Mundus Games 2022 - Azavrelia
More than ever, the day which not a long time ago was unthinkable or at least unexpected had arrived, and Azavrelia prepared to receive the Mundus Games. The ceremony started with the Azavrelia National Orchestra welcoming the Mundus Games. As soon as the last ended, the Azavrelia National Stadium was suddenly covered by diverse number of lights and colours as a swath of dancers and performers invaded the scenario.
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The Azavrelia National Stadium
The opening ceremony started with 100 drums sounding in crecendo accompanied by an all-female polyphonic choir. The core of the opening ceremony was the unity between tradition and modernity. The first performance was a depiction of the “Pirveli Katsebi”, which some may describe as the creation myth, combining acrobatic dancing with horsemen, symboling, according to the well-known legend, the birth of the Mktvartvelian people. The performers wore a large variety of folk costumes and dresses, and folk music played an important role during the ceremony.
Many of the dances and performance depited other national myths and legends, particularly those associated with the Order of Simartlea, the national religion in Mktvartvelo, as well as festivities, both secular and religious including one slightly similar to the Khishsuli festivity and their well-known whirling and twisting movements and dances, which was performed by young dancers from the Azavrelia Ballet Academy, one of the most prestigious of its kind in the country. Still, the performances attempted to avoid anything that could be seen overtly political or a show of banality and trivialization of real traditions. Even when some of the performances may depict stories or historical figures from more controversial historical events such as the Abydos invasion or contemporary history, those chosen were light-hearted ones, even if the foreign public was likely to ignore those references anyway. In a general way, the ceremony focused to be entertaining rather than educational. As the ceremony advanced, it included references to past Mundus Games or important achievements in sports by sportpeople from many countries, and technology played an increasing role in show, compared to the early choreographies where basic elements were used prominently, such as fire and torches, giving way to a wide use of LED technology and a variety of fireworks.
Youth was prominent during the ceremony, with hundreds of children participating, sometimes in highly skilled coreographies. One of the most celebrated choreographies, at least for the local public, was one involving a large number of performers and dances attempting to give life to a huge, colourful and sinuous snake (considered a sacred animal in Mktvartvelo). Finally, the moment came when a young woman in a wheel chair approached the podium and was offered a bow and arrow by women wearing white tunics. The woman looked up, as the final bearer of the Mundus Games torch lighted the arrow. Then, the archer shot the flaming arrow toward the flame cauldron. She did not miss, lighting the cauldron to the joy of the local public. Finally, a performance of a veteran local artist, singing a dreamy and cheerful traditional rural song, well-known for the Mktvartvelian public, was followed by another wave of fireworks just before the speaker announced the official welcoming of the Azavrelia 2022 Mundus Games.
After the speeches of the authorities, including the Mundus Games authorities and Brzdmtsveli Ketevan, who expressed the welcome to both athletes and visitors, withing the best of luck for the formers and the happiest experience for the latter, officially declaring the Mundus Games as open. After that, the traditional parade of the athletes by alfabetical order followed, with a final musical performance by another well-known artist closed the night. The time in which it was the turn of the athletes to speak through their achievements and feats have finally arrived.