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An Expressive Hand Ballet Performed by 128 Performers in Wheelchairs for the Paralympic Games

The final move was to create “2024” with their hands, signifying the upcoming Paralympic Games in 2024.

As part of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games closing handoff ceremony, French choregrapher Sadeck Waff created an absolutely gorgeous and beautifully expressive hand ballet performed by both professional and amateur performers in wheelchairs. The performance opened with Oxandre Pecku, the first person in France to receive a “bionic” arm from Open Bionics, and then turned to the stage of the wheelchair performers who gracefully moved their arms in time with each other and with the music, which was composed by Woodkid and performed by Orchestre National de France.

The hand ballet was truly reminiscent of a murmuration of starlings, by design. There is magic everywhere, the key is knowing how to look, know how to see and listen in silence, like a cloud of birds forming waves in the sky, each individual has his own identity, but an irreplaceable place in the whole. The final move was to create “2024” with their hands (pictured above), signifying the upcoming Paralympic Games in 2024.

Original choreography created by Sadeck Waff and performed by Sadeck Waff, Oxandre Peckeu, and 126 professional and amateur performers. Thanks to the Neodance Academy and their teams for the casting and management of the dancers.

The official website of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, with news, vision, mascot, medals, schedule and more.

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