"I started studying Arts/Law online at UNE in 2007, a few years after becoming a professional ballet dancer," Camille said. "At the time there were very few courses offered online that didn't involve a residential school and I was dancing with the Czech National Ballet in Prague. With UNE, I could study and do all of my exams overseas."
Camille majored in French and Italian, doing just one or two subjects at a time. Along the way she picked up a couple of International Relations and Law subjects, however settled on completing her Arts degree. "My primary focus was always my dancing, but dancers have a very short career and I knew the study would help equip me for another stage in my life, once I had retired," Camille said. "I needed flexibility in my learning and UNE was one of the few institutions that offered that.
"I would come home at night and study for a few hours after a long day of dance, and I took my books with me everywhere. In between rehearsals I'd often be lying on the floor studying. My lecturers were amazingly supportive and kind. They knew I was in an unusual situation, and were so obliging."
Even after returning to Australia with her Czech husband (also a dancer), having a baby and starting work as a ballet teacher, Camille was not quite finished her Arts degree. "It was pretty hard at times, but I am not one to give up on anything I have started," she said.
Graduating in 2017 was a huge personal achievement, but Camille's study was not over even then. "I'd completed a few accounting subjects as part of my degree, which reawakened my childhood interest in maths," she said. "Being awarded academic prizes sponsored by Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) Australia and the support of UNE staff was instrumental in paving the way for me to being accepted into the CPA Foundation Program, which I am now completing. I am currently the general manager for the ballet school where I teach and I also do the majority of their enrolments, accounts and invoicing, which is relevant to my accounting course."
It's been a long and winding journey to accounting, but Camille appreciates all she has learnt along the way. "Whether it's the languages, law or business subjects, they have all proven useful in some way," she said. "My study was a welcome contrast to the physicality of dance, which can be all-consuming; it provided me with another outlet. I feel really lucky to have had a wonderful dance career and to have obtained a degree."
