Opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Thomas Jolly wants to get away from the “heroic clichés” about disability

Thomas Jolly, Director of Ceremonies for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games XinHua – Cao Can

On the occasion of the Paralympic Games, we must move away from the "heroic clichés" related to people with disabilities, said the artistic director of the opening ceremony Thomas Jolly on Monday, lifting the veil, with his team, on their creative work, particularly on the fashion side.

Like the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games on Wednesday evening will take place outside a stadium, on the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Élysées, with inclusion as the guiding principle.

A ceremony called “Paradox”

Place de la Concorde, which will host the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. dpa – Robert Michael

"Putting Paralympic athletes at the heart of the city is already a first political marker in the sense that the city is not sufficiently adapted to all people with disabilities", he stressed on Monday in a workshop in Saint-Denis where the costumes for the four Olympic ceremonies were made.

"We must get rid of, and this is a second marker, the heroic clichés concerning people with disabilities because this being a hero is not about taking on everyday challenges […] related to societal and urban barriers".

Named "Paradox", this ceremony aims to highlight all bodies and make people think about their uniqueness. It is choreographed by the Swede Alexander Ekman, world-renowned with more than 50 creations and collaborations with the Paris Opera Ballet and the Boston Ballet. For the first time, he collaborated with dancers with disabilities: about twenty out of 150 in total.