I had the pleasure of performing in the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremonies. The content for the Opening Ceremonies had to be kept secret until the moment we stepped out on stage. This is why I have not been able to share our preparations with you.

To start from the beginning, back in October the company make a final decision to participate in the Opening Ceremonies in addition to the Cultural Olympiad (in which we would be performing Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle and The Drum). Jean Grand-Maître (our Artistic Director) would be choreographing for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We created the majority of the material at home in Alberta but as usual much of the work changed before the final product was achieved.

Along with the thirty dancers from Alberta Ballet, dancers from the city of Vancouver, across the country and members of Ballet BC joined us in this event. In total we would be 60 dancers all together. I knew a few Ballet BC dancers from my time at Banff Centre's Festival of Dance and this project was a great chance for me to see some new faces and catch up with old friends.

The content of our eight minute section of the ceremonies was inspired by the way Canadians experience Vancouver Island's MacMillan Provincial Park. The world would join us on a spiritual journey, as the beauty of the rain forest consumed us.

After many dress rehearsals, four plus an extra the run through to be exact, it was time to perform for the world. MAC Cosmetic Artists from around the world flew in just to do our makeup.  But this time while our makeup was being done, the athletes of the world were preparing to make there entrance into the stadium. We ran out of the dressing room as soon as we heard athletes were passing. There was cheering for each country that passed by. Many of the athletes filmed us as we took pictures of them. This alone was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I have the feeling the opportunity to perform on the world stage will only happen once in my career. The emotions, nerves and our relationship with the audience would all be experienced in a new way.  In a theatre, what you share with your audience is intimate and it takes courage to use that venerability to take the audience with you.  In a stadium, the audience is all around you and for the most part a far distance from where you are performing. While the screaming audience has an overwhelmingly warm impact, due to the expansive stadium floor, I felt disconnected with the audience. While I was dancing, the fact that billions of people were watching was not apparent to me. It was almost comforting to have that distance from the audience. It was as if there was less pressure and I really experienced what it was like to dance for myself. I have to say hearing the thousands of people in the audience screaming for what I had done could not have felt any better. Then to realize this was all part of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games was even greater.

In the days building up to the Olympics the city was buzzing in anticipation and the excitement in the street as we were walking back to the hotel could only confirm the incredible experience we had.  Crowds of people roamed the streets with excitement. Whether it was in a bar, a hotel lobby or on a giant out door screen, they were all watching the Opening Ceremonies. The world was watched my performance.