Page 30 - Team TTO PARIS 2024

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.

28