ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — No one knows what music in ancient Greece sounded like or how dancers once moved. Every two years, a new interpretation of the ancient performance gets a global audience. It takes place in southern Greece at a site many still consider sacred: the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Forty-eight performers, chosen in part for their resemblance to youths in antiquity as seen in statues and other surviving artwork, will take part Tuesday in the flame-lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics. Details of the 30-minute performance are fine-tuned — and kept secret — right up until a public rehearsal Monday. The Associated Press got rare access to rehearsals that took place during weekends, mostly at an Olympic indoor cycling track in Athens. As riders whiz around them on the banked cycling oval, the all-volunteer Olympic performers snatch poses from ancient vases. Sequences are repeated and re-repeated under the direction of the hyper-focused head choreographer Artemis Ignatiou. |
Port of Auckland workers protest mayor's longUS Supreme Court lets $2.46 billion Boy Scouts sex abuse settlement proceed100 days since Hamas attacked Israel, triggering war in GazaEDITORIAL: Here we go again; another pledge by LDP to reform itselfWho are the Houthi rebels and why are they attacking Red Sea ships?US to impose sanctions on over 500 targets in Russia actionUS cautions after Hawaii neighbour Kiribati gets Chinese policePrime Minister's Auckland office vandalised for third time in six monthsIcon of the Seas: World's largest cruise ship to set sail from MiamiMotor racing Jos Verstappen's outburst raises big questions for Red Bull