Meet the School of Communication and Creative Arts

What do you teach at Deakin? 

Olivia: My discipline area is Dance. I teach in the Bachelor of Creative Arts in Dance and also in the Master of Creative Arts across the Creative Arts disciplines.

How would you describe your creative practice?

Olivia: I began my career in dance working as a dancer in contemporary companies in Australia and overseas and started creating dance works soon after that. I created works for small groups and companies that had an emphasis on detailed non-narrative physicality. In recent years my creative practice has focussed on dance improvisation in performance although I still have an interest the creation of set movement material using various means. I enjoy working alongside other dancers so I tend to make group works, initiate group practices and collaborate with other dance artists. I have a group improvisation practice that has been running once a week for ten years, the current stay-at-home situation is the first real interruption we’ve had. I am also interested in the activation of non-traditional performance sites and with my colleagues in the group, About Now, have created works in/for various places including the streets of Melbourne, the Dandenong Ranges and the Werribee Treatment Plant.

Who has been your biggest influence on your career to date?

Olivia: In my dance making and performance career my biggest influence is probably Australian dance maker and performer Rosalind Crisp. Crisp is a highly successful artist, receiving a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres (Dame of the Arts) from France in 2015. I have worked in the studio with Crisp over many years which has been educational and a great pleasure. As an academic, my greatest influence has been my colleagues in dance, other creative arts disciplines and in areas in other parts of the university. I very much value collaborating with my colleagues both in teaching and in research.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in life?

Olivia: I think my achievements have been much like dance training: incremental. Each new step I have taken seems to have built on the previous one but each achievement has taken time and sustained effort. As a young adult I did not imagine that I would work in a university but I am very happy that my career has led me to where I am now.

What has been your favourite Deakin experience?

Olivia: I feel privileged to be part of the learning experience of the Deakin students. Witnessing and supporting the development of students over the period of their degrees is immensely satisfying. As a teacher of dance, I love working in the studio with the students, working with them as they develop their dance skills and working with them as they become dance artists. I also very much enjoy supervising Honours and post graduate students.

How would you describe the Deakin learning experience for students?

Olivia: As well as learning relevant artistic and academic skills, Deakin creative arts students are encouraged to develop their own creative ‘voice’ and follow their individual interests. The cohorts are small which enables a great sense of community and there are plenty of opportunities to work collaboratively both within disciplines and with students from the other creative arts areas.

What is your best advice for someone looking to enter a creative career?

Olivia: Do it!
I think the main barrier to undertaking a career in the creative arts is a concern about employability. My advice would be to suspend that concern because the skills you develop through studying creative arts, such as creative and critical thinking, resourcefulness, collaboration, and communication via multiple modes are the kinds of skills that are transferable across many employment contexts. Creative artists can work in multiple areas and jobs, often concurrently so they can put their artistic skills to use in a satisfying variety of ways.

What is it like teaching and studying your discipline online?

Olivia: Teaching dance online has not been without its challenges, the biggest one being having to dance at home instead of in the amazing studios at Deakin. However, I have been surprised at how the at home situation has given rise to some terrific work by students who have risen to the occasion to create their work online, in video form and in collaboration with other students.

Dr Olivia Millard teaches in the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance) and also in the Master of Creative Arts across the Creative Arts disciplines.