Author Archives: Sarah-Ashely Striga, The Young Canadians

Young Canadians shine at Disneyland Resort

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tyc2We recently returned from a 6 day tour to Disneyland Resort, in Southern California.   The Young Canadians had daily involvement in workshops and training with the professionals with Disney Performing Arts. The pros pushed everyone to new heights in our development as singers, dancers and performers. 

Working with industry leaders in acting, puppetry, dance, vocal, musical theatre, auditions and careers, we moved to a new level of appreciation for the arts, and used that in our performances as well.   With our presentation of ‘Maple Leaf Forever’, we have a completely live production on stage with all of the energy, excitement and production values of the Calgary Stampede to the Disneyland Resort. 

View from the control boothRebecca Petrowich of Disney said that “your students are not just outstanding performers but incredible leaders as well. Their spirit and passion for the arts was felt by all of us.”

Being adopted as cast members at Disney, The Young Canadians represented the Calgary Stampede, the City of Calgary and our great country of Canada with pride. We are celebrating our 45th year in 2013 and the caliber of students training and performing with the group is excellent.’ 

In a tip of the hat to the program, Thomas Schulteis, Disney Performing Arts stated ‘know that you all inspired many of us here at the Disneyland Resort.’

 

 

TYC in NYC! Our training is top notch!

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This year as a Young Canadian sure started out with a bang for everyone, but especially for me! I had the opportunity to travel to New York City and begin to pursue my dream career; singing and dancing on broadway! I wish I could put into words how phenomenal this experience was, and how amazing the big apple really is. I auditioned for a production based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s compositions and lets just say it was intimidating to say the least. Walking into a room full of 18-27 year old performers that looked exactly like me and sang exactly like me was a shock, especially as a 17 year old singer from Calgary Alberta! However once I started the audition process I realized I was not only prepared to be in this industry, I was comfortable and confident with the routine and difficulty of the dance piece. I was slightly nervous when it came to the performance of my audition, but found that all of my training with The Young Canadians went a long way in helping me to not only fit in with the calibre of the dancers trained in New York elite dance schools, but it also gave me an edge as we focus on not only technique but performance. I have to say from the bottom of my heart, I don’t think my dreams would be nearly as close as they are now if it hadn’t been for The Young Canadians and all of the progress I have made within them. Stay tuned everybody, more to come regarding my journey toward my dreams!

T-minus 14 Days!!

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What a wild few weeks it’s been preparing for the “Century” 2012 Centennial Grandstand show! We have all been so busy with the fly acts moving to the stage, new choreography being learned and cleaning the show that is for sure going to be an unforgettable and certainly unimaginable event. Not only have we been doing a lot of work on the shows choreography and vocal tracks, we have also been very busy with some video shoots to play on the big screens behind us as we perform! I was lucky enough to be a part of this incredible experience. Working in front of a green screen was by far one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, not to mention our amazing video crew was so nice and accommodating on the set. Excited yet? I know I am! Come see the 2012 grandstand show “Century” to find out what cool image will be broadcast behind me!

Breakfast Television!

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It’s so easy to talk about something you love. It was amazing to be presented the opportunity to talk about my passion on Breakfast Television live. This is something I will remember for a long time. It was comforting to do this with my former partner Ryan Wallace, as he is truly one of my closest friends and we never run out of things to talk about; especially when being asked to speak about the cast and our experiences in the company. Getting up so early however, was not so easy. Everyone arrived at Stew Hendry arena where we rehearse at 7 AM, then got straight to stretching our bodies and warming up our voices. We then got to sing, a stampede favorite “Stampede Nation”. I have a feature in this number along with three other incredibly talented Senior Female Singers. I thought I would be nervous to sing on live television for the first time but I was filled with excitement at this amazing opportunity, and was so glad to be sharing it with all my friends.