Jenny Sealey & Bradley Hemmings, Co-Artistic Directors of the Opening Ceremony and Kim Gavin, Artistic Director of the Paralympic Closing Ceremony, are searching for 5,000 volunteer performers to fill roles as dancers, actors, percussionists and general all-round performers.
Successful applicants will perform in front of a packed stadium and a worldwide broadcast audience for this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of one of the largest events ever staged in the UK.
Applicants must be able to participate in up to two auditions that will take place on evenings and weekends in February and March, up to two or three rehearsal sessions each week of up to four hours per session from June, and a number of all day rehearsals in the three weeks leading up to each Ceremony. All of these rehearsals will take place in East London.
Jenny Sealey, Co-Artistic Director of the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony said: ‘As with the Olympic Ceremonies we’re looking for both disabled and non-disabled applicants and previous performance experience is not required; we’re really looking for enthusiasm and commitment. Anyone with a positive attitude, huge amounts of energy and a willingness to perform in front of a stadium audience and to millions of people around the world should get onto the London 2012 website now and sign up.’
Kim Gavin, Artistic Director of the Paralympic Closing Ceremony, said: ‘For the Paralympic Ceremonies we’ll audition around 8,000 people to get our 5,000 volunteer performers. This is a great opportunity to take part in what will be the grand finale of the entire Games.'
People can find more information and register their interest for this opportunity by completing the online application form www.london2012.com/ceremoniescasting
The deadline for receipt of applications is 22 February 2012 and it is not a first come first served process.
To be eligible applicants must be aged 18 years or older on 1 March 2012. Only one application per person will be accepted if LOCOG receives over 8,000 applications a computerised draw will be used to randomly create the short list for auditions.
For those who want a chance to see the successful applicants in action there are a limited number of tickets still available for the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies at www.tickets.london2012.com
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For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog http://www.london2012.com/blog or follow us on Twitter
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Notes to editors:
Images of Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings are available to download here: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr153128593
Images of Kim Gavin are available to download here: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr147390334
Images from the Volunteer Performer Auditions for the London 2012 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremony in December 2011 are available to download here: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr160348199
Bradley Hemmings: Co-Artistic Director, Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony
Bradley Hemmings is the Artistic Director of Greenwich+Docklands Festivals, an organisation with a national and international reputation. He has broken new ground in outdoor performance and is at the forefront of the development of a new body of outdoor work by Deaf and disabled artists.
Jenny Sealey: Co-Artistic Director, Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony
Jenny Sealey is Artistic Director of Graeae, the UK’s flagship disabled-led theatre company. Her career has spanned 20 years' working with Deaf and disabled artists, and in 2009 she was awarded an MBE for services to disability arts.
Kim Gavin: Artistic Director, Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Closing Ceremonies
Kim Gavin is a leading UK live events, theatre and TV choreographer and creative director. He is the creative force behind the live performances of record-breaking British band Take That, including the critically acclaimed Circus shows in 2010 and the European Progress Tour with Robbie Williams in 2011.
London 2012 Games partners:
The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.
LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.
There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games-only Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Games-only Supplier, Otto Bock. The London 2012 Paralympic Games also acknowledges the support of the National Lottery.