Hold Fast To Dreams
Opening Ceremony Artistic Program Proposal
Alejandro Tafur
Introduction
The Summer Olympics are the ultimate publicity stunt. For seventeen days every
fours years, the eyes of the world are trained on a single country and a single city. No
event in the world, besides perhaps the World Cup, has so much potential to focus the
international gaze on a single place. The Olympics, then are the time when a country can
define itself in this international gaze, a time when a single country has the chance to tell
the world exactly who it is and wants to be. Nowhere is this truer than in the artistic
program of the opening ceremony, where the host city shows the world its character in a
magnificent production. However, all too often the artistic programs are more
propaganda than honest representation, shows that do little more than extoll the virtues of
the host nation. In 2024, Boston will have the chance to be different. In that spirit I
present the following proposal for the artistic program, one that I hope will be honest
about America’s successes and failures, but that ultimately presents an optimistic and
hopeful vision of the country’s future, a vision that the country truly has reason to believe
is possible.
Previous Opening Ceremonies, Reactions, and Lessons Learned
Sydney
Sydney’s ceremony portrayed the evolution of Australia. It began by celebrating
the most ancient parts of Australia’s identity, the country’s natural beauty (especially that
of its oceans and its grasslands), and its diverse and rich indigenous population, then
slowly morphed into a festive celebration of the multicultural immigrants that made the
country into the diverse land it is today. Finally, the ceremony ended by lauding the
“brash, confident, and irreverent” spirit of the country’s present and future, represented
by a mass tap dance and images of industrial construction, and a rendition of “Dare to
Dream” by Olivia Newton John and John Farnham.
The ceremony was called a “masterpiece of showbiz presentation” and lauded for
its “wit and symbolism,” as well as its message of reconciliation in a nation conflicted
over the treatment of Native Australians. However, it garnered two major criticisms. The
first was that it simply “followed… inexorable Olympic Rhetoric and Hyperbole,”
sending no original messages and adding nothing to a template established in 1984. The
second was that, despite its conscious recognition and incorporation of Aboriginal
Australians, the ceremony was planned and conceived of by almost entirely nonaboriginal people.
Athens
In 2004, the organizers of the Athens Olympics emphasized two themes: Greece’s
intellectual and cultural heritage and the passionate love that is essential to producing art.
From the opening scene in which a drummer symbolically converses with the past
through his music, to the projection of scientific and mathematic shapes onto a Cycladic
statuette, to the image of a man stepping forward on a cube to conquer the unknown, to
the parade of Greece’s ancient cultures, and finally to the spiraling image of DNA rising
out of the water, the ceremony captured Greece’s accomplishments and spoke to the
empowering nature of knowledge.
The Athens ceremony was praised for its technological innovation and message,
both at home and abroad. Greeks thanked the ceremony’s designer for “giving [them] the
chance to see the beauty of life with [his] eyes.” However, some criticized it for its lack
of spectacle, especially during the parade of Greek history, and its comparatively short
length.
Beijing
Beijing’s ceremony focused on sharing China’s ancient history and culture
through art. Beginning with a visual tribute in ink to the country’s natural beauty, it
progressed into a story of ancient Chinese civilization as told by movable type and its
encounter with European civilization told by an allusion to enormous painted fans, which
was in turn followed by a piano duet to symbolize the dialogue between old and young
and a dance representing the importance the Chinese place on harmony with nature.
Finally, a group of schoolchildren learning the old art forms but adding in a smiley face
represented the more lighthearted generations of China’s future, and a duet of “You and
Me” sung in Chinese and English performed on top of an enormous globe symbolized the
country’s unity with the natural world and its place in the new world order.
The majority of the world lauded the ceremony for its remarkable scale and
beauty. Steven Spielberg called it “arguably the greatest spectacle of the new
millennium,” and the American Film Industry named it “the most significant live event of
the year.” However, there were some criticisms that the ceremony couldn’t escape.
Reuters was concerned with the possibly intimidating displays of military strength, and
there was some disappointment from the Asia Times that the ceremony elicited “not so
much as a chuckle.”
