the notable exception to tradition being that London constructed the cauldron during the ceremony.  Each country brought out a metal part as they entered the stadium during the parade of nations, and it was slowly put together over the evening.  This is what the end result looked like.

London Olympic Cauldron

What will be in store for Rio?  Check it out in ONE WEEK - AUGUST 5!!  Until then, check out all the cauldron lightings and ceremonies at www.olympicceremony.org

Today's teaser - I had another one planned for today, but then getty images took this from its helicopter.  I bet you really want to know what's behind that...

City of God and Favela Kings

Feathers, drums, whistles, skin - it's Carnival in Rio.  Prior to Lent every year, the "City of God" breaks out into celebration with one of the most famous of Brazilian holidays.  People around the city regularly practice all year for the event, especially in the poorest of neighborhoods in Rio, the favelas, that are interwoven between the rich parts of town.

There are 12 major samba schools and several hundred others throughout the city.  Much like a athletic club or community center, these neighborhood schools practice their dances, build floats, practice music, design costumes, and spend the whole year developing a parade for the Sambadrome stadium.  How can we tell the story of Rio without Carnival?

I had to use this tortoise one, since I have a pet tortoise of my own, Orpheus.  Noah Oppenheim, the world's most brilliant 5 year old, is taking great care of him while I am in Rio!

There are actually very specific guidelines toward creating a Carnival parade in this great artistic competition.  Each part of the parade is graded and tells a story.

Part 1: Comissão de frente - These are the people in the very front of the parade.  Sort of acting like the banner at the front of a marching band, they introduce their school with a choreographed presentation and dance that tells a story, the theme of their school's parade.  

Part 2: Abre-alas - Next, the first float.  These can reach over 4 stories high and usually integrate the history of the school.  They are very elaborate and very large - amazingly, it is against the rules to use engines (partly to keep from having fires) so they must be propelled by human force!

This the school Estacio de sa performing these first two parts.  It's an heroic tale of the knight making peace with an evil dragon.

Part 3: Mestre-sala & Porta-bandeira - This is a man and woman couple that are elaborately dressed and dance around each other while prominently displaying the school flag.

Part 4: Ala das baianas & other dancers - Then the majority of the samba school, separated into age, perhaps sex, or costume theme.  Hundreds of dancers parade through, sometimes in elaborate dress, sometimes wearing nearly nothing!

Part 5: Bateria - The band follows at the rear playing the school song, perhaps sung by a famous singer, with many varieties of drums, brass instruments, and perhaps some other instruments or whistles.

As I mentioned, many of the people involved are from the slums, the favelas, which spread throughout the city, and are adjacent to the nicest parts of town.  They spend the entire year building their costumes, practicing their instruments, and practicing their dances.

Today's teaser - I barely snuck this one through the censors...any ideas on what our stadium construction project may be?  Too bad you can't see the other side...

Native Empire, Diverse Creativity

The days are counting down and I am moving at an ever increasing pace.  Cars honk, vendors yell, flags whip, sweat pours - time is quickly running out, and I have blisters on my toes.  In the rehearsal tents, dancers and actors with colored bibs spend hours practicing with few breaks, all in silence.  Meanwhile, acrobats and models move toward opposite ends of the floor to review movement charts, while marshals flood in to line the way for the invisible athletes, all in silence.

In order to get the job done, completely rehearsed and staged, and ready for the masses, everyone is practicing with earphones channeled to listen only to their own translator, instructor, choreographer, or music.  It's a strange sight to see hundreds "shadow box" their separate performances simultaneously, but this is how you put on a production with 6,000 performers.

It's also the one moment that Brazil will show the world its culture, people, and importance in the world. To do that, there are numerous historic moments taken into account in telling Brazilian history.  Take notes of these, because they will appear in one form or another - how would you stage these?

The Amazon & Indigenous Peoples:  Before European explorers came to Brazil, thousands of tribes existed in the Amazon region.  The largest rain forest and river on earth was their means of life, food, and travel.

Amazon River and Forrest

The Portuguese & Slavery:  Brazil was claimed in 1500 for Portugal by Pedro Cabral.  These Europeans developed a slave trade with Africa to help develop the cash crop of sugar cane.  By the 1700s, gold was discovered and more African slaves were brought in to mine.  Even after freedom in the late 1800s, black citizens settled into slums, called favellas, that sadly still exist and separate the people and affluency today.

One of MANY favellas in Rio

Empire: The Portuguese king Joao VI was driven from Portugal in 1808 by Napoleon, and he fled to Rio de Janeiro, where he reigned the Portuguese Empire until 1821, after which he returned to Portugal leaving his eldest son Pedro in Brazil.  Pedro had other goals in mind, so the following year, he declared war on his father, won independence, and was crowned Emperor of Brazil.

