#SportyPeachy #FrancePeachy #ParisPeachy @Paris2024 Alexander Ekman Chosen As Stage and Choreography Director- Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games
In 50 days, Paris and France will create history by hosting their first ever summer Paralympic Games. An ambitious Paris 2024 is reinventing the Opening Ceremony by taking it out of the stadium and placing it at the heart of the city. On 28 August 2024, the bottom of the Champs-Elysées and the Place de la Concorde will be the setting for an unprecedented celebration of the Paralympic Movement. This will be the stage where internationally renowned choreographer Alexander Ekman, will direct the staging and choreography of the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony.
Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the ceremonies, has brought in the Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman to shake up the traditions of Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. On 28 August, thousands of Para athletes from 180 international delegations will parade down the legendary Avenue des Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde, where they will be joined by hundreds of artists. Inspired by the extraordinary scale of the 4,500m² Place de la Concorde stage, Alexander Ekman has chosen to place dance at the heart of the show. More than 150 dancers, including many professional dancers with disabilities, will bring to life the Opening Ceremony with inventive, musical, and humorous choreography.
Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Games, said: "With Alexander Ekman, the fantastic ceremonies team around Thomas Jolly is complete! Today, we are delighted to announce this collaboration with Alexander, who will bring all his talent and knowledge of Paris to the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. We wanted this ceremony to be innovative, spectacular and truly magical, in keeping with this historic event: the first summer Paralympic Games in France. For the first time, it won't be taking place in a stadium, but in the heart of the city, between the bottom of the most beautiful avenue in the world - the Champs-Elysées - and the majestic Place de la Concorde. With Alexander Ekman and the whole team, Paris will enter the Paralympic Games in the best possible way, for eleven days of competition, celebration and emotion. We can't wait!"
For the past two years, Alexander Ekman has been working with Victor le Masne, Composer and Music Director of the Ceremonies, and Daphné Bürki, Director of Styling and Costumes for the Ceremonies to create this exceptional show. An artist of great curiosity, Alexander spent a long time with Paralympic athletes in his preliminary research work. Inspired by the athletes' sporting endeavours, this show highlights the place of sport, and in particular the Paralympic Games, as a solution for creating a more inclusive society.
Alexander Ekman added: "Our goal is to create a Paralympic ceremony that is a celebration with a mix of important messages, featuring the art of choreographic dance and the music newly composed by Victor Le Masne and inspired by sport. It is a real honour to be part of the Paris 2024 artistic team! I can't wait to share with the world the work that my team and I have created."
Thomas Jolly, Director of Ceremonies for Paris 2024, said: "There is 15 per cent of the French population that has a disability. Paradoxically, Paralympic athletes are often portrayed as heroes before many return to a daily life that can be full of barriers. The Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games is a unique opportunity to raise the profile of these battles, which affect the whole of society. To both celebrate the Paralympic athletes and act as spokesperson for them, I wanted this ceremony to be both festive and political. That's why I asked choreographer Alexander Ekman, known for his spectacular universe that transcends the limits of the body, to take charge of the staging and choreography of this show. Together we aim to transcend limits and make them coincide with a more equal and inclusive world.”
Thomas Jolly's artistic team for the ceremonies includes Victor le Masne, Musical Director for the ceremonies, Maud Le Pladec, Director of Dance for the ceremonies and choreographer of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, and Daphné Bürki, Director of Styling and Costumes for the Paris 2024 ceremonies.
After his show Play, Alexander Ekman will once again enchant France.
A leading choreographer in Europe and America, in Paris one of his creations has received critical and public acclaim. In 2017, he developed and presented "PLAY" at the Palais Garnier, with the Paris Opera Ballet. A public success, the ballet was back in 2021 and will return at the end of 2024. The joyful energy, excess, and freedom expressed in Alexander Ekman's dance appealed to Paris 2024 and Thomas Jolly saw him as the ideal candidate for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
Always ready to take on new challenges, staging the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games represents one of the most edifying and constructive challenges of his career for this major player of the contemporary choreography scene.
After the ceremony, it is time for the sporting competition!
From the morning after the Opening Ceremony, and until 8 September, 4,400 athletes will try to win Paralympic medals in 549 competitions across 22 sports. The action will take place at 20 exceptional venues, which will offer a glorious setting to showcase the performances of the Para athletes. The wheelchair tennis tournament will take place at Roland Garros, blind football at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, wheelchair basketball at the Bercy Arena, Para archery at the Invalides, to name but a few.
Affordable ticket prices are at the heart of the Paralympic Games. There is the Family Offer, where for two adult tickets purchased up to two tickets for children under 12 years old can be bought at €10, and the Discovery Pass, where fans can attend several Para sport sessions in either central Paris and southern Paris on the same day for €24. There are many opportunities to participate in the Paralympic party, with more than 500,000 tickets at €25 or less, while more than 120,000 tickets at €15 are still on sale.
All information on the Paris 2024 website > tickets.paris2024.org
And for the first time in their history, the Paralympic Games also offer a hospitality programme.
From the evening of the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 28 August, spectators will be able to enjoy an exclusive outdoor hospitality experience in the Jardin des Tuileries before following the parade of athletes in the stands and getting as close as possible to action of the Opening Ceremony.
For competitions, two types of hospitality packages (with event tickets included) are offered to cater for all desires and budgets: a "Lounge" package with guaranteed spaces at the heart of the sporting action, and a "Fan Kit" package. These offers will allow fans to be immersed in the passion and emotion of the exploits of Paralympic athletes.
More information on https://paralympichospitality.paris2024.org
Biography of Alexander Ekman
An international choreographer, Alexander Ekman is a multifaceted artist. In addition to his choreographic works, he has directed plays and operas, proving his diverse talent. With more than 50 creations around the world, he has worked with the Paris Opera Ballet, the Göteborg Ballet, the Boston Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet, and the Nederlands Dance Theater, where he also danced for several years. In 2017, he created the event with PLAY, a new production for the Paris Opera that shook up the conventions of this institution. Among his many accolades, Alexander Ekman was also awarded the Litteris et Artibus Medal by the Swedish Royal Family, a testament to his outstanding contribution to the arts.
About Paris 2024
The mission of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 Organising Committee, in accordance with the host city contract signed between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (CNOSF – French National Olympic and Sporting Committee) and the Ville de Paris municipal authorities, is to plan, organise, fund and deliver the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the greatest sporting event in the world, with unparalleled media impact. They bring together 10,500 Olympic athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes, respectively from 206 and 182 delegations, across five continents. They are watched by over 13 million spectators and 4 billion television viewers across the world, across a total of over 100,000 hours of TV broadcasting. They are without equal in sporting, economic and cultural events throughout the world, and this power helps to further their impact.
Set up in January 2018, Paris 2024 is headed by Tony Estanguet, three-time Olympic champion. It is run by a Board of Directors, on which sit all the founding members of the project: the CNOSF, Ville de Paris, the French Government, the Île-de-France regional authority, the CPSF, the Métropole du Grand Paris, the Conseil départemental de Seine Saint-Denis, representatives of the local authorities involved in the Games, civil society and corporate partners.
