Page 290 - Protec PR Book Volume 2

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PROTEC HONOURED TO PROVIDE AN INSPIRATIONAL SPECIAL OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY
UAE – Protec helped to deliver the glittering, inspirational, opening ceremony of the Special Olympics IX MENA Games 2018.
It opened with an enthusiastic bang in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 17th March. After taking a tour of the city and hitting some famous landmarks along the way, the Olympic torch finally arrived at ADNEC to the applause of the waiting 2,000 spectators. Once the ‘Flame of Hope’ cauldron was lit the show began. A video entitled ‘Welcome to my City’ was played and more than 1,000 Special Olympics athletes from 32 different countries entered the arena in a colourful parade to much excitement from supporters and athletes alike. Cheers and contagious smiles rippled through the entire arena.
Celebrating people of determination’s sporting abilities and talents, this is not only a significant event in the MENA region, but it also is an important test event for the 2019 World Games. With that, our client and show producers – HQ Worldwide – wanted to deliver an opening ceremony that set the scene for the week ahead and paid due respect to the talented athletes from the UAE and visiting countries.
This is the second time Abu Dhabi hosted the MENA regional
games, the last time being ten years ago in 2008 and it has
certainly grown in size since then. From 23 countries and 12
sports to 32 countries and 16 sports, it shows how people’s perceptions are changing for the better, welcoming diversity, becoming more inclusive, and celebrating the abilities of people of determination.
Protec, honoured to have been part of such an inspiring show, provided lighting, audio and video as well as some rigging for the show in ADNEC. HQ Worldwide provided its own lighting design and the video content. Project manager, Simon Travis, gave us a rundown of some of the set up for lighting.
“Due to the openness of the venue, scaffold towers were erected around the grandstand area. For the three big ones on the open side near the road we used our total fabrications EHD truss to span across so we could hang our lights. Underneath the grandstand five more little scaffold towers were placed so we could use our smaller truss and hang fixtures around the area.
“We had four followspots towards the back end of the arena to pick up speakers and performances. We used 16 Super Sharpies on top of the set to create a nice beam effect up top. On the floor on either side of the stage, we used four Super Sharpies, our new Robe Pointes and Robe Spikies. Underneath the set, which was used as the stage entrance, we used 12 more Robe Spikies for more beam effects. Along the edges of the stage we used a total of 56 Claypaky K10 B-Eyes with 30 SGM P2s and 24 Robe Pointes to create some interesting effects there and to wash along the stages for the performances.”