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Did anyone else get an audition for the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony?

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I wonder if the 44-FOPPERS are bell ringers reading that?

If the thing weighs 27 tonnes, then it might need quite a few strapping fellows to shift it!

Reply 6341

Pinnerite

Original post by OneAndOnlyEmmaW

At least one person from 21st has. As i posted yesterday. I made friends with someone who was at both of my auditions, recall being 21st 5.30pm slot. He found out about 2 weeks ago that he is in olympic closing. :smile:

however i am still waiting :frown:

Yes of the 10 or so peope we have been following for some time none of those apart from tinydancer have heard but recently luckynumber2012 who had a recall on 21st February reported being in the closing ceremony in 72LJP.

Reply 6342

Pinnerite

Original post by AnotherDude

I wonder if the 44-FOPPERS are bell ringers reading that?

If the thing weighs 27 tonnes, then it might need quite a few strapping fellows to shift it!

You could well be right - ha ha! :bell:

No wonder you are all men in that group if that is so!!! Well they did say in my very first audition that they were looking for people with a certain look - hunky perhaps? Well it looks as if the Daniel Craigi/Buckingham Palace rumour was not an April Fool after all! :biggrin:

Reply 6343

qwerty5031

Original post by AlecSp

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they, given the whole remit for sustainability. The planning application says the spaces will be "First offered to participants with mobility requirements ... Then to participants who can demonstrate that they are car pooling" - of of which sounds entirely reasonable.

I'm coming down from Ware in Herts. 3 Mills was an easy drive, with easy parking. A bit torn about the 1:1 venue as the drive's rather a dog, but might be OK at weekends. That said, it'll be much cheaper to pay for the train down to Zone 6 (think it was only around £5 return) and then use Oyster - time will tell...

I suspect car sharing arrangements will start to happen when we meet our fellow performers and get to know each other :smile:

I'm expecting some strong friendships to develop over the spring/summer!

And there we are, bothered about travelling from the home counties, when there are others from all over the country!

Seems to be a high number of Shires - I am also Stevenage and wondering what to do in terms of transport...

Reply 6344

SAllen79

Original post by AnotherDude

I wonder if the 44-FOPPERS are bell ringers reading that?

If the thing weighs 27 tonnes, then it might need quite a few strapping fellows to shift it!

Great shout although I reckon we will only be pushing it on and off and someone high profile will ring it :wink:

Reply 6345

brownbear1

Hi got my recall on the 23rd Feb (Thursday at 2pm) heard nothing and have had to ask gamesmakers to give me a few more days grace to confirm my shifts. I dread the worst case scenario where games makers drop me and I don't get chosen for opening ceremony. Still I have been upfront with all parties so hopefully I will be given a chance to choose rather than be dropped. There may be no clashes and that's the frustration. So glad to hear some are trickling in. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese tell me today

Reply 6346

geejohn

Original post by Cello008

Ha that made me laugh a lot!! A slightly more friendly way of saying 'No' - would rather have been told a long time ago though that I am too perfect :wink:

Anyway a mighty Congrats to Adelie and everyone else!! Are there anymore November deserves or para's waiting other than galactica?!

I'm a November Reserve :s-smilie:

and feel a bit crushed right now as everyone is getting going and all excited..

Reply 6347

geejohn

But pleeease ignore my moaning! I am genuinely enthused for all those who are starting the journey for real! :colondollar:

Reply 6348

Martelldance

Original post by tinydancersmum

Hi. Not long got back :wink:

Bit of a trek for us so we left before you posted (DD went straight from school)we were there for 7pm, but did arrive a bit early. It was so relaxed, only seemed to be about 20 or so girls being fitted/measured in our hour slot.

It feels really real now.
Can't wait, and it's not even me doing it :biggrin:

We were there at the same time lol were u sitting in the corner left of the door?
Wow 11.30 u must live quite a way way :-(

I wasn't surprised to see freeds there but have to say I'm not keen on them and there gona be black :-(
Must admit after yesterday it does fell very real
Am looking forward to rehearsals starting

Reply 6349

Ropey1

Mandy - hope to see you here. There are hundreds of girls and no sign of being let in! I think I'm half way along!

