After the London 2012 Olympics, the city has relished in the blissful aftermath of its success. Now it's time for the Paralympic Games to start, kicking off August 29 with the opening ceremony.
Award winning film director, Stephen Daldry of Billy Elliot has helped to create a lavish ceremony including 3,000 volunteers-professional performers, rehabilitating soldiers and children.
The progam is named "Enlightenment" and will celebrate the inclusively of the Paralympics. The show will include acrobatic performances on a 35-metre high rig above the stadium. It will also include circus performances and the arrival of the Paralympic flame.
According to co-artistic drector Jenny Sealey, Professor Stephen Hawking will be the guide of the ceremony. Hawking who has motor neurone disease, is a renowned scientist and will appear live as the curtain raiser at the Olympic Stadium in London.
Co-artistic director Bradley Hemmings said to the UK's The Guardian newspaper ,"We worked very closely with Professor Hawking to develop a series of messages which are very much integrated into the storytelling of the ceremony. We have spent time with him in Cambridge and have been so incredibly gratified with him giving his time.
"Everybody knows about Professor Hawking and his extraordinary theoretical work and writings about science which have made very complex ideas accessible to all of us, but what came through in our meetings with him was the humanity and the humor of him. He is a fun guy."
Sir Ian McKellen will also be a part of the ceremony as a co-narrator. Sealey said to The Guardian, ""Both Hawking and McKellen in their narrative talk about what we all need to remember; don't just look down at your feet, look at the stars, be curious."
The show will be very mucy centered around science and humanity. Aerobility, a charity that trains disabled people to become pilots, will open the show with disabled pilots flying overhead.
The show will also include deaf and disabled artists and local children who are newly trained with circus skills.
In the U.K. The Opening Ceremony and the games can be seen on Channel 4.
How do you watch it in the U.S.?
1) The U.S. Paralympics You Tube Channel which will include 10 daily video highligts pacakges.
2) The International Paralympic Committee live stream. You can watch it live at USParalympics.org during the competition
3) Networks of NBCUniversal: NBC Sports Network will air one hour shows on Sept 4, 5, 6 and 11 at 7 p.m. EDT.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
