TThe 17th Paralympic Games kicked off under clear blue skies, lighting up the night as Paris made a strong start by bringing the same energy and joy that has characterised the country’s historic summer thus far to disabled sport.

Over the next 11 days, new heroes will be made, new stories will be told and, perhaps, the possibility of a legacy of positive change for people with disabilities. But for a crowd of 35,000 on the Place de la Concorde, a ceremony strung together by bold, expressive dance and a parade of 128 often jubilant competing nations created a celebratory mood and an image of a country that is still “a party“.

As head of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons called for a “revolution of inclusion” in his speech and Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet praised the fans: “the public completion of”, there was still room for the French President, Emmanuel Macron, who was allowed only a brief ceremonial appearance and declared the Games open, while elsewhere the energy of the night permeated.

Unlike the Olympic opening ceremony, there were no shots of soaked performers to spoil the party. Temperatures of 30 degrees and a cloudless sky ensured that everything went off without a hitch and the stands were full. By the time the French delegation entered the arena after 10 p.m., to the sounds of Champs-Élysées and various other pieces of chanson etched into the collective memory, the spirit of the summer of 2024 was fully present again.

Featuring 500 performers, including dancers, pop stars, furry revolutionary hats and the ubiquitous DJ, the ceremony was titled Paradox, its theme a journey from Discord to Concord. As with every aspect of Paris 2024, this was an idea pinned to the geography and history of the French capital.

The ceremony began in the “wide open” way, in public, with Paralympic delegations walking along a stretch of the sun-drenched Champs-Élysées, with a collection of UNESCO executives, rappers and Jackie Chan joining them as part of the torch relay. What Parisians describe as “the world’s largest avenue” is traditionally where France honors its heroes (with a parade for Olympic stars in September). But the Élysées was absent from the Games earlier this summer and has been reserved for the Paralympic Games, where it will also feature as part of the marathon on the final day of competition.

From the open streets, the ceremony moved to a ticketed event at the Place de la Concorde. Once the Place de la Revolution, the site of the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, it was renamed in 1795, an act Thomas Jolly, creative director of Paris 2024, said was “to appease and conciliate the French,” turning the square itself into a “place of paradox.”

Jolly argues that the ceremony explores a further need for reconciliation: between the 15% of the world’s population who have a disability and the societies that ignore their needs. “Better living together starts with mutual attention,” he says, “then we can better recover, reconcile, adapt and move forward together.”

Ironically, Jolly said the ceremony, coming in the week in which one of Britain’s top Paralympic athletes – Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson – was forced to drag herself from her wheelchair and off a London train to make her way to the Games, would underline the argument that “disability is not a defect of the person, but the architecture, practices, attitudes, lifestyles and models of society that create the ‘situation’ of disability for these people.”

The ceremonies, divided into five acts, were directed by Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman, who was brought in by Jolly to inject energy and humor into the show. It was a decision that was immediately justified. The introductory segment featured French swimmer and model Théo Curin, who has neither hands nor feet, hailing a taxi from Phrages, a furry red private hire car that he takes to the arena to deliver his one line: “Welcome to Paris!” (He does so with aplomb).

From there the spectacle exploded in a whirlwind of dancers and rousing music. The performances included Christine and the Queens, who performed an updated and almost unrecognizable Je Ne Regrette Rien, and a rendition of Ravel’s Bolero so robust and powerful that all memories of Torvill and Dean were banished. The performers were a mix of disabled and able-bodied people, sometimes dancing in opposition (discord) but eventually coming together (concord) in a piece called Sportography that combined athletic movement and artistic expression with wild images projected onto the obelisk at the heart of the square. All of these performances were carried by the incredible talent of South African amputee dancer Musa Motha.

After three and a half hours of spectacle and speeches, the final act was to relight the Olympic cauldron and send the bronze balloon into the Paris night sky. According to Ekman, “I often find that words are worthless and that images, or the situations they illustrate, are far more valuable.” On a night like this, it was hard to argue that he was wrong.