Page 30 - Team TTO PARIS 2024
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the Olympics!





           When Minshall




           tOok Mas to





           Barcelona and




           Atlanta






                 JOANNE BRIGGS



                 Even if some people don’t get into the sports at the Olympic Games, the
                 Opening Ceremony is an unmissable spectacle for millions around the world.
                 Joanne Briggs tells how the artistry of Trinidad Carnival played a key part in
                 two spectacular opening ceremonies.



            A           ny artistic production takes a lot of work –   At the opening of the Games of the XXV Olympiad at

                        from concept to design to construction to
                                                                Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc, Barcelona, it was easy to
                        presentation. So imagine being
                                                                identify Minshall’s work. Moving from the musical
                        commissioned to do a production for an
                                                                composer and conductor Carles Santos to the centre of
                        event as big and as significant as the
                        opening Olympic Games. Consider the
                                                                and red “flowers” - modelled after Minshall’s 1987 mas
            fact that it will be viewed by billions across the globe, the   the field, the camera picked up colours of magenta, coral
                                                                Carnival Is Irie. All in the midst of blue, a floor of quilts
            act of preparation is indeed an undisputed skill.   inspired by the great man’s 1990 presentation Tantana,
                                                                the scene quickly shifted to the flapping of yellow wings,
            As we look forward to seeing the unique spectacle 2024   costumes very reminiscent of Minshall’s iconic
            Games host France has to offer for the opening ceremony   Hummingbird from 1974.
            – the first one that’s not being done in a stadium – we in
            Trinidad and Tobago can easily smile and say, “Yeah, we   On the periphery, replicas of the well known King and
            did that already.” Twice to be exact - for the Summer   Queen of Carnival Tan Tan and Saga Boy, the puppets in
            Olympics in 1992 and 1996. The man behind it, the   red, blue, and yellow did their dance. “It was a huge
            legendary mas man and designer Peter Minshall.      endorsement of Minshall’s work particularly when
                                                                Minshall at that time was presenting mas as art, mas as
            “People said they could have called our name (Trinidad   going to the grand opera and mas as spectacle. We had
            and Tobago/Minshall) more, but we went there to do a   worked out something here on the use and release of
            job. We are the secret sauce,” said Wendell Manwarren, of   human energy that was ideal for these big movement
            the Callaloo Company which is Minshall’s creative base.  scenarios,” explained Manwarren.





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