Birmingham to show its younger side in Commonwealth Games handover

Birmingham will showcase itself as a “young, thriving, contemporary city,” in its first event for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The city plans to broadcast the first ever fully choreographed live handover in the game’s history this weekend, as the Commonwealth flag passes from Australia to Birmingham.

It will be delivered in a live, six-and-a-half minute shot, filmed between performances delivered by young people in Birmingham city centre and the Gold Coast, Australia.

Martin Green, executive producer of the handover ceremony, says it will be a “statement of intent” for the lead-up to hosting the games in 2022, and a “reminder of how young people can positively contribute to the world”.

“This is another week in which were seeing  some bad sides of young people… but over the last few weeks I’ve been in a room with hundreds of young people from every demographic and all walks of life, showing they have enormous contributions to make to this country and are an enormous credit and advocate.”

Gary Topp, chief executive of Cultural development organisation Culture Central, said the handover will, “Tell a story of a young, thriving, contemporary city, with talent, massive amounts of energy, huge opportunity and the rich international tapestry of our city”.

The ceremony will feature Lady Sanity, from Erdington, singing live in the Carrara Stadium in the Gold Coast, while 400 young dancers will perform with choreographer Rosie Kay, in one camera shot filmed live in Birmingham city centre.

Film-maker Daniel Alexander, from Oldbury, has also made a short film, ‘We’re From Birmingham,’ and spoken word artist Amerah Saleh, from Sparkhill, will perform a spoken word piece, ‘Tourist in My City’.

Birmingham’s Handover Ceremony, Go the Distance, is taking place on 15 April from 11am on BBC2.