Many of the Commonwealth Games teams including Bermuda have already set-up camp in the Athletes' Village here, but their arrival is not considered official until they have taken part in a welcome ceremony.
For Gold Coast 2018, this welcome draws on the rich traditions of the Yugambeh, the indigenous people of the Gold Coast.
The dances of welcome are performed by four members of the Mununjali tribe, all from the same family.
"Today you are standing on sacred country," troupe leader Jared Fogarty told teams attending the ceremonies.
As the red, black and gold Aboriginal flag flew alongside those of Australia and the Commonwealth Games Federation above the arena, the four performers opened the ceremony with a dance of welcome which has its roots in the dawn of indigenous civilization.
This was followed by another sequence to show how the Gold Coast was created.
"We have been given permission to create a contemporary dance to a story, which is a very old story," said Fogarty.
"We rehearsed it in our town for 20 hours straight and then came here and rehearsed for another four hours to get it to where it is on stage."
They will not have to reprise the routine 71 times as many of the welcome ceremonies feature more than one nation or territory, but the troupe are set to be on stage at least twice a day over the next week before they give additional performances at the Village during the Games, which open on April 4.
"It's like doing a gym work-out, the back of my legs are quite sore and I don't even do as much dancing as the other boys," Fogarty added.
After the traditional dancing came a surprise.
A volunteer from the crowd was called forward to have his palm pressed with ochre, the soil of the region.
"Ochre can be considered a gift, it is part of the land of the Yugambeh peoples, so me placing that on the back of their hand is a way of letting the land know that these people have arrived," said Fogarty.
Pleasure in addition to the profit was that Erik Stenberg, Kevin Roberts and Arish Nouri were back in play after injury. Till the week, additional players will be on their way after injury and at last, injury will start after a difficult period with a lot of damage.
The match is not much to say about, but we show a good attitude from start to finish and take a good look at the TP-47 match. Good in individual efforts straight through and it is apparent to the guys that the series is approaching. Now we take a little short of a day off and then we are looking at the series premiere in Hudiksvall next Saturday at 13.00.
|
