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

Celebrating Canada’s 125th anniversary,
the Canadian Heritage Arts Society produces the Experience Canada troupe.

Comprising 125 of Canada’s most talented young people, winners of a national talent search, Experience Canada performs a musical entitled Spirit of a nation. Until August 30, this rich and dynamic musical is featured in summer festivals and Canada 125 celebrations all over the country.

In addition to this event, the troop meets informally with Canadians, offering workshops,
performances and symposiums to service clubs, seniors’ facilities and schools.
Approximately 50 Canadian cities and towns host the Experience Canada Spirit of a nation tour.
Created, co-produced and directed by the Canadian husband and wife team, Jacques Lemay and Janis Dunning, Spirit of a nation compels audiences to take pride in a common heritage of hard work and shared rewards, and inspires crowds with a positive vision of the future.
Lemay’s choregraphy is wild, strong and free-spirited. He combines the passion and exuberance of youth with authentic ethnic performances to bring out the warmth and color of Canada’s unique culture.

Members of the Experience Canada troupe come from every province and territory in Canada and represent the many cultural and ethnic diversities that make this country special.
Each person was chosen by Lemay and Dunning during a national talent search conducted in February 1992...

Quebec Chronicle-telegraph
Quebec, P.Q
July 22, 1992