The opening ceremony finally takes place in the city of culture: the ceremony, which has been in uncertainty due to the beast that was so bold it almost completely took over Paris and stanched away hope, is now a memory to be cherished, not anymore a challenge to be overcome. It isn’t easy to properly convey the scope of this accomplishment and the sacrifices and accommodations made by this city to make it happen.
The ambition was to create a truly unique ceremony, something new inclusive, and inspiring. By these measures, it was an incredible success.
A story was told as the Olympic flame was delivered through the city, the Eiffel Tower beamed as it never had before, Zinedine Zidane bookended it all and everything seemed to go off without a hitch.
There were drag queens and silver horses Louis Vuitton suitcases and a mysterious masked figure. Lady Gaga was thrilled, and Céline Dion was c’est magnifique in closing the show atop la Tour Eiffel.
This ceremony’s creative director, Thomas Jolly, had the inspired idea to lean into Paris’s famed romance by using the city itself as a stage. So a country-by-country flotilla of athletes sailed down the Seine while a 6km parade snaked across its bridges, roads, and rooftops. But what appears like an original idea on paper does not always live up to its enactment on a rain-sodden night in central Paris.
There were some highlights: a gorgeously choreographed dance showing the reconstruction of Notre Dame and a gold carpet unfurled for fabulous French-Malian singer-songwriter, Aya Nakamura at Pont des Arts, with dancers shimmering alongside her (the rumor that she was to perform at this ceremony had led to racist outrage from far-right politicians so her presence at the ceremony felt like a triumph given Marine Le Pen’s recent defeat).
A traditional opening ceremony held in a stadium is predictable and relatively safe: the boundaries can be creatively pushed if necessary, but logically the boundaries remain contained and manageable. Achieving this vision means preparing for all problems that predict the unwillingness to prepare for the impossible.
This means the closure of Paris. The only thing the organizers couldn’t prevent was bad weather, which unfortunately ruined a lot of what could have made the evening a little more magical.
+ There are no comments
Add yours