Reply 6350

Bignic12

Original post by Ropey1

Mandy - hope to see you here. There are hundreds of girls and no sign of being let in! I think I'm half way along!

go for it!! enjoy the experience cannot wait for my turn!!

Reply 6351

tinydancersmum

Hi.Yes we were sitting on the left.
I'm dark haired and definitely not ballet shaped,although the security guard at the gate did ask if we were both being fitted- bless him HeHe!!
We were sitting with two of the other under 18's that we know and their mums.All the under 18's we met or knew at the audition have places. We weren't surprised either that it's Freeds, but glad to hear they're giving everyone rehearsal shoes. Very exciting - can't wait to see it on the night (hopefully chaperones will be parked somewhere we can see a TV) or later, as tiny dancers dad will be taping it at home.

See u in May :biggrin:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6352

Ropey1

[QUOTE="Bignic12;37197393"]go for it!! enjoy the experience cannot wait for my turn!![/QUOTE

Ahh thanks Bignic. Still outside but closing in on the doors now :-)

Reply 6353

Bignic12

[QUOTE="Ropey1;37197710"]

Original post by Bignic12

go for it!! enjoy the experience cannot wait for my turn!![/QUOTE

Ahh thanks Bignic. Still outside but closing in on the doors now :-)

How many of you are there, seems to take a long while checking in??

Reply 6354

cornishscot

My take on the Communictions aspect of this (which does, somewhat inevitably, contain certain hopefully constructive criticism about the casting team):

(1) I agree that the communications side could have been vastly improved and by doing things the way they have done has, in fact, (& IMHO for what that's worth!) increased their load rather than lessened it by having to also take telephone calls and reply to e-mails, whether generic replies (that they seem to have largely been so far) or otherwise.

(2) The best way of handling this would, as somebody on here said a few weeks back I think, would have been to issue each auditionee with a log-in for a secure site (i.e. your registered e-mail address with them and a unique passcode similar to what I, as a London Ambassador, have re. volunteering there during the Olympics). Once logged in you could check the status of your OWN application and no-one else's and thus not been able to "compare notes" about what was or wasn't happening strategically in relation to the ceremonies their end and thus "kept the secret" safe for now.

(3) They could have supplemented this by putting more regular updates on the Ceremonies part of the 2012 website (rather than send numerous e-mails weekly/monthly or whatever to everyone individually). It would then be up to you to check THAT website regularly to get the latest info. which, of course, we would then be free to discuss as much as we felt was "within the rules" confidentiality wise on this or any other public forum.

The type of updates they could have sent out could be as follows (in sequence):-

xx November 2011 - today we start our auditions for the Olympics Ceremonies from those who have applied to take part. The response we've had has been absolutely wonderful and all invitations have now gone out to those we want to see at the first round of those auditions. If successful, you MAY be invited to take part in a more role-specific audition at a future date, which you will be notified of very quickly after your first audition. If you have not received an invitation then this means that, unfortunately, we won't be able to take your application forward from here but nevertheless take this opportunity of thanking you for the interest shown in our work to date.

xx November 2011 - we have completed all our first round auditions for the Olympics Ceremonies and short-listed our 2nd round auditionees who should be hearing from us shortly. Please log on to your individual account to find out the details of the next time we want to see you.

xx November 2011 - 2nd round auditions are going well but we are somewhat concerned we may not reach our desired quota of certain categories of people so, if you know anybody who had not yet auditioned, then please ask them to apply, particularly "Men With Rhythm". We would also remind those that have auditioned so far that it would be really useful if you kept under wraps the exact content of the auditions to that the surprise is not spoiled for those still to experience it. Thank you.

xx December 2011 - 2nd round auditions (as dancers, actors or drummers in particular) have now been concluded and we were impressed with what we saw - so many talented people out there guys the final casting choice will be a difficult one for sure.

