It’s no secret that Unity has plenty of talent as seen at annual talent shows, dance recitals and music festivals.
Each year Telemiracle holds open auditions for Saskatchewan talent and Unity performers have made that list on more than one occasion, including Kailee Baum, Crystal Gilbert and the Lonely J band.
One performer has captured the attention of those selecting talent from these auditions, and will be back for her second performance at a Telemiracle live show, performing a tap number.
Unity teenager Presli O’Donnell will be performing at Telemiracle 40 on the evening of March 5. Presli is set to perform around 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, however, we know from the past during live TV this could put her a little earlier or later than 8 p.m. so stay tuned. The dance number Presli is performing is a Michael Jackson tap solo that she won numerous awards last competition season, including top mark out of more than 700 entries in the entire competition at North Battleford and top solo mark in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. Choreography for this solo was done by Daylan Sabin.
The Telemiracle performance will be part of an already busy year for O’Donnell who attended NUVO dance competition and convention in Calgary this fall and received a scholarship to Long Beach, California for Dancerpalooza this upcoming summer. Recently she had the amazing opportunity to train with one of the stars of the touring Dirty Dancing musical. Kevin Mylrea from Los Angeles, California, who had adjudicated Presli in Saskatoon a couple of years ago, got in touch with her and offered private lessons while he was in the Saskatoon area. He also took her backstage after the show for a tour. The experience was amazing and he gave Presli some wonderful tips during their lesson time.
Presli will be doing her advanced tap exam next month as well as performing at a local fundraiser in North Battleford, in addition to being chosen to perform her tap solo for Telemiracle 40 on the evening of Mar 5. This in addition to regular classes and solo-duo practices makes for a very busy time of year!
On Mar 19, Presli will perform her numerous solos and duets at a showcase at the Dekker Centre in North Battleford. From then on she is busy with competitions in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., North Battleford, Lloydminster and Saskatoon. Her dance season wraps up with the Dance Connection's year end recital of groups May 26 and 27. As Presli would say, "We train hard for 10 months behind closed doors, then finally get to show all that we have been working on in a couple super fun, but crazy hectic months!"
Presli will be taking the Telemiracle fundraising dollars collected at the schools in Unity and presenting then before her live performance on the show.
A number of Unity residents have reasons to be thankful for Telemiracle, incuding funding for the handivan used by long term care and Parkview Place. Rhett Wallace was a recipient of funding for a Dynavox communication device in 2011 which enabled Rhett to have “a voice” to direct his care and advocate for himself when he transitioned to Chesire Homes in Saskatoon. The Wagner family was assisted when young son Zayden had some medical complications in his early life. Resident Val Middleton talks of her daughter’s stay in NICU in 1985 and of watching Telemiracle where she saw an onstage acceptance of an incubator for the neonatal unit, realizing she had been part of the group that would benefit from this state of the art medical equipment. The MS Centre at City Hospital has also been a bonus to a number of patients in our area who have been able to use this centre.
As Telemiracle has become part of our province’s culture, we can reflect on this 40th anniversary of many memories we have including iconic phrases that have all grown on us, “Where are we going? Higher!” and the “Ring those phones!” chant. Back in the early days, national cast member Arte Johnson created a new term of “WOB” asking farmers to donate wheat, oats and barley if their cash was all tied up.
Remember, if you haven’t contributed to a Telemiracle fundraiser to date, you can call in your pledges during the live broadcast starting at 8 p.m. Saturday night. And you can bet Unity will be watching for Presli O’Donnell as, not only will she be showcased as part of the Saskatchewan talent portion of the telethon, she will be bringing along donations collected from the community.
