The opening ceremony of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games was held on Friday, 5 June 2015, beginning at 20:15 SST (UTC+8) at the National Stadium in Singapore, the first major opening ceremony for a sporting event in the new venue.
Background
The Singapore Armed Forces organized the ceremony, which has also been responsible for the annual National Day Parade. They were supported by a creative team, with Beatrice Chia-Richmond serving as Creative Director. The ceremony was helmed by more than 5,000 performers and volunteers and supported by 3,500 soldiers. Given the enclosed nature of the stadium, extensive use of an aerial system to allow suspension and movement of performers and props are possible. Floor projection are accomplished using 160 multimedia high-definition projectors. The time 20:15 was chosen to start the opening ceremony to mark the year 2015, the year in which Singapore hosted the 28th Southeast Asian Games.
Proceedings
Countdown
The ceremony begins with the band orchestra performance and historical lookout of previously hosted Singapore Southeast Asian Games and footage of people lineup distance countdown to Singapore National Stadium followed by the arrival of the VIPs, Singapore's President, Tony Tan, and Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong. The hosts of the ceremony are Nikki Muller, Chua En Lai and Sharon Au. The National Anthem of Singapore, Majulah Singapura was played as the national flag of Singapore was raised, followed by a countdown video projection.
Main event
Prelude - The Big Singapore Welcome
The 1,200 volunteers from Singapore Soka Association performance forming the map of Singapore with nature theme, showcasing Singapore as a Garden City with plants and animals. This is accompanied by the traditional dances of Singapore's main races: Malay, Indian, Chinese and Eurasian and fireworks erupted around the stadium. Nila, the mascot apparently leaped down in the stadium with a hanging parachute after the video footage of the mascot to the tune of I Got You (I Feel Good) by the late former American singer James Brown.
Parade of Nations
As per Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) protocol, parade of athletes from all 11 competing nations started with Brunei leading the field in English alphabetical order and ended with the host nation, Singapore entering the stadium last.
Speeches and protocols
This was followed by parade of the Southeast Asian Games Federation flag and the games edition flag by former and current Singaporean sportsmen and sportswomen respectively, the late Lee Kuan Yew footage about the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, welcoming speech of Lawrence Wong, and declaration of games opening by Tony Tan Keng Yam, President of Singapore.
The former athletes that carry the federation flag are K. Jayamani of athletics, David Lim of swimming, Lee Wung Yew of shooting, Wong Liang Ming of taekwondo, Zainal Abidin of squash, Adelene Wee of bowling, Tao Yi Jun of wushu and Yip Ren Kai of water polo. Whereas the current athletes that carry the Games flag are Geraldine Lee of canoeing, Shayna Ng of bowling, Chelsea Ann Sim of taekwondo, Dipna Lim Prasad of athletics, Eugene Teo of water polo, Muhammad Nur Alfian of silat, Daniel Marc Chow of rugby and Ridhwan Ahmad of boxing. Flags of the games federation and edition were raised to the song "Reach" performed by local songwriter Dick Lee and the Methodist Girls’ School choir. Athlete's and judge's oath are taken by "Micky" Lin Qingyi, Singapore's netball player and Azhar Yusoff the rugby judge and referee respectively.