London
From the very opening scene, it was clear the London opening ceremony would
combine a celebration of England’s culture and heritage with its good humor and sense of
fun. It began with an idyllic picture of pastoral life celebrating the natural beauty of all
four countries that form the United Kingdom, as well as a declaration that “the isle is full
of noises,” both a reference to Shakespeare and a representation of the festive theme of
the games. What followed next was a tour through Great Britain’s history, including the
industrial revolution, women’s suffrage, World War 1, immigration, and the forging of
the Olympic rings. From there English humor emerged as the main theme, with a stunt
double of the queen parachuting out of a helicopter, a raucous celebration of the national
health service and British literature, Rowan Atkinson’s appearance in a symphonic
performance of “Chariots of Fire,” and a festive celebration of British music through the
ages. Finally, the artistic program ended on a more somber note with a tribute to all those
who perished in the 7/7 train bombings.
Internationally, the ceremony was a massive success. A BBC writer praised it as
“cynicism-squashing” and “pinch-yourself fun,” The Guardian lauded the way it
“embrace[d] big ideas,” and Chinese new CCTV-4 termed it a “stunning feast for the
eyes.” Indeed, the only criticism of the program seems to have come from inside the
United Kingdom itself, where a small group of Conservatives derided it as “left-wing
politics.” However, many other members of the Conservative Party denounced this
reading of the ceremony
Lessons Learned
In examining these four opening ceremonies, we see aspects that a meaningful,
powerful, and successful opening ceremony should embrace. First and foremost, an
artistic program must captivate with its scale and bold production. Second, authenticity is
necessary. An American ceremony cannot neglect any group of people that calls the
United States home, but neither can it tell their stories with anything but fully authentic
artists, who understand the group’s culture and history. Third, the ceremony should
engage original ideals, and not simply rehash those of the Olympic Movement. Finally,
the most successful opening ceremonies have moments of fun and celebration that lift the
mood and make the ceremony accessible and enjoyable for all.
Collaborating Artists
Choreographers:
Louis Mofsie
Mofsie is of Hopi and Winnebago descent, the founder of a 30-year-old dance
troupe known as the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, and an experienced
choreographer, having worked with The Mercer Arts Center, The Lincoln Center
Repertory Company, and many more. He has both the experience and cultural knowledge
necessary to choreograph for the artistic program.
Emery Lecrone
A faculty member at Columbia University, Lecrone has choreographed for more
than 50 ballet companies. Her extensive experience with both ballet, a historically
European form of dance, along with her reputation as a “sharp, cerebral choreographer”
make her a valuable addition to the artistic program.
Ronald K. Brown
Brown is the founder of Evidence, A Dance Company, which is based in
Brooklyn, and a recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship. His willingness to fuse
dance styles, African-American heritage, and his experience with both West African
dance and urban dance make him a perfect choreographer for the artistic program.
H. T. Chen
Born in Shanghai and raised in Taiwan, Chen is the founder of the Chen Dance
Center and a recipient of several NEA Choreography Fellowships. His work with the Pan
Asian Repertory Theater and over 20 years of experience more than qualify him to
choreograph for the artistic program.
Sekou McMiller
McMiller is the founder of SMc Dance Company and has over 14 years of
experience instructing and performing at Latin Dance Conventions Worldwide. His
experience with and use of many different styles of Latin dance and Afro-Latin heritage
make him the perfect choreographer for the artistic program.
Peter Rockford Espiritu
The artistic director of Oceania Dance Theatre, Espiritu has over 15 years of
experience in choreography, and has won scholarships to the School of American Ballet
and the American Dance Festival. His many years of experience with the different dance
styles of Oceania his concern with the mixing of cultures and global village awareness,
and his indigenous Hawaiian heritage perfectly qualify him to choreograph for the
opening ceremony.
Kyle Hanagami
Hanagami is a young hip-hop choreographer from Los Angeles, a recipient of the
Performance of the Year award at the 2011 Carnival Choreographers Ball, and
“Hollywood’s hottest up-and-coming choreographer” according to Dance Spirit
Magazine. His experience and ability to tell a story through hip-hop dancing make him a
welcome addition to the artistic program as a storytelling choreographer.
