A new France was consecrated Friday evening during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. When Aya Nakamura, a French Malian singer, came sashaying in a short fringed golden dress out of the august Académie Française, she redefined Frenchness. France’s most popular singer at home and abroad gyrated as she strode forth over the Pont des Arts in her laced golden gladiator sandals. Her confidence bordered on insolence, as if to say, “This, too, is France.”Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, had said that Ms. Nakamura sings in “who knows what” language. But her denunciation of the performance on the grounds that it would “humiliate” the French people failed to stop it.

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Persons: Aya Nakamura, gyrated, strode, ”, Nakamura, “ Organizations: Olympic Games, Pont des Arts, Republican Guard Locations: France, French Malian