By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Auditions held at RDC for Winter Games opening ceremony

Sep 29, 2018 | 3:50 PM

In less than 140 days, the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Canada Winter Games will welcome more than 3000 athletes and their coaches from across the country at the Enmax Centrium.

On Saturday dancers auditioned at Red Deer College to be a part of the show.

Patrick Roberge, who is producing Canada Games ceremonies for the sixth time, says the talent level of the approximately 150 who tried out is impressive.

“This is going to be a fantastic opening ceremony. We’ve got singers and dancers, acrobats and headline musicians and a whole range of performers that will make up a two-hour variety show that will be televised nationally,” he says.

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“Everyone waits in anticipation for the opening ceremonies and that does set the bar. It really shows what the whole fabric of the Games is going to be.”

One hopeful is Alyssa Oliver, a 16-year-old high school student and member of Make Your Mark Dance in Red Deer.

“It’s going to be a really cool experience and it’s going to take me to the next step in my dance career. I want to go semi-professional, go into some sort of school,” she says. “It gives me a chance to perform in a different environment than the regular competitions and work with different people. It’s going to bring a lot of people to Red Deer.”

The opening ceremony is expected to be comprised of between 500 and 600 performers in total.

More auditions will be happening in the near future for the closing ceremony.