![David Foster, Rock Voisine and Susan Winterhalder](images/rockwinterdale.gif)
125th ANIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
Got taste of show business
on Canadian musical tour
by Annette Bourgeois
Susan Winterhalder of Souris got to see more of
her country this summer than most will see this lifetime and she did it
in a very unique way.
She was a cast member of the Experience Canada musical
tour that travelled across the country performing "Spirit of a Nation",
a, part of Canada's 125th anniversary celebrations.
Ms. Winterhalder, a third year business student at UPEI,
was one of 125 Canadians chosen
to perform in the musical, which tells the story of a refugee's impressions
as she explores Canada.
I think the show sends the message that even though
we live in the greatest country in the world, it isn't perfect and together
we must work constantly to improve it," she said. Ms Winterhalder,
who was among thousands to audition across Canada, wasn't too sure she’d
be picked. Her audition was on the spur of the moment and she'd had only
one hour’s notice to prepare. "I just improvised," remembers
the energetic 20-year-old. "I guess they picked me because I had
the guts and the gumption to show up so
unprepared."
she recalled that at one point during her audition her left sock fell
off while she was doing the Highland Fling. She also tapped, stepped and
sang her way through the judging. “I was so excited when I found
out I got it," she said "I had so much I had to get done."the
honor of being chosen, however, didn’t come without a lost. Each
of the participants had to put in $1,000 of his or her own money, as the
Experience Canada group could only raise $11,000 of the $12,000 needed
to cover each person’s expenses.
On April 17, Ms Winterhalder flew to Vancouver where she spent 21 exhausting
days rehearsing.
She would spend the next 125 days touring the country, only coming back
to the Island once in late June for a performance and she was off again.The
troupe was divided in three groups which for the most part traveled separately,
joining up only for the major shows. Ms Winterhalder’s said she
was everywhere in Canada from riding horseback on the outskirts of Whitehorse
to the Columbia Icefields in Alberta to 7500 feet up on that province’s
Whistler Mountain to doing a half-time show at a Calgary Stampeder’s
football game. “I hope the show spread a good spirit throughout
Canada”, she said. “We should be doing more
praising and less knocking down. I'm really proud to be Canadian."
Of all her travels, though, Ms Winterhalder said the highlight of the
summer was Canada Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
“It was amazing. The rush started two days before the show when
we were rehearsing with all the stars”.
Ms Winterhalder met many of the stars she performed with, including Jeff
Healey, Carol Bakker, Kurt Browning, Ann Murray and Rita MacNeil.
The Experience Canada group also debuted the song “I’ll Always
Be There”, written by David Foster and sung by Roch Voisine. It
has yet to be released across Canada, but Ms Winterhalder is anxiously
listening to the radio waiting to hear it. She said she loved being in
front of the crowds, but she’s glad to be home.
“It was very exhausting. We slept in hostels and university residences,
even a cafeteria and the Ottawa Jail Hostel. We had no privacy and you
wished you were home a lot, but that was all part of it. It certainly
was worth it in the end.” A special documentary of the Experience
Canada tour is supposed to be aired
on CBC sometime in October. Ms Winterhalder said the experience was one
to remember, but she doesn’t think show business is in her future.
“It’s an escape, a neat hobby”, she said. She said she’ll
probably stay a little involved in dancing, which she teaches in Souris,
but she’ll be concentrationg on finishing her business degree at
UPEI,
Susan Winterhalder said spending the summer touring Canada has given her
a deeper appreciation for her country and the Island, which uwas the favorite
province for all 125 participants in the Experience Canada group.
The Eastern Graphic
Montagne, P.E.I., September 9, 1992
Photo by Annette Bourgeois
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