Balich Worldwide Shows for Lima 2019

Lima, Peru – July 25th 2019 – Balich Worldwide Shows has been chosen to create and produce the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games and Para Games, the biggest and most inspiring events of the Olympic Movement across the Americas with 41 member nations.

Lima 2019 hosts the 18th edition of the Pan American Games with approximately 6,700 athletes, 39 sports and 62 disciplines from July 26th to August 11th and the 6th edition of the Para Pan American Games, which will gather 1890 Para athletes competing in 17 sports and 18 disciplines, from August 23rd to September 1st.

The Opening Ceremony title is "Amazing Peru!" through which we hope to connect to the cultural and natural aspects of the country, to the stories, music, myths, images, characters, traditions and flavors. As Peru is so diverse, so unique and so rich, these ingredients will be just as exciting and significant for the Pan American athletes we celebrate today and for the audience that we welcome from all over the world.

This Ceremony with 1933 cast members, of which 1860 volunteers, 2350 costumes has been designed by the best Peruvian creatives, hand in hand with the international team of Balich Worldwide Shows. For this reason, it offers new and varied points of view: that of young and hopeful Peruvians, and that of a world that is ready to see, hear and live what this great country has to offer. In the Ceremony we present, woven in a great fabric, the past and the present of a country in which nature and culture intertwine. An immensely sophisticated country from which the Amazon is born, which gives us superfoods and from which the first civilization of the Americas emerged.

The set design is based on the concept of duality and contains references to Peru’s natural elements and cultural heritage. The natural world is reflected in the set’s main feature: a sculptural rendition of the Nevado Pariacaca, the sacred mountain of Lima. We also see the cliffs of Lima at the base of the mountain, and the Amazon river crossing the field of play. Peru’s culture is represented by its oldest and most recent civilizations from the pre-Hispanic period: the Caral-Supe with the temple of Caral and the Inca with the fortress of Sacsayhuaman. The two stages on the sides of the mountain host the flags: on one side the Nation’s, on the other the Games’. The speech stage is a reference to the many huacas (monuments) that have been built by pre-Hispanic Peruvians over the centuries. The base of the mountain that is more than 20 metres high and 35 metres wide, represents both the Pacific and Lake Titicaca and its lines meet in 49 points, representing the languages of Peru.

With about 280 hours of rehearsals and 230 production team members from 17 Nationalities the Ceremony involves about 4700 atheletes in the parade in the National Stadium from the 41 Nations taking part in the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.

Francisco Negrin, Creative Director: «Welcome to a Ceremony that we hope each and every Limeño and Peruvian will experience as their own. We hope that you will marvel at a remarkably kaleidoscopic country, which you thought you knew but do not even imagine yet, a country that Peruvians themselves may have forgotten how to appreciate fully. We hope that everyone will be amazed by Peru tonight!»

Simone Merico, BWS Managing Partner, said: «Thanks to our long Olympic experience we know that Ceremonies are the ideal occasion for a country to showcase itself to the world. They are the perfect tool to make a statement not only about a country’s history, creativity and cultural diversity, but also about a clear trajectory to the future. We thank Copal (Comité Organizador de los XVIII Juegos Panamericanos y Juegos Parapanamericanos Lima 2019) for the opportunity they gave us to work in this amazing country, for their openness and their trust. Lima and the whole Peru have enriched us a lot and we are honored to celebrate this culture».

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