We have yet to audition our candidates as pointe ballerinas, cyclists, trapeze artistes plus any other skills we think we may be able to use in the Olympics Ceremonies next July so, once again, if you haven't yet applied to audition (or know someone who would like to be considered), then please do let them know that it's not too late to get in touch, via the ceremonies section of the London 2012 website. Clearly we do have to match all available roles to those best suited to undertake them but substantive experience or a certain look is not necessarily required. Go on, give it a go. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity after all.

xx December 2011 - All 2nd round auditions have, for the time being, been concluded but we have still not reached our full quota of volunteer performers in certain categories so will be opening the application process up again to new applicants immediately after the New Year so, once again, if you know anyone who's interested in being considered and can give the rehearsal commitment required (in some cases 20+ rehearsals, mainly at evenings and weekends, sometimes three or more times per week the closer we get to the actual Ceremonies dates) then please get them to apply no later than 31st January 2012 as we need some time to sift through these further applications then work out who we would still like to see ahead of our next tranche of auditions starting in mid. February 2012.

xx January 2012 - We are getting so excited here at Casting HQ and will shortly be notifying those who auditioned in November & December 2011 whether or not they have got through as volunteer performers to the Olympic Ceremonies so keep an eye on those inboxes folks for an OFFER from us, together with all further instructions relevant to your allocated segment (which will be sent as an attachment to the offer e-mail) won't you !

c. 13th January 2012 - Those of you who auditioned in either November/December 2012 for the Olympic Ceremonies can expect to hear from us either way soon as to whether or not we are able to offer you a role in the cast for the opening or closing ceremonies for London 2012. A few of you may be needed for both ceremonies. Unfortunately we have to make some of you RESERVES for the time being as we have been overwhelmed with really good applicants during the audition process so far and have certain quotas to fill. We are doing our best to get these responses/outcomes out to you as quickly as possible and most of you should have heard from us by the end of January 2012 unless we have a major glitch with our system to cause an unavoidable delay.

Please do not ring us seeking updates or raising queries at this stage. All offers made will give you appropriate contact details for a casting co-ordinator dealing with that segment (who you will get to know by name for continuity purposes when contacting us thereafter).

Everyone with FIRM OFFERS from us (indicated by a Segment number and other codes disclosed only to yourself and the Casting Team for administrative and confidentiality reasons) will then need to consider very carefully the commitment required (you can log-in to your personal schedule using your registered e-mail address with us and the log-in code which we will be sending you in our offer e-mail. Some of these rehearsals have not been confirmed as yet and some have been fixed as COMPULSORY REHEARSALS so please make sure you can make those in particular before sending us your acceptance. It is very important that we hear back from you with an acceptance by the stated response date on your offer as we imagine that it will take us quite some time to process all CRB required checks thereafter prior to rehearsals commencing ahead of the ceremonies themselves.

All offers made up and until the point where we receive the results of your CRB check back are conditional on that check being positive. Please kindly bear this in mind. You will be notified personally when we have your CRB check back and that its o.k. (so can consider your offer being a firm one).

Your offer, the response date and the CRB status will ALL be displayed on your personal section of this website (accessed by the log-in details we have already sent you - if you no longer have these then please e-mail casting@ for a reminder to be sent to you asap as you will need them later on to accept any offers made).

When you attended your second audition with us you should have already signed and returned a Volunteer Performers Agreement (VPA) so a further document of this type will not be required from you. We cannot stress enough the importance of keeping as much as possible about the audition & rehearsal process as confidential as possible from this point forwards. This expressly means that you should refrain from discussing the arrangements in any detail on open forums on the internet or with people you do not know publicly (who may in fact be the press in disguise) about your participation without our express permission to do so. We would hate to have to relegate someone to "reserve" status or indeed remove someone from the process completely for breaching this condition of their VPA !

