David Atkins

David Atkins
David Atkins, who designed the Opening Ceremony of the Doha Arab Games, answers a question from the media
Born	12 December 1955 Sydney, Australia
Occupation	Executive producer and artistic director
Website	http://www.dae.com.au/

David Atkins, OAM (born 12 December 1955) is an Australian dancer, choreographer, music-theatre director and producer.

He was recognised in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the entertainment industry and is Australia’s most awarded producer, choreographer and director, and CEO of David Atkins Enterprises, a major-events production company.

Atkins created and performed in one of the first successful Australian musicals, Hot Shoe Shuffle, in 1993. The production later transferred to London's Queen's Theatre. Atkins was artistic director on Hey Hey It's Saturday and for the Bicentennial Military Tattoo. Atkins and Ignatius Jones were also co-writers and co-directors of the Musical theatre production The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular. Atkins has starred in, produced, directed, choreographed and created more than 20 musicals in Australia, Britain, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Atkins has directed and produced some of the largest live events of this decade, across continents, languages and international audiences. These include artistic director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the Ceremonies of the Doha 2006 Asian Games, the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony and Victory Ceremonies in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He also produced the Expo 2010 outdoor Opening Ceremony in Shanghai, which was the largest multimedia display in world history to open the largest World Expo since its 1851 inception and most recently, the 2011 Moscow City Day Anniversary Celebrations, the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 New Zealand Rugby World Cup and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 12th Arab Games in Doha, Qatar.