Sochi Olympics closing ceremony – the final chord of the most successful in the history of the national sport. Never before Russian athletes won 13 gold medals at the Winter Games. Fireworks over the stadium “Fischt” opened the closing ceremony of XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi February 23 at exactly 20.14. The presentation was divided into several parts, depending on various cultural traditions of Russia. The main hero of the show, which the authors called “Russia in reflections”, has once again become a girl Lyubov (Love), dreams which were the basis of the Russian opening ceremony. The authors gave the world a statement that many classical cultural values ​​created by Russian writers, artists, dancers, are an integral part of world cultural heritage

For Russian viewers one of the most touching moments of the ceremony was the episode with the blowing of the Olympic flame. The authors provided this honor ceremony to one of the Olympic mascots – a huge white bear. Part of the episode was accompanied by the song of Pakhmutova and Dobronravov “Goodbye, Moscow” as a memory of the Summer Games in Moscow in 1980, under which the symbol of the Games – Olympic brown bear – departed from the stadium “Luzhniki”. Torch extinguished itself under a piercing melody of Eduard Artemiev from the cult film by Nikita Mikhalkov’s “At Home Among Strangers, Stranger Among Friends”.

Russian art of the early 20th century, is best known in the West and the most popular among collectors of Russian art of the period. At the closing stage designers have created a lyrical composition based on paintings by the artist Marc Chagall. Music for this fragment “Polka for Viola and Orchestra” by composer Alfred Schnittke was performed by the most famous Russian violist Yuri Bashmet and violin maestro Tatiana Samuel.

In this same passage in the air hovering acrobats in suits of brides attached to helium-filled clouds. This can be seen as an obvious allusion to the painting by Wassily Kandinsky “Bride”, also known as “Russian Beauty”.

Russian tribute to the musical heritage has become a bright scene when pianist Denis Matsuev surrounded by whirling around 62 pianos performed Piano Concerto by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Set designers turned stadium into a real academic theater. Hung over the stadium a huge theater chandelier, and the scene has grown to two scenes: the red and gold of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and the blue and gold of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. On the stadium appeared founder of the legendary ballet “Russian seasons” of the last century Sergei Diaghilev performed by Yuri Smekalov, Xenia Zhiganshina replaced the legendary Anna Pavlova. Then on stage appeared other famous characters of ballets of Diaghilev, including Dying Swan and Firebird. All actions were accompanied by the corps de ballet, composed of the best dancers of the two great Russian theaters to music from “Scheherazade” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Konstantin Ernst team also couldn’t pass the image of Russia as the most reading country in the world. The greatness of Russian literature, which gave to the world Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anton Chekhov, was shown through choreography, which has become the main theme of the library. A waltz from Aram Khachaturian’s “Masquerade” accompanied Lyubov and her friends.

Tour on the Russian art was accompanied by great circus performances of the most famous circus show Cirque du Soleil. Nearly 400 circus actors – acrobats, jugglers, gymnasts – in six different arenas showed circus skills under the suite of Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev’s Waltz from the ballet “Cinderella.”

The closing ceremony of the Games – is not just a theatrical performance, but also an opportunity to pay tribute to all the athletes, who for more than two weeks delighted audiences around the world with their performances. Therefore, one of the essential elements of the ceremony is the parade of athletes.

In addition, there was a ceremony of handing over ceremony the Olympic flag as a kind of relay of Winter Games from Russian Sochi to Korean Pyeongchang, which will be the capital of the Games in 2018.

Organizers of the closing ceremony, headed by the General Director of Channel One Konstantin Ernst also beat episode with snowflake that during the opening ceremony for technical reasons couldn’t be revealed, and not turned into the Olympic ring. At the closing ceremony this time Ernst did not trust technology. Initially, the closing ceremony of luminous figures in the field, symbolizing the marine inhabitants, after a series of transformations lined Olympic ring, but one of the rings briefly frozen, and only in a few seconds took the same view as the rest. The audience appreciated the joke with thunderous applause.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stands next to Alexander Zubkov, gold medalist in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh for Russia, during the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014.

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