c. 31st January 2012 - so we have made it through to the end of January 2012 and, by now, those of you who have already auditioned with us should have had an update (sent by e-mail to your registered address with us) stating our casting decisions so far in relation to your own application only. For those of you who have been placed on RESERVE we should be grateful if you could keep the dates advised in our latest e-mail free just in case you are required to fill a slot which subsequently becomes available. This could be many weeks down the line of course and not until rehearsals have actually commenced for your allocated section but we hope, having given you advance warning of at least the compulsory attendance dates required, you will be able to plan accordingly and still take part. You should also be aware that those who have received offers from us already can only miss two of the non-compulsory rehearsal dates allocated so there is a very good chance that you may be required as we did like your work and the only reason you have not already been selected for the cast is simply a numbers/quota game and nothing personal. We do, however, understand that you may not be able to hang on indefinitely for a promotion to Cast status in which case just contact us at whatever point you feel it is necessary should you wish to withdraw from the process completely. We would however appreciate it if you could stay on board if at all possible in the meantime.

c. 14th February 2012 - we have been busy once more here at Casting HQ with yet more auditions (there were just so many of you we felt we just had to see at least once) and those we wish to return for a more role specific 2nd round will hear from us by the beginning of March 2012 when that is likely to be. Thanks for your support in the meantime guys, really means a lot to us here at Casting !

c. 28th February 2012 - following a further round of auditions over the past 2 weeks we are just about in a position to make our final casting decisions as to who will be invited to perform in either the closing and/or opening ceremonies of London 2012. Concurrent with this we have also now opened up applications for those willing to be considered for the cast of the Paralympics Ceremonies (both opening and closing). Please kindly note that if you are already in our system but on RESERVE status for the main olympics ceremonies) there is no need for you to audition with us for a third time - your 2nd round audition was all recorded so we can refer back to that if necessary and you will then automatically be considered if our numbers in each category allow us to. We really only need to see those who are auditioning with us for the first ever time now and aim to notify those of our creative decisions asap thereafter so that we can concentrate on making the final arrangements for the rehearsals themselves such as fitting our pointe ballerinas for specialist pointe shoes etc.

If, however, you are no longer available to take part in any of the ceremonies then please do let us know asap so that we can take you off our list and generally get a better and more accurate picture of what we are still working with numbers wise. Thank you.

c. 10th March 2012 - We have (at last) concluded all our auditions for the main opening and closing ceremonies of London 2012 and continue to be impressed by your talen and enthusiasm for participation. This has, of course, not made our casting decisions particularly easy but no-one ever said this would be easy did they? By the end of March 2012 we also hope to have concluded our auditions for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympics and will then be in a position to make final casting decisions there also.

If, for any reason, you have auditioned with us during November/December 2011 or February/March 2012 but have not heard from us with the outcome by 31st March 2012, and that there is no additional information available when you log into your own personalised section of this website (using your registered e-mail with us and the log-in passcode we allocated you with previously) it is very important that you either call on (03xxxxx etc.) or e-mail us : casting@ to seek a precise update as to the current status of your application. This will cut down our administrative workload considerably and consequently will reduce the number of administrative errors arising and the time taken to correct them. We are, like you, only human ourselves after all !

In the meantime we would once more respectfully remind you that our previous restrictions concerning you speaking to third parties about either the audition process and/or your own involvement as a volunteer cast performer per your now signed PVA, does still apply right up when your obligation with us is over so please do bear this in mind to avoid any offers made to participate being withdrawn (which is something we really do not want to have to do having come thus far in the process with you all).

Thanks for your ongoing understanding on this point and general patience. We are trying to resolve all outstanding issues as quickly as possible (and we do have voicemail available 24/7 for messages) so please bear with us. We will respond eventually and as best as we can.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6355

Eve 58

Original post by Pinnerite

Eve I am so keeping my fingers crossed - you so deserve this and it will be so lovely to be able to celebrate with your son when you have heard- must be hard but as a mum I am sure you are delighted for him. I am sure he will be happier too when you have heard good news. There seem to be lots of segments missing so I am sure you will hear very soon - please let it be tomorrow and before your tap shows do you can give that extra special smile on stage! Thinking of you Eve.

