Every two years, a countdown to the Olympic Games is launched from its ancient birthplace with a flame-lighting ceremony in southern Greece at ancient Olympia. The event is marked with a performance by dancers who assume the role of priestesses, their movement inspired by scenes on millennia-old artwork.
Performers, who will take part in the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, join a rehearsal at Ancient Olympia site, Greece, Sunday, April 14, 2024. Every two years, a countdown to the Olympic games is launched from its ancient birthplace with a flame lighting ceremony in southern Greece at Ancient Olympia. The event is marked with a performance by dancers who assume the role of priestesses and male companions, their movement inspired by scenes on millennia-old artwork.
As riders whiz around them on the banked cycling oval, the all-volunteer Olympic performers snatch poses from ancient vases. Sequences are repeated and re-repeated under the direction of the hyper-focused head choreographer Artemis Ignatiou. Women dressed as priestesses are at the heart of the ceremony, first held for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Leading the group is an actress who performs the role of high priestess and makes a dramatic appeal to Apollo, the ancient god of the sun, for assistance moments before the torch is lit.
Counting out the sequences, Ignatiou controls the music with taps on her cell phone while keeping track of the male dancers at the velodrome working on a stop motion-like routine and women who glide past them like a slowly uncoiling spring.
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