The Opening Ceremony

Opening ceremony

An opening ceremony is the official opening of a building or event. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup are huge events involving thousands of participants and watched by a massive worldwide audience. On a much smaller scale, some ceremonies mark the opening of a...

 of the XV Pan American Games

2007 Pan American Games

The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to July 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in...

took place on 13 July 2007. Considered an audition for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, the Opening Ceremony was praised by the media for its creativity and Olympic-style production value. The Los Angeles Times reported:

Brazil's 2nd largest city still must overcome doubts about crime and traffic, among other things, if it hopes to make good on its quixotic bid to play host to the 2016 Olympic Games. But Rio sure has the opening ceremony down pat. On Friday the city inaugurated the 15th Pan American Games with a lavish and creative 3½ -hour show that featured a symphony orchestra, three 100-foot-long coral snakes, Miss Brazil, an alligator the size of a 747, fireworks, a 1,500-piece percussion band and thousands of dancers dressed as everything from ocean waves to water lilies.

Approximately 90,000 spectators and 5,000 athletes packed Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

's Maracanã Stadium for the occasion. The ceremony included a cast of 4,000 and a $17 million (US) budget. The Executive Producer of the Opening Ceremony was Scott Givens

Scott Givens

Scott Givens is President of FiveCurrents, a creative and production firm that produces stadium spectacles, broadcasts and other live events. His goal is to capture the power of human emotion to create deep and lasting impressions on everyone experiencing his projects...

. More than 250 people were part of the creative and production teams with another 1,000 backstage volunteers. Scott Givens

Scott Givens

Scott Givens is President of FiveCurrents, a creative and production firm that produces stadium spectacles, broadcasts and other live events. His goal is to capture the power of human emotion to create deep and lasting impressions on everyone experiencing his projects...

' team was responsible for the Opening Ceremony, Sports Production, the presentation of 2,252 medals, Sports Production and the Closing Ceremony.

The theme of the show was based on the theme of the Rio 2007 Games: Viva Essa Energia (Share this Energy).

Opening Ceremony

The show began at 17:30 local time (UTC-3

UTC-3

UTC−03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −03:00.-As standard time :*Suriname*Falkland Islands*French Guiana*Brazil - East Northern and Northeastern States...

) and lasted for two and a half hours.

The beginning had the Dragoons of Independence, the first regiment of the Brazilian army

Brazilian Army

The Brazilian Army is the land arm of the Brazilian Military. The Brazilian Army has fought in several international conflicts, mostly in South America and during the 19th century, such as the Brazilian War of Independence , Argentina-Brazil War , War of the Farrapos , Platine War , Uruguayan War ...

 and the official guard of the Republic's president, bringing a Brazilian flag and an execution of the Brazilian national anthem

Brazilian national anthem

The Brazilian national anthem was composed by Francisco Manuel da Silva in 1831 and had been given at least two sets of unofficial lyrics before a 1922 decree by President Epitácio Pessoa gave the anthem its definitive, official lyrics, by Osório Duque-Estrada, after several changes were made to...

 sang by Elza Soares

Elza Soares

Elza Soares is a Brazilian samba singer. She was married to Brazilian football player Garrincha.Born and raised in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Soares took part in a singing contest presented by the renowned Brazilian musician Ary Barroso, and received the highest marks. In the late 1950s, Soares...

, the former wife of football player Mané Garrincha. The countdown, starting the number 15,showed the cities which hosted the American event.

The first part was named "Viva essa energia" (Live this energy in Portuguese). And started with an afro-Brazilian boy named Cainan playing a tambour and guiding 1,150 rhythmists from the 17 Samba school

Samba school

A samba school is a club or dancing school. They practice and often perform in huge square-compounds devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an African-Brazilian dance. The schools are traditionally associated with a particular neighborhood, often shanty towns...

s and presenting the official song of the XV Pan American Games, "Viva essa Energia", composed by Arnaldo Antunes

Arnaldo Antunes

Arnaldo Antunes , is a writer and composer from Brazil. He began as a member of the band Aguilar e Banda Performática in the late 1970s. For most of the 1980s he was a member of the rock band Titãs. After 1992 he had six solo albums. Since 1992 he has been an award winning poet, but he was first...

, former singer the Brazilian rock band Titãs

Titãs

Titãs are a rock band from São Paulo, Brazil. Their best-known line up is the one in the album Cabeça Dinossauro : Nando Reis , Branco Mello , Marcelo Fromer , Arnaldo Antunes , Tony Bellotto , Paulo Miklos , Charles Gavin and Sérgio Britto...

, and Liminha

Liminha

Liminha is a Brazilian musician and producer. He started his career as the bassist of "Os Baobás", and was called in 1970 to tour with Os Mutantes, becoming an official member later...

, singer the Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes ) are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...

, and sang by Ana Costa samba singer.

The parade of the athletes had a rhythm of a samba

Samba

Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...

, chorinho and the bossa nova

Bossa nova

Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...

's rhythm played by the battery of samba schools which made a huge corridor when the athletes from the 42 nations passed between them. There was expectation about the entry of Panama's delegation due to interference by the Panamanian government on their national Olympic committee, the IOC have banned the participation of the country in official events but the PASO required the Panamanian athletes to participate using their organization's flag, so the IOC came back to the decision and authorised the participation of Panama.

At this games were created the PASO's anthem, composed by André Mehmari and performed by Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira conducted by Roberto Minczuk.

The show were divided in three parts: "A energia do Sol" (The energy of sun), "A energia da água" (the energy of water), and "A energia do homem" (The man's energy). The show was coordinated by Rosa Magalhães

Rosa Magalhães

Rosa Lúcia Benedetti Magalhães is a Brazilian professor and artist. She is best known as the most successful carnival designer in Rio de Janeiro, with five championships won since 1984, when the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí was built.- Biography :Rosa Magalhães is the daughter of writer and...

 from the Rio de Janeiro samba school GRES Imperatriz Leopoldinense

GRES Imperatriz Leopoldinense

The samba school Imperatriz Leopoldinense was created on March 6, 1956 in the suburb of Ramos, in Rio de Janeiro.It is named after Maria Leopoldina, archduchess of Austria and Empress of Brazil, consort of Emperor Pedro I....

.

The oath of the athletes was performed by Brazilian taekwondo

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...

 athlete Natália Falavigna

Natália Falavigna

Natália Falavigna da Silva is a taekwondo athlete from Brazil. She finished in the fourth place in the women's 67-kilogram category in taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics on August 26, and won the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics...

.

Contrary to plan and tradition, the games were not opened by Brazil's head of state, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...

, but by the head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee

Brazilian Olympic Committee

The Brazilian Olympic Committee or BOC is the highest authority in Brazilian sport and the governing body of Brazilian Olympic sport. It was officially founded on June 8, 1914 but World War I caused its official activities to begin only in 1935...

, Carlos Arthur Nuzman

Carlos Arthur Nuzman

Carlos Arthur Nuzman is a Brazilian lawyer and a former volleyball player, having competed professionally from 1957 to 1972 and represented the national team between 1962 and 1968...

. Prior to the official opening, Lula had been repeatedly booed whenever the in-stadium camera showed him on the large screen set up inside the stadium.