Performance of a lifetime: Creating the Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies
Performance of a lifetime: Creating the Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies
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00:00It's arguably the biggest show in the world and the world's eyes were on Paris this summer
00:17as the opening ceremonies for the Olympic and Paralympic Games saw the French capital
00:21transformed into an open-air stage with spectacular results.
00:26Maud Le Pladec was the maestra coordinating the many dance sequences in the opening and
00:31closing events as director of choreography.
00:34And among the constellation of stars involved, Lucky Love gave a stunning performance at
00:39the opening of the Paralympics.
00:40Both of them join me now in the studio to tell us more.
00:44Welcome to the show Lucky Love and Maud.
00:48Now as I mentioned, those ceremonies are not just a performance in front of a city, a country,
00:53a region, it's a planetary event.
00:56How did that feel?
00:59It feels huge actually and we are proud actually to have been able, and it's not finished because
01:03we are actually working on the closure now, been able to show the French culture in different
01:11ways, in different arts also.
01:13It can be with the top artists, with the dance, with all the performances that we actually
01:17prepared since two years now for all the ceremonies.
01:21And it's true that to address actually these kinds of message, but also these kinds of
01:27arts to all over the world and it's something quite sensational for us also.
01:32How did you feel taking to the stage when you knew that the world's eyes were on you?
01:37Well, it feels unreal to be quite honest.
01:41So I just focused on the performance and I thought, because I was doing a festival in
01:47Paris just like a few days before that.
01:49And so I just thought, okay, that's a stage.
01:53Even though there is this huge monumental thing around it, that's just a stage.
01:58Stay yourself and everything's going to be okay.
02:01And that's what happened.
02:03I really also felt really lucky to be surrounded by all these dancers because they actually
02:07made this moment real for me.
02:10Okay.
02:11Well, Maud, as I said, there's the symbolic value of this, but also the actual logistics.
02:15So Paris is an incredible backdrop to a show, but it has its constraints as well.
02:20The opening ceremony of the Paralympics was mainly on the Place de la Concorde, not the
02:24blank canvas of a theatre space.
02:27What was most challenging for you about that site?
02:29Yes, it's exactly like the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games, where actually all
02:36the sand, not the stage, but the river was our stage.
02:40Here we were Place de la Concorde, and we had actually to fit to this incredible space,
02:47but also not really usual for dancers and performances, and especially for people, disabled
02:54people.
02:55So there were a lot of questions around that.
02:58So we work also with disabled people to imagine how we can do that.
03:02And it was actually the thematic of this ceremony because it was from Discord to Concorde.
03:08So we came from this paradox of the non-accessibility for disabled people in Paris, and this paradox
03:15to have chosen, actually, Paris as a stage for the Paralympic opening.
03:23And I think that we wanted to transcend, in a way, the fact that this impossibility creates
03:30some other possibilities, and also that the difference, it's a power, and the difference
03:35is beautiful.
03:36And I think that's also the DNA of all the ceremonies, around the inclusion, the diversity,
03:42and how everybody also can be together, whatever.
03:47Very strong message.
03:48Now, Lucky Love, your performance during that ceremony was a highlight, a moment that stunned
03:52those of us who didn't know your work and delighted those who do.
03:56You sang a different version of your hit single, Masculinity.
03:59Now I want to hear more about that in a minute, but let's get a reminder of the original track.
04:07Tell me, baby, baby, do I walk like a boy?
04:11Do I speak like a boy?
04:13Do I stand like a boy?
04:15Sorry, babe, you keep asking, do I kiss like a boy?
04:18Should I spit like a boy?
04:20May I fuck all the boys?
04:22Tell me, baby, baby, do I walk like a boy?
04:25Do I speak like a boy?
04:27Do I stand like a boy?
04:29Sorry, babe, you keep asking, do I kiss like a boy?
04:33Should I spit like a boy?
04:35May I fuck all the boys?
04:37Tell me, baby, baby, do I...
04:39So in that ceremony, you changed the lyrics to that song.
04:42It became My Ability.
04:44I should mention here that you were born without a left arm,
04:47something that some people could see as a disability.
04:49But in your journey as a dancer, model, singer, actor,
04:52you've rejected that sort of ableist view of things.
04:55Tell us about the message in My Ability.
04:58The message in My Ability was really important for me to be,
05:02to deliver a message that was universal
05:04and that would actually fit the ceremony.
05:07I love this idea of being an artist who is still trying
05:12to get a better version of myself, of my song,
05:16and so I wanted to go, like, a bit further.
05:18I was like, if I would have just, like, performed my song,
05:22I would have loved it, of course.
05:24But it was, I really wanted to feel that I was in the present,
05:27that I was living that moment,
05:29and that it would be unique in a way.
05:31And so that's also the reason why, for now, we didn't release it,
05:35because I love the fact that it just belongs to that moment.
05:38Yeah, it's a real one-off.
05:40Well, changing the narrative when it comes to disability
05:43and inclusion in the arts was something that Thomas Joly,
05:46artistic director of the ceremonies,
05:48was keen to underline the day after the Paralympics opening ceremony.
05:51Here's more from him.
05:54An opening ceremony for the Paralympics
05:56in the heart of a capital city,
05:58when we know just how inaccessible they can be for disabled people,
06:02that's already a strong political statement.
06:04That's the point of live performance.
