WHALE OF A TIME
Staging the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony was a labour of love for the 400 keen volunteers who helped bring it all to life IF I told you that I recently danced with 400 of my closest mates underneath a blow up whale for 1.5 billion people, you might question whether I was on drugs.
Aussie comedian Lehmo was on a similar track when he posted to Twitter “we may need to drug test the people who came up with this” the same night.
I am, however, referring to the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, for which our group spent more than 100 hours in rehearsals — all for six minutes of fame.
My friends thought I was joking when I told them the countless hours spent in rehearsals on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons (had to miss so many Burleigh Hill picnics) were for a total of six minutes on stage.
But if you think that’s commitment, you haven’t met the people who travelled from as far as the Sunshine Coast multiple times a week just to be a part of the spectacle.
Say what you want about the admittedly bizarre alien references and other contentious parts of the show, it was an Opening Ceremony made possible by a bunch of committed volunteers who travelled from far and wide.
So this is what rehearsals were like ...
Moving 400 people at any one time is a mammoth task, so every performer was assigned a bib with a number.
Not only did it aid with getting into positions quickly and splitting up the group more efficiently, but we came to know people by their bib numbers.
As rehearsals progressed, and we began giving up more of our Friday nights and weekends, our section of the show started to make sense.
The hole in the middle of the stage we’d been leaving for someone called (codename) Dennis turned out to be Migaloo and the A-lister performing ahead of us was Delta Goodrem.
Rehearsals also moved outdoors into Carrara Stadium and we endured hours-long rehearsals in all weather conditions, from torrential rain to temperatures in the high 30s.
Around this time, however, we began collecting meal packs at every rehearsal and for the next few weeks survived on a diet of muffins, crinkle cut chips, apples and a selection of sandwiches.
As for how exactly we fit thousands of opening ceremony performers in the venue, we were held in a “cast holding” area underneath the Sports Centre in the carpark.
As non-glamorous as it sounds, the set-up was elaborate, and was a reminder of just how much planning went into the Games, from getting thousands fed to monitoring exactly who had checked in and out of the venues.
Despite the long hours, taking to the stage on the night felt like such an accomplishment for all 400 of us and we left with great memories and even better friendships.