Kate Tupper, 21, of Lower Sackville, has been part of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo her entire life.
"I was here when my mother was pregnant with me, and every year since," she said with a laugh.
Tupper is singing with the Canadian Forces-RCMP Women's Choir and helping to coordinate performances.
Her mother, Patricia Tupper, is the choral director for the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, and has been taking part in the annual production for 30 years.
"I can't not do this," said Kate Tupper after the media preview performance of the show on June 27. "It's what I've grown up with. It's something Mom and I can do together."
The 2012 show, which is being performed daily this week at the Halifax Metro Centre, is themed around the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, a tribute the 100 anniversary of the Titanic sinking and Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.
“We’re incorporating all three of these themes into the show,” said Leah Whitehead, marketing manager of the Tattoo. “As a result, we’ll have incredible music, and we have hundreds of local extras dressed in historically accurate costumes that will just blow people away when they see them all on the floor at the same time.”
Featuring performers from seven countries, some of the show's highlights will include the Flying Grampas of the Hamburg Police -- the most requested group to return based on an audience survey -- a Swiss Army Central Band, and musical theatre performer Peter Karrie from London who is known as "the world's most popular phantom,” from Phantom of the Opera.
As always, the show involves many local performers, a well as international groups.
Fredericton's Kathleen Gorey-McSorley arrived in Halifax the day after her high school graduation.
A fiddle soloist, this is Gorey-McSorley's first time participating in the show.
"It's been really crazy," she said of the show rehearsals. "It's unlike anything I've ever done ... there are so many people involved. I've been watching the other acts and it's going to be a really good show."
Vocal soloist Brenna Conrad of Truro is once again participating in the Tattoo.
"I've been in the show on and off since I was 17," said the 28-year-old who now lives in Toronto. "There's a lot of work at the beginning, but it all comes together in the end. The rehearsal process is the work and the performance is the pleasure."
The Royal Nova Scotia InternationalTattoo opened July 1 and runs until July 8.
Tickets:
Tickets can be purchased at the Ticket Atlantic Box Office at (902)451-1221 or online at www.nstattoo.ca
Video: http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/Video/18694/Royal-Nova-Scotia-International-Tattoo
