Alberta’s bringing the talent to the stage on this season of America’s Got Talent. The Acro Crew from Supernova Acro Studio in Edmonton is competing in the reality competition show. Singers, dancers, magicians, musicians and more have competed throughout the show’s history to win fame and fortune. This year, contestants will be working to impress Simon Cowell, Sofía Vergara, Howie Mandel, and Mel B. One of the acts in Tuesday’s Season 21 premier is from Edmonton, an acro group. Acro combines elements of gymnastics and dance. “We do a lot of things that you would see in gymnastics, but we train it for the floor instead of a sprung floor,” said Jill Ford, coach at Supernova Acro Studio. “It’s a lot of strength-based training, flexibility, correct alignment, all those things are really important so they’re safe on the floor.” “It takes a lot of practice, obviously, to be able to do all the tricks and flips and everything, but it’s the hard work that makes it really fun,” added Camryn Ly, from the Acro Crew. Ford was approached by a “surprise” person, the surprise being part of the act she can’t disclose, and collaborated with them, submitted an audition tape and the group got called to L.A. for the show. “They said, ‘Yes, we want to see this act, we want to see you,’ so we flew down in March and went in front of the judges in the theater on the biggest stage that we have ever been on and ever will be on,” she added. The group has performers ranging from ages seven to 21 and was newly-formed for the opportunity. “We’ve never danced together as a group before, so it was obviously kind of nerve-wracking to get a whole group together on America’s Got Talent for the first time, but it went great," Ly said. “It was really crazy to see all the celebrities, the judges, and it was just a really cool experience,” added Acro Crew member Ally Carter. “It was kind of like a fever dream.” Ford said she was “beyond proud” of how well the group did. “They’re used to doing these small dance competitions in Edmonton or Calgary and this was a big deal, but they handled the pressure like absolute pros,” she added. The first episode of Season 21 of America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. MDT on CityTV. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