Thank you Pinnerite - your kind comments are very much appreciated. :ta:

Reply 6356

geejohn

I think the missing segments will be for the professional performers?

Reply 6357

Eve 58

Original post by adelie27

Heeeeeyy !!!!!!!!!! :groovy:

Just came in and I've a cast offer for the paralympic opening ceremony :smile:

.
Group 97-Read : A key role in an inspiring movement section reflecting human accomplishment.

So they are still coming in, slowly but surely. Keep hanging on in there, all those of you who are still waiting. There aren't too many rehearsals (11) and they don't start till July, so I'm really hoping I can tie it in with still doing the props . I will be making some phone calls tomorrow !!

Whoops I'm so excited I forgot I was cooking some pasta and its all gone soggy !!

Wow, Wow, Wow!!!!!!! That's fantastic news. You must be literally 'over the moon'. So pleased for you. :h:

Reply 6358

Mum of Students

Original post by adelie27

Heeeeeyy !!!!!!!!!! :groovy:

Just came in and I've a cast offer for the paralympic opening ceremony :smile:

That's fantastic news Adelie! I've just got home and I'm starting to wade through posts - so great that I've picked up your good news first - brilliant!

Reply 6359

Dancerwoman

Original post by cornishscot

My take on the Communictions aspect of this (which, admittedly, does contain constructive criticism or at least that is my intention of the casting team:

(1) I agree that the communications side could have been vastly improved and by doing things the way they have done has, in fact, (& IMHO for what that's worth!) increased their load rather than lessened it by having to also take telephone calls and reply to e-mails, generic replies that they seem to have been or otherwise.

(2) The best way of handling this would, as somebody on here said a few weeks back I think, would have been to issue each auditionee with a log-in for a secure site (i.e. your registered e-mail address with them and a unique passcode similar to what I, as a London Ambassador, have re. volunteering there during the Olympics). Once logged in you could check the status of your OWN application and no-one else's and thus not been able to "compare notes" about what was or wasn't happening strategically in relation to the ceremonies their end and thus "kept the secret" safe for now.

(3) They could have supplemented this by putting more regular updates on the Ceremonies part of the 2012 website (rather than send numerous e-mails weekly/monthly or whatever to everyone individually). It would then be up to you to check THAT website regularly to get the latest info. which, of course, we would then be free to discuss as much as we felt was "within the rules" confidentiality wise on this or any other public forum.

I'm in total agreement Cornishscot with what you say. It would have made life easier for them (I think) to have had a certain section of their website titled : "Ceremonies Volunteer Performers" where in order to access it, you would need to enter your email address (and maybe the date of your last audition?).

Within that part of the website could be a Forum (similar to this one) where all volunteers could discuss subjects similar to this Forum.

Those with Cast Offers would click on another screen situated in the "Ceremonies Volunteer Performers" section (and as mentioned in your comment above) where they would be required to enter their Unique User ID Code (which would have been issued within the Cast Offer email) for access to information regarding rehearsals relating to the relevant section.

The "Ceremonies Volunteer Performers" section of the website could include details of rehearsals (venues) and general updates in relation to all things Olympic-related.

By having the above, it would:-

1. as you quite rightly say, reduce the number of phone calls received by the Casting Team

2. reduce individuals having to put their lives "on hold" not knowing whether or not to book their Summer holidays;

3. the constant checking of emails for Cast Offers / Cast Updates / progress report would not be necessary; and

4. remove any feelings of sadness hearing offers from other volunteers on or around the same date of audition as the "waiting to hear / reserves".

When the audition process first started, I don't know about many of you but I remember I received 3 emails (plus a one week to go email), as well as a couple of text messages "reminding me" about my first audition. OK, at the time I thought the reminders were overly keen but I'd much rather receiving regular updates (especially having attended the auditions) than not having much / or any information at all.