Cat Cogliandro
A faculty member at Broadway Dance Center in New York City and EDGE
Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, Cogliandro is also the founder of Catastrophe!
Dance Company. Her desire and ability to capture experiences and entertain earn her a
place within the artistic program alongside Kyle Hanagami.
Other Relevant Artists:
Darko Tresnjak (Broadway Director)
Only the fifth Artistic Director to lead Hartford Stage, Tresnjak is the winner of
four Tony Awards and the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His experience directing
Broadway shows and as an artistic director make him an invaluable addition to the artistic
program, which he would direct.
Storyteller
The person selected as the Storyteller will have the responsibility of narrating the
relevant moments of the ceremony to the live audience as well as telling the creation
story that will begin the artistic program. The Storyteller will be chosen through a
national competition, in which those interested will audition by telling a story of their
choice. The 50 best auditions will make it to a second round, in which they recite a story
of the selection committee’s choosing. Finally, the ten most impressive storytellers in the
second round will advance to the final round, in which they tell the story that will start
the program, as well as narrate the program itself. The winner will become the artistic
program’s Storyteller.
Overarching Themes
The artistic program will have two main themes, which represent two of
America’s most important characteristics. The first is diversity. In recent years, the
country has come under fire for problems in race relations, which are undeniably real
problems in America. However, despite Americans’ trouble living in peace with each
other, America still stands alone in the world as a country built by immigrants. America’s
diversity and its citizens’ varied heritages are worth celebrating.
The second theme of the artistic program will be dreams. Practically every
American schoolchild has heard of the “American Dream,” and a great many of them will
grow disillusioned with the phrase by the time they reach college. However, dreams are
still an important part of our national identity. Whether the dreams of those that come to
this country seeking a better life or the dream that our country can be better than it is and
has been, dreams hold a special place in American history and culture. We are cynical
about many of those dreams, and some of that cynicism is definitely warranted when
considering America’s history, but the dreams themselves are beautiful and valuable,
things worth having pride in and striving toward. That’s why the show is titled “Hold
Fast To Dreams,” because in doing so even when it’s hardest to do so we make our
country a better place.
Framing Narrative
The narrative of the opening ceremony will center on a young Native American
boy dreaming of America’s past and present. He will represent the “young dreamer,” a
person who does not delude himself about the problems of the world, but truly believes
that they can be solved, and truly believes that the solution is within our grasp. At the end
of the artistic program the boy will wake up and have a chance to influence America’s
future. A secondary framing narrative will center on poetry. The title of the program is a
line from the Langston Hughes poem “Dreams,” and a line from a great American poet
will title every act of the artistic program. These lines of poetry will also be read aloud at
the beginning of every act, in order to frame the themes of that act.
The Ceremony
Introduction
Before the first act begins, the focus will be on a bed in the center of the stadium,
on which a young Native American boy sits cross-legged, flipping through a book. The
Storyteller will begin to tell a creation story that blends multiple Native creation stories.
On a screen overhead relevant images and videos will be shown as the creation myth is
told.
“In the beginning, and for many years after, there was darkness.”
(Blank black screen)
“Then, suddenly, there appeared a great circle of yellow light,”
(Shot of the sun in a clear blue sky)
“And in the center of that circle of yellow light sat an old man, the first artist.”
(Close up on the face of an old Native American Man)
“The old man stretched out his hands, and on the canvas of the great emptiness
created the sky and the land and the water.”
(Shot of the Everglades)
“But the old man was too far away from the land he had created to mold it to his
liking, and so all the land was one great swamp.”
(Shot of a Georgia swampland)
“So he stretched out his hand again, and created the first Raven,”
(Shot of a Raven)
“And the old man said unto the Raven, ‘Go and shape the land beautiful in my
name.’”
(Shot of a Raven taking off from an arm)
“And so the Raven flew from the man and over the surface of the world.”
(Shot of a Raven soaring through the sky)
“Where the Raven brought his wings up he lifted the earth and formed the
mountains;”
(Shots of the Rocky Mountains)
“Where the Raven brought his wings he pushed down the earth and formed the
valleys and plains.”
