Olympic organisers have today begun searching for 10,000 volunteer performers for the 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

Oscar winning Film director Danny Boyle, who is in charge of the opening ceremony, and choreographer Kim Gavin, who is directing the closing ceremony, are looking for performers to fill roles as dancers, actors and percussionists, as well as general all-round performers.

Mile End resident Boyle, best known for film hits such as Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, along with Gavin, who worked with boy band Take That on their Circus tour, were announced as artistic directors of the Olympic ceremonies earlier this summer.

Successful applications will perform in front of a packed Olympic Stadium and a worldwide broadcast audience of more than one billion people— making it one of the largest events ever staged in the UK.

LOCOG Director of Ceremonies, Bill Morris, said: “To deliver ceremonies of this scale a significant amount of time commitment is required from the volunteer performers. Performers will be required to attend up to two or three rehearsals each week in London from March next year so applicants should consider this.

“Previous performance experience is not required, applicants simply need lots of enthusiasm, personality, a positive attitude, huge amounts of energy and a willingness to perform in front of a stadium audience and to millions of people around the world.”

Applicants must be able to participate in up to two auditions during evenings and weekends in November and early December, up to three rehearsal sessions each week for up to four hours per session from March next year, and a number of all day rehearsals in the three weeks leading up to each Ceremony. All of the rehearsals will take place in East London.