The last Emperor of Brazil - Pedro II

Republic, Crops, & Modernization:  After years of many wars, a coup was thrown in 1889, and the Brazilian Republic began.  Along with democracy, immigrants from Japan, Europe, and Africa came to grow new cash crops like coffee and extract rubber.

*First* Airplane: As a proud American, I have to mention that although the first airplane was flown by the Wright Brothers in 1903, Brazil is VERY proud to call their own Alberto Santos-Dumont the first to fly in 1906...

...because their 14-bis plane was the first with wheels and take off on its own.

It later was authenticated that the Wright Brothers' Flyer successfully took off on its own several times 3 years before the 14-bis, but you can probably guess how I fared in this argument.

(Where's that rolling-my-eyes emoji on my keyboard?)

14-bis

Military Rule & Return:  After a military coup in 1964, artistic, political, and social change was halted until a return to democracy in 1985.  Brazil is a young country - they have a great story to tell!

Finally, today's teaser...hmmm, yesterday I mentioned a little construction project going on.  I wonder where/what it is?

Blue Earth

Rio feels very European, but as one kind local mentioned to me about her street stand, "We work when we want to, we're happier that way."  And yes, Brazilians are very happy, joyful people and have been quick to share that joy.  Especially since my only Olympic experience before this was in Russia, I am eternally grateful to be in a country where people smile.

Around town, and in the Olympic areas, there are still projects and construction.  That's not all that surprising, as most of the venues are temporary or easily assembled/disassembled venues that can be used over and over again.  It reminds me of the days before the county fair, all the rides and carnival equipment get rolled into town - obviously, this is just a bit larger than the county fair.

Temporary seats being erected for the Marathon

Historically speaking, Rio has been very innovative in keeping costs down.  The games at large will cost less than 1/5 of the smaller Winter games in Sochi!  The ceremony will "officially" cost only about 1% of what Sochi spent if you include Sochi's elaborate construction costs!  Perhaps that's more a reflection on Russia's handling of the games, but Rio's ceremony will cost less than the ones of recent.  Outside of some specific large projects, like the athletics stadium, most of the venues are temporary.  They look nice on the inside, and amazingly, are reusable venues that will be used by their athletic unions all over the world.  This aerial photo I found online, but have a closer picture below it, so you can see how simple it is.  By the way, I'm staying at the tallest building at the right of the picture.

The main stadium for Beach Volleyball at Copacabana Beach

Not the prettiest stadium, but it gets the job done!

The ceremony will be performed at Maracana.  And it has had it's own construction project.  A tent city was set up months ago for the ceremony.  Tents for costumes, changing, offices, practicing, and full football-field sized ones for choreography.  This allows for us to assign different performance groups to practice simultaneously instead of waiting for their time inside the stadium.  There has been a construction project going on inside the stadium, but I'll save that teaser for another post!

This is the main entrance to the stadium.  I usually am transported by car and enter in another location, so this was actually the first time I went to the front of the stadium since I took a bus.  There are many armored soldiers surrounding the stadium, and I have a great picture of one carrying a bazooka of all things!  Learning my lessons from the Russia, I will refrain from posting military photos until I know it's safe!

Today's teaser - hmmm...it's getting close to dress rehearsals!  We're soon going to have to give up the use of our phones now that we will begin full runs, so I have some great teasers saved up and ready to go.  We're not supposed to take pictures ourselves (selfies)/workers/actors - people in general - but somehow I got this one approved...

The Simple Pyramid

Hello again from Rio!  Today, I had a brief meeting at the Cathedral downtown.  Brazil is the world's largest catholic country, and you may be surprised with one of it's largest churches.

Rio Cathedral 

Inside Rio Cathedral

Bell Tower

This "new" cathedral took 12 years to complete and finished in 1976.  It is not fancy in any respect other than the design, based on a Mayan pyramid.  It is open air, made of what now is weathering concrete, dirtied from air pollution, rusted steel, but still smelling of incense and so simple, one would have to think Pope Francis, a South American who loves the simplicity of life, would be pleased.  The bell tower, also very austere is an actual, manually controlled bell tower, which I had the privilege to see and hear at noon.  If you look closer, you can see all the rusted spiral staircases that go to the top of the tower.

