POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

'Jazz Drummer' costume from Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

Object No. 2001/84/108

The Jazz Drummer costume, consisting of jeans, singlet, socks, boots and flannelette shirt, featured on the Eternity segment of the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony. The segment and its costumes was directed and designed by Nigel Triffit. The costume was assembled from new and second hand purchased clothing. There were approximately 450 performers wearing these costumes. Quoting the Sydney 2000 Post Games Report: The segment that brought the exploration of the country to a close was a salute to its generations of workers: the people who built the docks, roads, bridges, railways, factories, schools, hospitals and homes. It was called Eternity in reference to Arthur Stace, a Sydney identity of the 1930s, a reformed alcoholic who found Christianity and spent most of his days chalking the word 'Eternity' in loving copperplate on pavements and buildings all over the city. The accent throughout this segment, directed by Nigel Triffitt, was on tap dancing. A solo dancer, Adam Garcia, led a crew of workers through the construction of a 30 m high bridge. As foreman, he was joined at first by 150 dancers, all from the casts of the musicals Tap Dogs, Hot Shoe Shuffle and Steel City. They were joined on the scaffolds by another 500 tap- dancers, then by another 500 in the aisles. The whole effect was one of intricate rhythms building to a crescendo. The completed bridge was the Bridge of Life, a walkway towards connection and Reconciliation. As the structure was completed, performers from every section of the Opening Ceremony stormed onto the arena, gathering to form a giant multicoloured mandala. Djakapurra and the little girl, together again, rose high in the air. As the performers bade farewell, the Sydney Harbour Bridge appeared, with the word 'Eternity' scrawled across its steel arch - as had happened on the actual Harbour Bridge once before, on New Year's Eve, 1999. The journey was complete. (Source Sydney 2000 Post Games Report - OCA. http://www.gamesinfo.com.au/postgames/en/pg000002.htm Web site hosted and managed by State Library of NSW) The 'Jazz Drummer' costume is comprising purchased new and second hand clothing and features cut off jeans, a white singlet and workboots. The boots are made by Blundstone to specifications supplies by SOCOG, who then added steel 'taps' to the base. The costumes were divided into five groups according to their predominant colour: red. black, blue, green and yellow.