icenetwork.com

Ignatius Jones helped create the Closing Ceremony for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. (courtesy of Ignatius Jones)

By Lois Elfman, special to icenetwork.com

(11/03/2009) - Costumes are being sewn and sets are being built.

"We're in the six-day-a-week, 14-hour days phase. In a month or two, we'll be in the seven-day-a-week, 16-hour days phase. It just gets crazier and crazier until we get to Closing," said Ignatius Jones, director of creative strategy and artistic director for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Jones calls himself and his associates "professional ceremony putter-oners." He is considered one of the leading major event directors in the world. As his bio indicates, he is "the only person ever to direct the 'opening night' of a country, when he staged the Independence Ceremonies of the Democratic Republic of East Timor for the United Nations."

The details of the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies, to be held on Feb. 12, remain secret. But Jones was able to tell Icenetwork about the process. In addition to the Opening and Closing, he and his staff are also working on the victory ceremonies that will take place most Olympic nights at BC Place.

"Every night there is presented by a different Canadian province or territory," he said. "There's a pre-show that celebrates that province or territory. Then there are medal ceremonies, which will feature our medals plaza and the Whistler medals plaza. Then we'll have a concert by a Canadian rock band."

Born in the Philippines and raised in Australia, Jones was one of nine directors of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. He was named to his position for Vancouver shortly after co-directing the Ceremonies of the 15th Asian Games Doha in 2006. He's been living in Vancouver for more than two years, and he's immersed himself in Canadian culture.

"I now have two large bookcases full of books about Canada," he said. "I have an enormous library of Canadian music."

To start development of the ceremonies, Jones held what he calls a series of Olympic symposiums. It's a process his production company utilizes, where they bring together the country's cultural practitioners and community leaders.

"In our case, we canvassed about 800 cultural practitioners across Canada, who were suggested to us by every one of the provincial governments, the federal government, various arts boards around the country," he explained. "Then we chose 120 of those. We brought them in and we basically held the Olympic symposiums, which are think tanks. We saw 20 at a time. We taught them a little bit about the significance of Olympic ceremonies, how they work, what the protocols are, what they can achieve and how best to achieve it. Then we give them a couple of days to think. Then they come back and they tell us what they would like to see or -- even more importantly -- what they wouldn't like to see.

"Then we tabulate that information. It's a bit like focus groups on steroids, because we're talking about the leading directors, designers, painters, actors, musicians, composers, choreographers, stage technicians, etc., etc., from right across the country and from every multicultural group with a strong emphasis on Aboriginal groups as well.

"We then refine that information down and try to pull out what the salient themes are that people want to see and people want to get across."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) mandates certain protocols for Olympic ceremonies, such as the arrival of the head of state, the athletes' parade, the raising of the Olympic flag and the lighting of the cauldron. They must take place in a specific order.

"We can intersperse cultural displays in between," Jones noted. "We do try to imbue the protocol with as much theatricality as possible so the whole thing feels like one show."

Jones's own diverse background helps him be able to pull off such a massive production. His original background is in opera, ballet and musical theater. Then he journeyed for a while into the world of rock & roll, where he was the lead singer of a punk band. After working as a writer for a while, he went back into the music business as a manager for swing bands and jazz bands. His friend Baz Luhrmann, director of films like Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge and Australia, suggested Jones work with Rick Birch, executive producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Olympics in Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000) and director of production for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Jones learned that individuals who work on such massive productions must be jacks-of-all-trades with a broad range of knowledge. A crucial thing is understanding how to work with a large volunteer corps. Almost all the performers in Vancouver will be volunteers, including the big name talent.

The number of performers for the Vancouver Opening Ceremonies won't be that large. Jones said to expect 1,000 to 1,500 people.

"It's a very different kind of ceremony," he said. "It's very hi tech, very visual."

Right now things are being produced-from costumes to sets. The various departments are constantly meeting to make sure they're working in concert. In January, they'll move from the production phase to the event phase, when they actually begin installation in BC Place.

"There is nothing else like an Olympic ceremony," Jones said. "Everything has to be totally coordinated because you only get one chance. There is no second night."