The Paris Olympics 2024, officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, are set to be a historic event, marking the centenary of the last time Paris hosted the Games in 1924. Scheduled from July 26 to August 11, 2024, the games will not only take place in Paris but will also feature events in various locations across France and even a subsite in Tahiti. With a rich schedule that includes new sports like breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding, and BMX freestyle, the Paris Olympics are gearing up to be a celebration of both tradition and innovation in the world of sports.
Museums and galleries across the country have been competing to put on Olympics-themed shows. One of the Louvre’s offerings is an hour-long dance-and-exercise circuit through the building, which museum officials call “Courez au Louvre” — meaning both run to, and run in, the Louvre. Held before its opening hours, when tickets went on sale, they sold out almost immediately.
Its performing arts director, Luc Bouniol-Laffont believes that the revered museum is so big that it is a natural venue for athletics. Indeed, the staff wear running shoes just to cover its 400 rooms, which, end-to-end would extend more than nine miles.
Bouniol-Laffont offered Mehdi Kerkouche, a local choreographer, a tour with curators and gave him carte blanche to design itineraries through the museum, with one small request, to avoid focusing on the stars housed in the Louvre—paintings like the Mona Lisa and statues like the Venus de Milo—and to emphasize other works. As he says, “There are so many other things to see.”
The classes, priced at 38 euros, about $41, for adults, sold out within an hour of going live online. They last through the end of this month.
The biggest draw is the timing. The dancing begins an hour before the museum opens. Each morning, some 60 lucky people — divided into two groups of 30 — get to experience a private viewing normally enjoyed only by VIP’s and celebrities.
These sessions are not about the typical tourist experience, viewing the Mona Lisa has been compared to “squeezing into the subway at rush hour; some 30,000 people press before it each day.” For this reason, very few French people ever face the ordeal.
Much like people in New York city who walk past the Empire State building every day without even noticing, or Romans who barely glance at the Colosseum, “All the Parisians are the same” Mehdi Kerkouche said. “I bike every day in front of it to go from one place to another in the city. But I just don’t look at it anymore,” he added.
Dancing and exercising past the glories in one of the most famous museums on the planet is an original experience that sets the tone for the Olympic Games and lucky are the few people who will get to enjoy it.
