The 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony will be led by Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle (pictured), while theatre and TV choreographer Kim Gavin will mastermind the Closing Ceremonies.

The duo require 10,000 volunteer performers to fill roles as dancers, actors, percussionists and general all-round performers.

Successful applications will perform in front of a packed 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadiums as well as a worldwide broadcast audience of more than one billion people.

Applicants must be able to participate in up to two auditions that will take place on evenings and weekends in November and early December this year.

If they are successful, performers will then be required to attend up to two or three rehearsal sessions each week of up to four hours per session from March next year as well as a number of all-day rehearsals in the three weeks leading up to each ceremony with all of these rehearsals taking place in East London.

Bill Morris, the London 2012 Director of Ceremonies, Education and Live Sites, 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 2012 so applicants should consider this.

"Previous performance experience is not required for people to apply; 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."

People can find more information and register their interest for this opportunity by completing the online application form here.

The deadline for receipt of applications is Wednesday, August 31 but places are not awarded on a first come, first served, basis.

To be eligible, applicants must be aged 18 years old or older on March 1, 2012 and only one application per person will be accepted.

London 2012 has warned that if it receives more than 15,000 applications, a computerised draw will be used to randomly create the shortlist for auditions.

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