(Shots of the Great Plains)
“In some places the Raven rested, flapping his wings as he hovered in the air, and
these places became the deserts,”
(Shot of the Sonoran Desert)
“In some places the Raven carried water from the sea into the land, but some of
the water spilled from his beak as he carried it, and these places became the lakes and
rivers.”
(Shots of the Great Lakes and rivers)
“And in some places the Raven sprinkled seeds with his beak, and these places
became the forests.”
(Shot of the Redwood Forest)
“After a year and a day the Raven returned to the man in the sun and showed him
all that he had wrought, and the man said ‘This is good.’”
(Images of the natural beauty of America. Music begins to play softly.)
“But the Raven spoke to the old man once again and told him, ‘I am lonely on this
empty earth, with no other creatures to keep me company.’”
(Shots of wildlife all over America.)
“So the old man smiled and stretched forth his arms once more,”
(More shots of wildlife. Images of people from many different ethnic groups,
which will continue to appear for the rest of the story.)
“And though all the animals and people the old man fashioned were as varied as
the lands on which they trod, they were all as beautiful as the earth in all its majesty.
“And both the Raven and the old man looked down from the sky and said, ‘This is
good,’ and for a long while they admired what they had created.’”
“And that is why the sun crosses the whole of the sky every day instead of staying
at it’s zenith: he is admiring the beauty of the world and those who call it home.”
At this point the narration will cease and the music will grow louder, as the
images of America and Americans continue to play across the screen. The boy will look
up at them in wonder. When the song ends, so will the images, and the screens will grow
dark. The child will close the book, turn off a light by his bed, and lie down to go to
sleep. The spotlight on him will also fade out.
Act 1: “If You Are A Dreamer, Come In”
This act will center on the incredible diversity of places that Americans come
from, and also serve as a welcome to America and the Olympics for all involved. It will
begin with the boy climbing out of his bed as it rises up, symbolizing that he is in a
dream. As he stands, soft spotlights will shine down on five hoop dancers standing in
front of him.1 Drum music will begin as the dancers begin to dance a five-hoop dance
directed by Louis Mofsie. Initially the boy will simply watch, but will quickly pick up a
single hoop of his own and begin dancing with them. As the song ends the five hoop
dancers will move to stand in a pattern vaguely reminiscent of the Olympic Rings, each
with their ball of rings on the floor in front of them. The young boy will stand facing
them as the next group of dancers enters.
From stage left a group of dancers will enter, performing a dance representing the
European continent and what the move to The United States meant for European
colonists choreographed by Emery Lecrone.2 Once again the boy will initially just watch,
but will quickly join in the dance. As the dance ends, the dancers will fall into a circle
around one of the hoop dancers. This Pattern will repeat for every group of dancers
From stage right a group of dancers will enter, performing a dance representative
of the African continent and its the significance of the journey from Africa to The United
States, choreographed by Ronald K. Brown.
The dancers representing the Asian continent and the significance of the journey
from Asia to The United States will enter from upstage center,. H.T. Chen will
choreograph their dance.
The dancers representing the South American continent and the significance of
the journey from South America to The United States will enter downstage left. Sekou
McMiller will choreograph their dance.
1
2
A sample video of a hoop dancer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFfT761dsS0
No single choreographer can possibly represent a whole continent on his or her own, and to ask them to
do so would be insulting to the diverse cultures on each continent. The choreographers I’ve selected will
have full creative reign to consult and collaborate with any other choreographers or dancers they want, and
choose any music they want. I chose the artists I did as choreographers because I believe they will do the
best job possible of fusing the many different art forms they encounter and learn about into a cohesive
whole. Finally, the dancers representing Oceania will enter from downstage left. Peter
Espiritu will choreograph their dance.
As the dancers representing Oceania fall into a circle around the fifth hoop
dancer, the five circles of dancers will form the Olympic rings. Each dancer will raise a
torch, and the hoop dancer in the center of each ring will light the torches. The dancers
will let the rings burn while the audience applauds, and then extinguish them by pushing
them into the sand that will cover the stadium floor.
