Melanie’s drama saga
As with all the other guys and gal’s in the class I also had quite a colourful background in drama, although my saga didn’t start where I have ended up….
To start the story off, at age 3 my mum decided that it was time to enrol me into classical ballet classes as I kept on telling strangers in shopping centres and the like that I was a ballet dancer.
I studied classical ballet from the age of 3 to 10 for ‘Australian Teachers of Dance’, gaining fairly good exam marks. I also competed in numerous competitions, and the yearly concert where all the ‘babies’ groups get to have the dance teacher on the side of the stage showing them what to do and trying to keep out of view from the audience and failing miserably.
However my enthusiasm when down the drain when I forgot a few dance steps in an exam and the examiner failed me on the spot. So I decided to diverge my path and join girl guides. That was one of the most boring times that I had had in a club situation and missing dance terribly, I decided that I was going to go back to dancing, but with a different direction - tap and jazz dance instead. I excelled in these classes, completing my exams gaining High Distinctions. I also won a few competitions and choreography awards in jazz.
I was in the middle of completing my 6th year in jazz and tap and about to take a leap into auditioning for some semi professional and professional dance companies, when I had an accident. I happened to be baby-sitting my cousins and whilst playing, I slipped and fell onto my right knee, damaging the tendons and sliding the kneecap out of place. My physio told me that if I didn’t stop dancing that I would end up using a walking stick by the age of 30. That ended my dance career in one final swoop. I sooked for the rest of the year, got really really bored and then decided that I had fun in year 10 when I did drama, so I thought that I would take a step and complete VCE drama. I gained quite good marks for the class and when on to TAFE to get my Advanced Diploma in Business (Public Relations)….. hmmmm, quite a deviation and not at all related to drama, I hear you saying…..
Whilst completing that course I got restless again…. the power of the stage as screaming my name and it wouldn’t let up. So I decided to join an amateur theatre company. I was in a few plays, being the token ‘maid’ role and not really gaining much, but having great fun. One rehearsal night I, apparently (because I thought I was doing everything the director told me to), did everything wrong and the director proceeded to yell at me for 20 minutes telling me that I was hopeless and that I would never get anywhere with acting and that I should just give up now.
I decided that I would try once more for another part and see how I went. If I didn’t get a part, I thought that maybe I would just give up, but if I gained a part in a company where no one had met me before, then maybe I did have something to offer and would keep on trying. So I went to another theatre company that I hadn’t worked with before and gained the lead role in the play.
This was the turning point in my acting career. I had the most wonderful director whom was the most supportive woman that I had ever met. She engaged you in every word and treated you like you were the best person that you could achieve to be. Maureen became my mentor and I treasured every moment with her
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At this time, I was working as an Assistant Marketing Co-ordinatior at a slipper company thought I would be happy finally working in the field that I had studied for, however, I was completely miserable. So after numerous deliberations and heart wrenching decisions, I decided that I was going to work on what had become a passion, whilst incorporating it into another idea that I had always been toying with, teaching.
So here I am….. I guess I have made the right choice, because I have never been as happy as I am now and gaining a nomination in the state amateur acting awards for Best Actress in a comedy for ‘A Midsummers Night’s Dream’ playing the role of Hermia has made me even happier!!
I have Maureen to thank for my rekindled passion for drama and to pass on that same enthusiasm and teaching ability that she had for life and the theatre. She passed away recently so I will always miss her and hope that I can become as fantastic a person that she was.