06:06It's not about telling you what to think,
06:08but instead saying, let's think about this.
06:11Now, Maud, people wouldn't always think of dance
06:14as the most political art form, but I know that politics,
06:17well, feminism especially, is something you've always integrated into your work.
06:20How do you see the political dimension of your performances?
06:24Actually, this is not something like a thematic that I come from.
06:28I always say that I don't want to say some message,
06:32and it's weird because people actually always tell me,
06:35OK, you work on that.
06:37But it's included in my vision of the world,
06:40and it's true that I'm fighting.
06:42I'm a director of a big institution for dance in France,
06:45and I will be the new director of a ballet,
06:47and this is something also that I want to work with,
06:50which is my values of, as we said, inclusion,
06:53but also I'm fighting for the equality,
06:55and also against the discrimination.
06:58I think that it's difficult actually to live in this kind of work.
07:03I have a huge sense of justice,
07:06so that's something that I actually have since I'm a child.
07:10And it's true that after, it's not difficult for me
07:14to include these kind of values in the work that I'm doing
07:19because I was a dancer all my life.
07:21I'm a choreographer now, and I work with the body,
07:24and I think that concretely the bodies are politic.
07:28And bodies is also, when we talk about body,
07:30we can talk about our body,
07:32but we can talk about the social body also.
07:35And if we come back to this ceremony,
07:37the beautiful opening Paralympic,
07:39we created a body.
07:42I mean, they were together in the same,
07:44they embodies actually all these values,
07:47and this is the way I work.
07:49So when it comes to values, politics, that sort of thing,
07:52Lucky, I heard that you initially said no to Thomas Joly
07:55when he offered you this performance.
07:57What was it about his artistic approach
07:59that made you change your mind?
08:01Yeah, I refused the first proposition
08:04because I didn't want to be like the singer with a disability
08:10that would actually sing for the ceremony.
08:12I was like, oh no, please no, not this, not again.
08:16I love when we can actually cross all the universe and people.
08:21And when I've seen the Olympic ceremony,
08:26I've been so surprised by all the diversity
08:30that we could find there already.
08:32It wasn't like, they didn't wait for the Paralympic ceremony
08:35to actually include people.
08:37And when I say people, it's people.
08:39And that's what I loved in it.
08:40And I was like, okay, I can't actually just refuse that.
08:44I have to be part of it.
08:45It's like it was natural to me.
08:47After seeing the first ceremony and the second one,
08:50I was just blown away by it.
08:52I was like, it's so beautiful to see that actually
08:55all these people were represented in all the ceremonies.
09:00And from an artistic point of view, it's up there.
09:03Now, I mentioned that you are a super versatile artist
09:06on stage, in front of a camera, in the recording studio.
09:08I know you acted alongside Beatrice Dalle and Joey Starr
09:12in a theatrical production of The Elephant Man here in France.
09:14Now that story, the life of Joseph Merrick in the 19th century
09:18is often presented as a sort of tragic, a tragedy, a tragic life.
09:23But this production had a bit of a different approach, didn't it?
09:26What did you take away from that experience?
09:28Oh, yeah.
09:29I would say that what was beautiful, even more in my case,
09:33is that as I was acting the role of Jack the Ripper
09:37and I was always confronting Elephant Man
09:42in the piece of theatre that we were playing.
09:44And so I was the beauty, the outside beauty,
09:48the beauty that society would actually consider as a gentleman.
09:53And I was actually the monster in front of someone
09:56that was just judged because of his envelope,
09:59because of his body, because of what he represents.
10:01When he was actually, his character, the Joey Starr character,
10:05was much more human than mine.
10:08So it really gave me this.
10:11It really gave me this print of humanity that you can find in anyone.
10:17And so, yeah, it's just this.
10:19It's just like, be careful of what you see.
10:23You shouldn't trust appearances.
10:25Now, Maud, we often talk about the sporting legacy of Olympic Games
10:29for a city or for a society.
10:31What do you think the artistic legacy of these games in Paris
10:34will be when we look back?
10:35I mean, this is a beautiful and huge legacy.
10:38As I always say, it's two years of work.
10:42It was challenging.
10:44I met beautiful people that I hope I will see after, for sure.
10:49And artistically, I think that because it's the challenge of my life,
10:53it will be the legacy of my life there, something like this.
10:56And also, as I said, I will direct a ballet now.
10:59I had actually to choreograph for 600 dancers in the opening ceremony.
11:05I will choreograph for 26 dancers.
11:08So, for sure, it's not that it will be easy, but kind of easier in a way.
11:14But I actually also, this, let's say, this format, as we said in French,
11:21actually, the challenge of making the hugest, I don't know,
11:29the most huge show of the world, it's something that I will never forget.
11:34Perhaps I will never be confronted or being in the same situation,
11:37but I will keep something like, oh, I want to do it again.
11:40Amazing. I know you've got lots of exciting projects coming up,
11:43so we'll keep an eye on those.
11:45And we'll wrap up with a little of your music, Lucky Love, as well.
11:49But thank you both for coming in today.
11:51Now, while we wait for your upcoming album,
11:53I Don't Care If It Burns, out in November,
11:55you're also on tour all over Europe in the coming months.
11:58So this is I'm Ready.
12:00Do join us next time here on Arts24 for more arts and culture.
12:30I'm ready.