At this point, the mayor of Boston and the head of the International Olympic
Committee will enter the stadium through the same entrance the athletes will use. Both
will give speeches, and the mayor will declare the games officially open. As the two
leave the stadium, the lights will fade to black in preparation for the second act.
Act 2: “We Shall Be A City Upon A Hill”
This act will celebrate American accomplishments in art, science, and technology
throughout history. It will take place in a “living museum,” in which each event will be
represented by a moving exhibit. After the boy views each exhibit, the performers in that
exhibit will move to the center of the stadium, where they will begin constructing an
enormous hill with a city on top of it, representing the “city upon a hill” metaphor for
America.3 The entire performance will be a grand, chaotic, and fun spectacle, reminiscent
of a Broadway musical.
The act will begin with the boy sitting in front of what appears to be the wax
figures of a jazz ensemble, looking pensively at the frozen figures. Suddenly the lead
trumpeter will move, letting out a high note as the band bursts into a fast-paced, upbeat
song. As the boy looks on in wonder, a woman will run up and grab his hand, guiding
him into the first celebration, one of art.
The celebration of art will be divided into three series of “exhibits,” each
representing a different genre of art: painting, dance, and theatre/film. The celebration
will begin with the woman leading the boy to an easel, upon which hangs a painting by
Georgia O’Keeffe, and sitting down to work on it. After a few moments she will put
down her brush and smile at the boy, pointing toward an exhibit of Jackson Pollack, and
the boy will run over to watch. After painting for a moment, Pollack will look up and
shoo the boy away, directing him to a group of street artists painting on a brick wall. As
the boy watches the street artists work, a young woman will run up to him, seize his
hands, and begin swing dancing. They will dance together for a while before she spins
him away from her, and into the waiting arms of a Square Dancer. After a while dancing
with the young boy, she will also spin him away from her and toward a hip hop dancer,
with whom the young boy will dance. In the course of their dance, the boy and the hip
hop dancer will arrive at an exhibit showing a scene from Arthur Miller’s “The
Crucible.” As they watch the scene, one of the actors will walk offstage, leading the boy
to a scene from The Wizard of Oz. Again, one of the actors in the scene will walk
3
This is not as impossible to make happen as it may seem. The London Opening Ceremony featured a
similar large hill that was taken apart during the first act of the artistic program. This proposed hill would
simply work the other way around, slowly being constructed.
offstage, putting on an animal mask as he walks and stepping into the next scene, from
The Lion King.
As the boy is looking at the Lion King exhibit in awe the jazz music will fade out.
As he looks around, confused as to why the music has stopped, another boy will run up to
him and grab his wrist. That young boy will lead the ceremony’s protagonist to an exhibit
of The Ramones. They will start to play when the two young boys arrive, and the
celebration of science will begin.
The celebration of science in America will be divided into celebrations of
American advancements in three of the major fields in science: Physics, Chemistry, and
Biology. To begin, the boy will run over to Josiah Willard Gibbs, lecturing to a crowd on
the equation for Gibbs free energy. One of the people in the audience will lead the young
boy over to Robert Oppenheimer, the developer of the atomic bomb, who will flick a
switch, causing a huge burst of white light. As the light clears, Michio Kaku will step
forward, rolling a chalkboard with him that is covered with diagrams from theoretical
physics, and begin to lecture Oppenheimer and the boy. Oppenheimer will eventually
nudge the boy along to the Barbara Askins exhibit, where she will be working with
camera film. She will point him to George Washington Carver, who will be peering into a
microscope while a tray of peanut plants grows beside him, some planted in the group
and some uprooted. Noticing the boy after a few seconds, Carver will toss him a peanut
and send him on his way to Linus Pauling, who will be standing in front of a white board
on which is drawn a complex series of chemical bonds. After a while lecturing, Pauling
will draw an enormous arrow on his board, directing the young boy to Barbara
McClintock, holding a model of DNA and talking excitedly to a coworker. McClintock
will wave the boy over to Jack Horner, working on uncovering Dinosaur eggs. Horner
will point him to Rachel Carson, working on her book Silent Spring. She will wave the
boy over and start reading aloud to him from the end of the book.
