I commenced my Master of Fine Arts (Dance) at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, in 2019. At the same time, it would be the final year of running my business, Mill Street Studios.
The MFA is a two-year program of full-time study; however, due to COVID-19 in 2020, my MFA program took three years. This was due to several factors, including the need to form new creative collaborations resulting from border closures in Australia. Postgraduate study, despite numerous challenges, proved to be remarkably rewarding and enjoyable. Researching through my creative practice was, in many ways, invigorating.
My MFA investigated experimental methods for dance filmmaking, placing cinematic elements —such as location, cinematography, and editing —at the centre of the creative process as a means to shift and subvert expectations in dance film.
At the conclusion of 2021, I submitted my folio of work, which included four dance films and a 20,000-word thesis.
I was thrilled to graduate the following year with first-class honours.
The graduation ceremony included traditional photos taken in the graduation regalia. The photographer asked if there were any other photos I wanted?
The graduation was a lovely way to close a chapter that spanned from 2019 to 2021. I’m also quite proud of the dance films that were a part of my studies and that have been screened in over 90 film festivals, winning several significant awards.
My thesis is here: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/317067