If you wondered, the old cathedral is gorgeous.  I found the images below online and I probably won't get to see it until after the ceremony.  Here is where the ceremony becomes involved.  Since the Olympic Flame began its continuous use in the ceremony in 1928 in Amsterdam, there has been a standing rule that the Olympic Flame be continuously lit over the Olympic Stadium.  The Olympic Stadium is the stadium specifically designated for Athletics (track and field).   Rio's Opening Ceremony is not at the Olympic Stadium but in Maracana, the most famous football (soccer) stadium in Brazil.  So, the Organizing Committee asked the IOC for help in changing the rule.  They allowed Rio, for the first time ever, to do something different!  The flame will be lit at the Opening Ceremony, but cauldron will spend the games in the square in front of the old cathedral downtown.  "Hmmmm...how is that going work," you say?  I'll let you figure that out!   The design, how it's going to be lit, and who will light it are all big secrets but are sure to be amazing.

Inside the Old Rio Cathedral

Outside the Old Rio Cathedral

It's beautiful down here and this being the second time that I've experienced the games, the media surrounding it always surprises me.  Rio certainly is better suited and prepared than Sochi was.  It's very easy to make negative reports, but people down here seem mostly annoyed with all the concerns.  Frankly, it has been too cold and dry for bug problems. I find it strange that all the top women golfers are attending the games (despite the media's fascination with zika), while many of the top men golfers have pulled out of the games due to "concerns."  In many respects, everyone is very excited, definitely not "on edge."  I saw the New Zealand Olympic Team and have seen some of the Irish and Austrians - everyone I have met are happy, feel safe, and enjoying themselves.  Rio and Brazil, are very welcoming to visitors.

And finally, today's teaser...yikes, you will feel that music!  I have a good teaser coming soon.  Nothing to give away anything, but it'll make you think.

The World's Pilgrimage

Seemingly to bless our feet in the pilgrimage, shimmering clouds of silvery granite dust swirl around the many feet and pathways, guiding our way toward the top of the mountain.  Strange fruits grow on the trees within a truly urban jungle where monkeys scatter from curious children wanting to play.  The faithful and the tourists trek up to this point for one reason - Christ the Redeemer.

But once again, let's get some background music to this post - you know what to do.  Press play and have fun reading.

The ceremony will be offering several styles of truly Brazilian music.  I've written about samba and bossa nova in the previous two posts.  You're listening to a type of music invented in Rio in the 1800s.  If Brazil is now best known for samba and bossa nova, choro was the defacto "Brazilian" popular music before WWII.

It is based in classical music tradition - an amalgamation of the German waltz, Spanish habanera, and other European dance/music forms then combined with West African dance rhythm.  It is very similar to the relationship between ragtime and jazz in the US.  Both born of African rhythm and the classical music tradition, but once jazz matured, it would reign as THE American music.  Similarly, bossa nova and samba evolved out of choro to take the world by storm.

Early on, when I was learning about the music culture of Brazil, I expected this to be vocal music since it was called "choro" - it looks very similar to the word for "choir" in most every Western Language, but it actually means to "cry" in Portuguese, and choro is predominantly instrumental.  I've sort have fallen in love with this music since learning about it.  The most famous composer of choro was Ernesto Nazareth, and I've purchased the critical edition of Nazareth's music for my library among other things.  The ceremony will beautifully feature a choro performer, Paulinho da Viola, in one of the most prominent segments (of which I have a hand in).

Preparations are moving toward evening rehearsals which has freed up the time I should be sleeping - the morning!  But today, a few of us (and some members of Ireland's Olympic team) were able to go up to see the world's largest art deco statue in the world - Christ the Redeemer.  I turned around from the same location in the second panorama.  (click photos to see a larger view)

Christ the Redeemer (left - as if I had to say), Maracana Stadium (Opening Ceremony - middle white thing by the edge of the hill), Downtown Rio (Right)

Sugar Loaf Mountain (far left), Copacabana Beach (middle left - behind the range), Ipanema Beach (middle right)

Crown in front of the statue looking at Sugar Loaf Mountain.  At the middle bottom part of this photo you can barely see a green roof behind the tree branch.  The nuns who maintain the chapel and monument live there.  You can pull up a rope and container at the cement outcropping to drop in a donation.

Underneath the statue there is a small chapel.  A family was having a baptism there when we arrived.

By population, Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world.  Obviously, we cannot tell the story of Brazil without talking about Catholicism, and we can't tell the story of Rio without Christ the Redeemer.  These turn out to be major artistic points in the ceremony - and in a very exciting and beautiful way.   Tomorrow, we are making a stop at the nearby downtown Cathedral, one of the World's largest, for some final planning before a week of practice runs leading up to the first dress rehearsals.

Teaser photo, oops!  Taking photos of the sign asking us not to take photos during rehearsals.