As Carson reads, the music will fade. When Carson finishes the boy will look
around curiously, and a Ford Model T will drive by him, honking its horn. The boy will
turn to follow the car, but a young girl will run up and grab his hand before he can,
guiding him over to an exhibit showing the DJ Steve Aoki. As Aoki begins to play, the
celebration of technology will begin.
The celebration of technology will be represented by three areas in which
Americans have contributed significantly: cars, airplanes, and telephones. The boy will
begin by running over to the Model T and its driver. The driver will smile as the boy runs
his hands over the car, pointing him in the direction of the next exhibit, a Thunderbird
convertible. The boy will run over to it and jump over the passenger side door and into
the passenger seat. For a while the boy will simply relax in the car, until he hears the
growl of the engine. He will jump out of the passenger seat the same way he jumped into
it, and run over to the next exhibit, a 2013 Chevrolet Corvette. As the boy inspects the
car, the sound of a propeller will be heard. The boy will whirl around and run over to a
model of the airplane built by the Wright brothers, propellers beginning to spin. The
Wright brothers will nod a greeting to the boy as he watches, and then direct him over to
a jet engine surrounded by tinkering mechanics. After the boy watches them work for a
while, one of the mechanics will step away from the engine and walk over to the boy,
directing him toward a rocket ship, slowly rising into the air. As the boy cranes his neck
to watch the rocket ascend, the sound of a ringing will cut through the music. The boy
will glance around, seeing an old rotary phone, and run over to it, picking it up. The
words “Watson, I have need of you” will sound throughout the stadium, and the boy will
slam the phone down and run over to Alexander Graham Bell surrounded by applauding
admirers. One of those admirers will tap the boy on the shoulder and beckon him over to
the next exhibit, which shows John F. Mitchell and Dr. Martin Cooper demonstrating the
first hand-held cell phone. From there another admirer will point the boy over to a third
exhibit, of Steve Jobs revealing the iPhone to an applauding crowd.
The music will continue as the last group of people turns toward the hill just in
time to see a tower being erected in the center of the city. The workers will gather on the
hill, all looking up at the city with wonder. The music will come to a triumphant end,
marking the close of the second act.
Act 3: “Life For Me Ain’t Been No Crystal Stair”
This act will focus on the struggles America has had to overcome, both external
and internal. It will begin with the people who built the city upon a hill assembled all
around it on the hill itself. The lighting will darken.
A clap of thunder will sound throughout the stadium and the performers on the
hill will glance around in fear, signaling the beginning of the external struggles of
America. In the stadium these struggles will be represented by the flashing lightning and
rolling thunder of a tremendous storm, while relevant images play on the screens
suspended above the hill. These images will include the struggle with the Great
Depression, coffins of soldiers who died at war, and American aid workers who died
overseas. Finally, segments of the 9/11 broadcast will play, and a tower in the city itself
will fall. As that tower falls, the people at the top of the hill will enter the city and shut
the gates, in time with an enormous peal of thunder. The lighting will darken once again,
a sort of twilight settling over the stadium.
The storm will calm for a moment, and the people toward the bottom of the hill
will step toward the city hesitantly. Then the phrase “segregation now, segregation
tomorrow, and segregation forever!” will be spoken and the wind will start up again, this
time blowing outward from the city, trying to push others away from it. The people
standing around the hill will struggle forward, trying to make their way up the hill as
scenes of America’s internal struggles from the past play on the screens, including
segregation, Japanese internment, the mistreatment of Native Americans, the Zoot Suit
Riots, the Stonewall riots, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. These images will be
replaced by videos of speeches by civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and
Wallace “Mad Bear” Anderson, as well as footage of the formal government apology for
Japanese internment and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. As these images play performers on the hill will actually gain
ground, moving closer to the city. However, the screens will begin to show scenes of
America’s current internal struggles, including police violence in Baltimore and
Ferguson, the struggle for gay marriage, and the struggle to end the “rape culture” of
America.4 At this point the performers on the hill will be able to make no more upward
progress.
