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Christine and the Queens was the headline act at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris on Wednesday evening, performing stirring versions of Edith Piaf’s ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ and 1970s disco hit ‘Born To Be Alive’.
But the real stars of the three-hour ceremony unfolding around the obelisk in the French capital’s La Place de la Concorde were the singers and dancers with disabilities who took to the vast stage.
Performer Lucky Love, who was born without his left arm due to Agenesis, was hailed as a revelation by the French press on Thursday for his performance.
The actor, singer and model, who has the air of a young Freddie Mercury and was signed by UTA earlier this year, has a following in the fashion world and indie cinema circles but is less known in the mainstream.
His performance of his 2022 song ‘Masculinity’ – tweaked for the opening ceremony to ‘My Ability’ – accompanied by a dance routine featuring dancers in wheelchairs and on crutches, had TV viewers scrambling on the social networks to discover his identity.
“Who is Lucky Love, the artist who moved spectators at the opening ceremony?” asked Le HuffPost, in a headline that was repeated across the country’s newsites.
In an interview in Le Monde, Lucky Love, aka Luc Bruyère, said he had originally turned down the request to perform.
He explained that having been born without his arm, he had never considered its absence an abnormality and had had no desire to be a standard bearer for disability, but Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for all the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies, had convinced him to come on board
There was also buzz around London-based South African dancer Musa Motha who led an elaborate sequence incorporating crutches for all the dancers into the choreography.
Motha held dreams of becoming a professional footballer until bone cancer led to the amputation of his left leg. Discovering dance as a teenager, he started touring in his 20s and gained fame in the U.K. after he came fifth in Britain’s Got Talent in 2023.
Blind singer and pianist Luan Pommier, a graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, also took to the stage to perform the Paralympic hymn.
Wednesday night’s ceremony was hailed as a triumph at home and internationally, and unfolded without a whiff of controversy, unlike the 2024 Olympics opening on July 26, which drew ire in some quarters for its provocative take on French culture and history.
The Paralympics opening ceremony officially kicked off an 11-day tournament in which 4,000 para-athletes will compete for 549 medal events across 22 sports, including blind soccer, wheelchair rugby and para-athletics.
Once the site of more than 1,000 French Revolution guillotine executions – including those of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette – La Place de la Concorde was given its current name in act of attempted reconciliation in 1795.
Jolly played with the past acts of disaccord and concord at the heart of the site’s history for the opening ceremony.
Entitled “Paradox”, the show explored the themes of inclusion and the place of people with disabilities in society across five tableaux choreographed by Swedish dancer and choreographer Alexander Ekman, featuring more 500 artists, including more than 140 dancers and 16 performers with disabilities.
Prior to the show, the ceremony kicked off with a a parade of some 4,000 para-athletes down the foot of the Champs-Elysées Avenue into the arena.
The 2024 Paralympics runs to September 8.
