A Spectacle of Sound, Motion and LIGHT - The Majesty of the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremonies

For those who witnessed Beijing's Opening Ceremonies, either on T.V., or by stroke of luck were among the 91,000 in the stands at the Birds Nest Stadium, you were treated to one of the most thrilling displays of luminescence ever.

Making good on their historical reputation, the extravaganza seemingly had more fireworks (including impressive shaped displays) than every 4th of July show combined.

What was truly striking, however, was the use of glowing lights in a multitude of colors and uses, brilliantly applied to every surface, including human canvases.

The crowd itself was given thousands of glowing wands in reds, greens and blues that were enthusiastically waved for more than two hours. The stadium itself also has an enormous liquid crystal display that runs around the entire quarter mile plus circumference at the top of the open stadium. This mammoth screen stands a good thirty feet tall, and changed expressions throughout the ceremonies, displaying everything from rippling water, to the faces of smiling children as the theme of the ceremonies progressed from ancient Chinese history to the activities and sensibilities of modern China.

What was truly amazing was the seemingly bare floor of the stadium, which began covered with 2008 drummers whose drums lit up and flashed off with each strike. They formed shapes and moving type with their beats, holding down to maintain certain images, including a countdown to the opening in both English and Chinese numerals. Eventually, their pace quickened and they went from hand strikes to rapid synchronized drumming with the biggest orange light sticks I've ever seen. Raves everywhere came to a grinding halt to witness this epic display, especially when the lights went completely dark to show thousands of flying hands in unison.

The drummers gave way to the bare floor which showed what seemed like a galaxy of light motes from out of nowhere, converging on the center of the floor. The center of the floor turned out to be another lcd screen, 240 x 60 feet. As the motes came together to show the Olympic Rings, the center of the screen, which was on wires and movable, astounded the capacity crowd by lifting the light directly off the floor, as if China was capable of plucking the gathered motes of light and moving them where they desired. It was an incredible effect which drew gasps from the entire crowd (and no doubt the home T.V. audience as well).

The festivities continued with a display of ancient and modern China, and the lcd screen rolled out and continued to roll from left to right as if it were a continuously unwinding scroll, the backdrop of which constantly shifting and changing as history played out. On this backdrop, dancers painted a scene of Mountains and Water, hundreds of dancers with oars depicted China's sailing and exploration history, and at one invigorating point, synchronized dancers in bright green costumes stepped off the lcd-lit scroll and burst into their own luminescence, covered in apple sized white globes of light as they made brightly-lit shapes on the floor, including a flying dove with flapping wings.

These dancers lights would flicker on and off as they danced, and then they combined in the center, in two rows one on the other's shoulders to form a replica of the very Birds Nest Stadium in which they were performing. At this point their bodylights flickered jubilantly before they gathered into the center, lights off, and as they peeled away from the group to the edge of the stadium, their lights would come on again, creating a growing starburst of bright whiteness.

There was so much more that it cannot be contained here, including 2008 synchronized Tai Chi masters, at first performing through hazy light-projected panels, and then exploding into concentric circles of motion and vibrance that spanned the entire floor of the stadium, the march of elegant gowns, the delivery of the Chinese flag by children of every ethnicity in the country handed on to a crisp, synchronized Chinese Color Guard the flight of a single child aboard a dragon kite high above the "City of Kites", the wire-held dancers who ran around a giant backlit sphere which showed among other images, the Earth as seen from space, and an amazing display of coordination and organization as a field of tube-like boxes rose and fell to show rippling waves and to spell out Harmony, the theme of the Beijing Games. This display appeared to be, (and seemingly MUST have been), done by machines, but was in fact 2008 men and women rising and falling in mind-bogglingly precise synchronization.

The final act after the nations had all filed into the stadium included the last torch bearer being hoisted to the top of the stadium on wires, and appearing to run against the vertical wall at the top of the open structure as the magnificent lcd screen unrolled before him, behind him depicting previous video footage of the torch journey from Athens. At last, he arrived at a rail, which, when touched with the Olympic flame, cascaded fire to and up the spiraling torch, finally bursting into radiant flame for the next 16 days.

All in all, the majesty and scope of the Beijing opening ceremonies were spectacular, and for fans of light in particular, the display put on by the Chinese people was not only breathtaking, but may never be exceeded.