One by one, the performers struggling up the hill will fall to their knees,
eventually leaving just the young boy to keep struggling upward. Eventually though, even
he won’t be able to continue, and will turn away from the city upon the hill. He will
stumble back down the hill. As he approaches the base of the hill the bed in which he was
sleeping at the beginning of the first act will descend to the stadium floor once again. The
boy will stumble into the bed and go to sleep. The lights will fade to black, symbolizing
the end of his dream, and a transition into reality.
4
Between the date of this writing and the 2024 Olympics it’s certain that other internal American struggles
will surface, and so these examples of current struggles will likely not be the ones actually used in the
ceremony. Rather, they exist as a kind of benchmark, to show what kinds of events belong in this section of
the artistic program.
Act 4: “But Still, Like The Air, We’ll Rise”
A spotlight will shine on the boy, and he will wake up gasping and panting as if
terrified. He will stumble out of bed and onto the floor as the stage lights come up,
revealing the hill, city, and still kneeling figures, symbolizing that the problems and
struggles for America illuminated in the third act are problems in the real world. The boy
will walk slowly toward the figures before collapsing to his knees a few feet in front of
them, also facing the city and hill, head bowed.
From the right of the stage a young African-American girl will enter, walking
toward the boy. As she approaches him lines of poetry extoling the power of art and
specifically dance will be spoken, including “The strange power of art is sometimes it can
show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them”5,
”dancing is dreaming with your feet”6 and “art is the journey of the free soul”7. As she
walks up to him and grabs his shoulder the line “rock out like you are enslaved, and
dancing is all that you have to know who you are”8 will be spoken. The young girl will
spin the boy to his feet as music starts to play, and the two will begin a dance
choreographed by Kyle Hanagami. As the dance continues other children will join them,
one representing each continent that Americans come from. Once all six children are
dancing, the kneeling figures behind them will begin to dance as well, one by one coming
to their feet and joining the children. As the song and dance end, the dancers will turn to
look at the hill and the city.
“Hatred cannot drive out hatred. Only love can do that,” will be spoken. Dance
music will begin to play, and the dancers outside the city will begin a dance
choreographed by Cat Cogliandro. Early in the song, the gates of the city upon the hill
will be flung open, and all the performers inside the city will pour out to join the dancers
outside. This moment will be symbolic both of the desire for reconciliation among all
5 This is a message that speaks directly to the power of art, as well being a kind of synopsis of the fourth act 6 This quote drives home the connection between art and The American Dream 7 This quote speaks to the freedom that can be achieved through art, one of the themes of this act 8 This quote alludes to the power of art as both an expression of freedom and a means of attaining it Americans, as well as of America accepting its position in the world, a position among
equals over which it can no longer claim hegemony.
After the song ends, the two groups will face off once more. Three more songs
will follow, and together these songs will tell a story of reconciliation. The first song,
“Changes”, will symbolize the hurt that comes from years of wrongs, but also the desire
for reconciliation. The second song, “Put Your Records On,” will symbolize the gradual
process of reconnection and learning that brings people together. Finally, the third song
will be “Love On Top,” and will symbolize the love that can come from honestly trying
to connect with each other. The dances to these three songs will be choreographed by
Kyle Hanagami and Cat Cogliandro.
As “Love On Top” ends, the group of dancers will turn as the final runner in the
Olympic torch relay enters the stadium. The runner will walk up to the dancers, and the
six children who opened the fourth act will step forward from the crowd with their own
torches. They will light theirs with the torch of the runner and then all six of them will
light the Olympic cauldron together.
The final part of the opening ceremony’s artistic program will be a duet of “This
Land Is Your Land,” sung by two singers chosen by national competition, similar to the
way in which the ceremony’s Storyteller was selected. This song will symbolize
America’s place as a country among equals, as well as unity with the earth itself, and as it
ends so will the artistic program of the opening ceremony. The parade of athletes will
follow.
For the next seventeen days, the world will forget that the artistic program even
existed. But for a few hours, we will have had the chance to say something true,
meaningful, and inspiring, and perhaps even to make a difference. And that will be
enough.
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