Chasing her dreams and being resilient has helped Oceane Le Bouder (Class of 2016) navigate her life after high school and enjoy a career as a dancer, and now yoga and Pilates instructor. Despite the challenges faced by the creative arts industry, Oceane is excited to continue pursuing her work.
Oceane’s experience at Caulfield helped shape who she is today. While she loved the memories she shared with her classmates, it was the experience and opportunity to meet new people that she relished.
“During post high school life, you grow and become a new person so it’s ok to put yourself first and see who you attract into your life in the next chapter.”
Dance as a Career
Initially Oceane started out viewing dance as more of a hobby and a way to keep fit but soon after graduating from Caulfield, dance became much more. Oceane was accepted into Patrick Studios Australia where she spent two years working and learning from 8:00am-5:00pm each day, followed by work at a French Creperie from 6:00pm-10:00pm most nights and 8:00am-8:00pm on weekends, all on top of living out of home. This provided her with the chance to meet a variety of people from all different walks of life. It was also a time of significant growth for Oceane and she used the challenge of a full schedule to prioritise, putting herself first and focusing on friends who were healthy for her.
Upon the graduating from Peter Studios Australia Oceane began full time work as a dancer on Royal Caribbean Cruises. She spent two years “waking up in a new country every day, sleeping, eating, and living on a cruise ship and performing fun shows every night” all the while meeting people from across the globe.
Pilates and Yoga Instructor
Given the challenges faced during COVID, Oceane has had to make significant changes to her lifestyle and found that resilience and adaptability were both vital in coping. She completed her certificates three and four in fitness as well as completing yoga and Pilates courses. All of this enabled her to relocate to Brisbane and become a Pilates and yoga instructor.
Oceane devotes a lot of her time to her work; her days consist of early morning classes, followed by coordinating the financial side of her work and planning for the week’s classes. Finding the balance between working and relaxing is so important to her so enjoying time with friends rounds out her week, ensuring she has a healthy balance in life.
Future Travel
Oceane hopes to one day return to performing on stage and has the ambition to book cabaret shows in Europe once she’s able to travel again. She’d love to perform in France and Germany and equally importantly she’d love to travel the globe. She sees herself traveling through North and South America and eventually living in Bali to continue on the wellness journey she now finds herself on. Oceane is excited to see where life takes her and to continue growing from her experiences both in Australia and overseas.
“I’d love to grow even more on stage and just consistently be better, I’ve never been the best dancer in the room and I’ve learned to love that because I always grow the most and have all these amazing people to look up to and be inspired by.”
Oceane knows that, in continuing her journey, wherever it may take her, surrounding herself with strong support networks will be important. With so much uncertainty in the performing arts, having a healthy support network of family and friends, as well as resilience and open-mindedness, are all essential elements, guiding her to where she wants to be.
When offering a final piece of advice to current and future alumni, Oceane urged alumni to “chase your dream and don’t stop till you get it, I’m living proof that you can get your dream career with hard work and dedication”.
Watch the video interview with Oceane Le Bouder and fellow Grammarian and dancer, Lauren Jaksetic, now.
This profile was written by a team of young Grammarians as part of our inaugural Young Alumni Tell Their Stories Week – a week of content (including a social media takeover) by young alumni for young alumni. This initiative forms part of our broader Young Alumni Ambassador Program (YAAP).
