Balich Worldwide Shows for Lima 2019 PAN AMERICAN GAMES CLOSING CEREMONY

Balich Worldwide Shows has created and produced 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 has hosted 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, from August 23rd to September 1st, will host the 6th edition of the Para Pan American Games, which will gather 1890 Para athletes competing in 17 sports and 18 disciplines.

For the Closing Ceremony Balich Worldwide Shows has chosen Nikos Lagousakos as Creative Director. Nikos, director and choreographer, has worked on 13 Olympic Scale Ceremonies. He was the live action director of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Closing Ceremony and a choreographer for the 2015 European Games Opening Ceremony. He has worked as a choreographer in some of the most prestigious theatres and festivals in Europe like the Salzburg Festspiele, the Zurich Opera House and Arena di Verona.

«The Lima 2019 Closing Ceremony has staged a "dance of diversity"». - Nikos Lagousakos has said - «As the Games has come to an end, we proudly picked up from where we left 17 days ago, on the night of the Opening Ceremony, and zooming into that evening’s wide panorama of Peru. We have experienced this country up close, relishing the detail of people’s faces, of age-old and contemporary art and of living traditions».

The artefacts of Peru’s ancient cultures have left the shelves of museums. Moments of daily life dance out of embroidered images. Hundreds of performers taken the public on a dance across the country, from the coast, over the mountains and into the Amazon, in a tribute to the great diversity of this rich and beautiful land.

The Ceremony wanted to cheer the athletes who have made these Games exciting and moving, and get a taste of what is to come in four years’ time, when the Pan American nations come together again in Santiago for another great feast of sport. But above all, we all have danced at the end of the incredible adventure that this exceptional event has been.

The set design was composed by fragments of stonework, inspired by the walls built with incredible skill by the Incas. It has a layered configuration, which references both the excavation of different historical eras and the three pachas, or levels, of the Andean worldview: the world of the gods, the earthly world and the world of ancestors.

The performance area within the stages was an ever-changing space, transformed by projections, which have traced different paths that evoked the Qhapaq Ñan, the vast Inca road system that united the empire’s lands. The arrangement of the stages hints at the citadel of Machu Picchu, the place where the Intihuatana, our cauldron, was founded.

The Ceremony has had 955 members of cast of which 893 were volunteers and 1000 costumes. The production team included 230 members of from 17 nationalities.

Many famous performers have been involved on stage!

GIAN MARCO, singer and composer with more than 25 years of career, countless awards and prizes winner, among which three Grammy Awards for Best Singer-Songwriter Album and the appointment as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

NAYSHA She began playing Andean instruments at the age of 10 with her father in the duo "Inti & Killa". She released two solo albums: "Contra Viento y Marea" and "Naysha". In the latter she presents her own compositions. In 2016 she sang at the opening of the Virgen de la Candelaria Festival.

MARÍA MARTHA REVERTE She began her apprenticeship in the world of Marinera Norteña at the age of 13. With this dance, she has achieved the highest awards, becoming three times world champion of Marinera and Champion of Champions. She represented Peru in the Closing Ceremony of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.

SHUSHUPE Dj and music producer who fuses Peruvian folk music with electronic beats and world sounds. In recent years she took part in important events such as Casa Peru in Moscow (Russia 2018) and at the SXSW festival. Winner of the Miller Sound Clash Peru award and invited to represent Peru in Las Vegas. She played at different events and festivals in Europe and the United States with renowned artists.

MICHELL CACERES Choreographer and dancer, he trained internationally in urban and classical styles. Choreographed for J Balvin at the Madison Square Garden NYC as well as for international reggaeton singers. Participated as a dancer in different musicals, commercials, television shows and events such as the Closing Ceremony of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.

ALEX DONET Four times national and world champion of Marinera Norteña from Trujillo, he won more than 80 dance competitions and represented Peru and its culture in more than 24 countries, including the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games. He was the main actor in the musical film on Marinera "Sueños de Gloria".

PHOTOGALLERY https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b1tvzgh7sd7j9ms/AAAGnJ3DnB2v6NCxKOxXXqRLa?dl=0

Balich Worldwide Shows Ceremonies Executive Team

MARCO BALICH EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR - GIANMARIA SERRA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - SIMONE MERICO BUSINESS DIRECTOR - LAURA CAPPELLI CEREMONIES PRODUCER – KEITH DAVENPORT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - FRANCESCA ROBBIATI PROJECT MANAGER – DAVE WILLIAMS HEAD OF PRODUCTION - ANNALISA BARBIERI HEAD OF ARTISTIC PRODUCTION - SILVIA GUENZI COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

Lima 2019 Opening Ceremony Creative Team

NIKOS LAGOUSAKOS CREATIVE DIRECTOR - PEPE CORZO COSTUME AND PROP DESIGNER - LUCHO QUEQUEZANA MUSIC COMPOSER AND DIRECTOR - THANASSIS DEMIRIS SET DESIGNER - MATTHIAS SCHNABEL VIDEO DIRECTOR - FABRICIO VARELA DIRECTOR OF CHOREOGRAPHY BALLET FOLCLÓRICO NACIONAL - DIMITRA KRITIKIDI MASS CHOREOGRAPHY DIRECTOR - TATIANA MYRKOU MASS CHOREOGRAPHER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR’S ASSISTANT - ANDREA FAINI SCENIC DESIGNER - ADAM BASSETT LIGHTING DESIGN CONSULTANT - ENEAS MACKINTOSH LIGHTING DESIGNER - FRANCISCO NEGRIN CREATIVE SUPERVISOR.

Balich Worldwide Shows is an Italian–based company operating globally in the live shows production market. BWS creates, designs and produces large scale events, entertainment icons, special projects and is highly specialized in Olympic Ceremonies. Marco Balich, Gianmaria Serra and Simone Merico founded the company in 2013, after more than twenty years of cutting-edge and successful experiences in global events. Among the most spectacular productions there are the creation of the iconic Tree of Life for Expo Milano 2015 and of the first Italian resident show "Giudizio Universale.

The Sistine Chapel Immersive Show" with the scientific advice of the Vatican Museums. The Olympic experience of the team goes from creative direction to executive production of Ceremonies as Torino 2006, Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 (produced by CC 2016) and the Flag Handovers of Salt Lake City 2002 and London 2012. The next one will be Tokyo 2020 Olympic Ceremonies along with Dentsu. BWS directed the presentation and videos that led to the assignment of Milano-Cortina 2026. BWS is part of Worldwide Shows Corporation the holding company specialized in the live entertainment and communication industry. WSCorp merges international talents and partners to create and manage the biggest events across five continents, bringing together the talent and skills of a multicultural team of more than 150 people.

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear to be around the rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.

25 Years at # 1: Your best source for news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com , for subscribers only