Olympics Choreographer Talks About Working With Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s electrifying performance of Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” was set to be the unconventional tune for the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night. But the ceremony was nearly canceled due to rain, says Maud Le Pladec, a choreographer for all Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies who has worked with Gaga for months.

Le Pladeck, who worked closely with Olympic ceremonies artistic director Thomas Joly to organize the four-hour show and create the choreography, revealed that Gaga’s performance had to be filmed hours before the ceremonies began for security reasons; however, she continued to sing live.

For the first time in modern history, the concert was held outside a stadium. It stretched along the River Seine, which runs through the city, highlighting Paris’s famous landmarks. Gaga’s performance was one of 12 prepared for the occasion, and although it lasted “only four minutes,” Leblanc says it was “the most technically challenging” she’s ever done.

“Unfortunately, this was the only solution.” [performance] That, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure it was going to rain – we had minute-by-minute updates, and we had never followed the weather forecast so closely in our lives… We assessed that it would be extremely dangerous for the performers, even with a few drops of rain. [Gaga] “We wanted to do just that, so we preferred to pre-record it rather than cancel it,” she says.

There were many reasons why it didn’t work out in the bad weather.

“The ground was slippery. She was wearing high heels, she was very close to the water, there were stairs… We had to be very careful,” Le Pladique said.

Gaga’s representatives declined to comment.

Although she was unable to perform at the concert, Gaga was on-site during the show. She watched her song on a screen from her dressing room before heading back to her hotel, Le Pladique reports. Shortly after, Gaga wrote on X that she “would have liked nothing more than to give a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth – Paris.”

While Jolie came up with the idea for Zizi Jeanmaire’s song, Gaga told X that she was familiar with the 1920s singer who starred in Cole Porter’s musical “Anything Goes.” That’s because the show’s signature song was Gaga’s first jazz release.

Gaga was determined to create an authentic show that paid homage to the French spectacle, says Lebladec, who brought in Nicolas Hauchard to work with her on the choreography. That meant a cabaret show that combined song and dance with a bit of humor and magic. The organizers approached the Moulin Rouge to work with their troupe, Lebladec says, because Gaga “really wanted to work with archival costumes.” Dior designed Gaga’s black costume, and the now-closed Lido Cabaret let them borrow pom-poms.

The choreographer says Gaga, who she describes as a workhorse and a perfectionist, worked until the very last minute on her vocals and leg exercises. She also trained for weeks in Los Angeles with several dancers who had flown in from Paris. “She wanted to put on a show,” the choreographer says. in French“She puts a lot of effort and thought into everything she does and has a very sophisticated creative process.”

As with Zizi Jeanmaire’s original performance, Le Pladique describes Gaga’s performance as inherently feminist, especially because “feathers have been a symbol of female empowerment throughout history.”

And Leblanc won’t be taking a break anytime soon. She’s already back at work preparing for three more Games-related ceremonies, starting with the Olympics’ closing ceremony, which will be held indoors at the Stade de France.