Amelia goes to Edinburgh!

Our Performing Arts Captain, Alivia Dennis, has interviewed Amelia Vance on her career at Heathmont College and her amazing experiences in the performing arts. Enjoy!  

How long have you worked at Heathmont? 

I started working at Heathmont in 2019, which makes 2024 my sixth year here… wow. It’s gone so fast! I love the Heathmont College community, so I guess time flies when you’re having fun.  

What is your role at the school?  

I am a social worker. I completed my Honours degree while I was working at Heathmont College. I am very proud to work as part of the Education Support team at Heathmont – which is essentially anyone who is not a teacher. There are lots of us, with lots of different backgrounds and skills. The main part of my role is helping to coordinate the Disability/Diversity Inclusion team, working with students who have diverse learning needs and their families. I also work in the Wellbeing team. I truly love my job. 

What is the most rewarding part of your job?  

Watching people be brave. I’ve had the privilege of watching so many young people challenge their own expectations of themselves, manage their anxieties and fears, grow, reflect, and push themselves out of their comfort zones without worrying too much about the outcome. It takes a lot of courage, vulnerability, and wisdom to do hard things… and our students have this in spades. 

What hobbies/interests do you have outside work? 

I love the performing arts. I’m an actor and have been acting since I was a kid. I’ve worked in film and theatre, but my obsession at the moment is improv comedy – which is making things up on the spot. I’ve performed with Impromptunes at Melbourne Comedy Festival for the last two years, as well as at other Fringes across Australia. We also have a weekly podcast. What we do is: we get a title from the audience of a musical that has never existed before (and will never exist again) and we make it up on the spot. The singing, the dancing, the acting the music: everything!  It is exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Making people laugh with this very silly artform is one of the best feelings in the world. 

We hear that you will be taking some time off next term, what will you get up to? 

I am very lucky to be taking Term 3 to head over Europe with Impromptunes and perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. To have the opportunity to perform at the biggest and most prestigious performing arts festival in the world is a dream come true. We will be performing for the entire month of August. It is a massive undertaking! Before we head over, we have one last fundraising show at the Alex Theatre in St. Kilda on the 5th of July. We also have a GoFundMe to help us get there:

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/impromptunes-is-going-to-edinburgh-fringe. 

It my first time in Europe, so I’ll also be travelling to London, Greece, Italy, and Istanbul. To say I’m excited is a complete understatement! 

Any advice to any of our budding performing arts students?

‘To thine own self be true’. It’s cliché, but it is so true! The most successful artists are those who know who they are and own it. Don’t try to be like anyone else because what you have is special, awesome, and enough.  Find out what inspires you, what excites you, and what you find fun, and follow that. Forge your own path and let your freak flag fly.