The eyes of the arena can be on London in late July for the beginning of the Summer Olympic Games. But cultural enthusiasts say the London 2012 Festival, a 3-month-long arts and function event associated with the Olympic Games, promises to be each piece as ambitious and exciting. Participating artists and journalists gathered Wednesday at New York's Gramercy Park Hotel to speak about the development.
Festival director Ruth Mackenzie said 25,000 artists, representing all 204 countries participating within the Olympics, will host 12,000 events in 900 venues around the Uk. She said the development has traditionally been connected with the famed international athletic contest.Â
"This festival goes back to ancient Greece, where artist and athletes were both equal," Mackenzie explained. "They both competed within the Olympics. Actually, artists kept getting medals until the Olympics of 1948. And we wish to have a festival, where artists and athletes and learning are the 3 equal pillars."
Mackenzie said artists and athletes train hard, take risks, and strive "to head beyond their personal best" to succeed in excellence.
"And that i think it will be significant that we recognize that athletes and artists are both equal of their ability to inspire and amaze us," she said.Â
A dance called "The Human Fountain," produced American choreographer Elizabeth Streb was featured in a video presentation. Thuds can be heard as dancers fell safely from a terrific height. Streb's group spent the past two years planning and developing its acrobatic city-wide contributions to the London 2012 Festival.
"And it's a series of maximum surprises which will be a 'pop-up' bunch of events in this sooner or later, from dawn to midnight," explained Streb. "And i'm inventing things that i have not before even imagined the body could do."
Several British-American projects are planned. The Wooster Group, an experimental theater group in Big apple known for combining film, video and non-traditional elements, will perform Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Wooster Group will play the Trojans in its own style, and the Royal Shakespeare Company will play the Greeks in its traditional style.
From WhatNewsToday.net
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