Around 4,400 para-athletes will take to the Avenue des Champs-Elysées for a "people's parade" choreographed by Sweden's Alexander Ekman.
ADVERTISEMENTFollowing an unforgettable Olympics in Paris, the excitement continues with the Paralympics just around the corner.
The opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Paralympics will be held on Wednesday 28 August, where thousands of para-athletes from 184 global delegations will be celebrated.
Like the Olympics, the Paralympics’ opening ceremony will not be held in a stadium but will instead take place outside at the Place de la Concorde, which was transformed into an "urban park" for the Olympic Games hosting the skateboarding, freestyle BMX, 3x3 basketball and breaking.
“From the Champs-Elysées to Place de la Concorde, I look forward to creating this spectacle that will transform the heart of Paris, with performances that have never been seen before," says Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the ceremony.
He adds: “A spectacle that will showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody. A spectacle that will unite spectators and television audiences worldwide around the unique spirit of the Paralympic Games.”
This time round Jolly has enlisted the help of Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman to shake up the ceremonial codes once again. Ekman has chosen to make dance the main focus of the performance, with over 150 dancers, including professionals with disabilities.
Ekman has shared his vision for the ceremony, stating "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."
The choreographer gained fame for his 2016 rendition of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in Oslo, where he recreated a lake on stage, filling it with 6,000 litres of water.
How to watch the opening ceremony
The first part of the ceremony will be open to the public to watch live for free, while the final ceremonial and artistic segment will take place at Place de la Concorde on a 4,500-square-meter stage, surrounded by four tiers of seating.
Ticket prices range from €150 to €700 and can be purchased on the official ticketing website.
For those outside Paris, the events will be available on television. A list of the Olympics and Paralympics rights holders is available. In France, for example, the opening ceremony of the Paralympics will be aired on the free-to-air channel France 2, starting at 8pm on 28 August.
It has been reported that legendary Chinese martial artist actor Jackie Chan will carry the torch just hours before the start of the opening ceremony.
The flame, which was ignited on Saturday (24 August) in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, arrived in France through the Channel Tunnel on Sunday, carried by wheelchair fencing medalist Emmanuelle Assmann.
