Olivia Gard
From Mickey Mouse to Disney: A Dream Comes Full Circle
By the time you’re reading this, Olivia (Liv) Gard will be heading to a Disney cruise ship somewhere in the Bahamas, not as a passenger but as a dancer! She shares how she’s kept her dreams alive and how dancing while the waves roll is hopefully just the beginning.
Liv, before you set sail to the Bahamas, can you take us back to your first dance classes and share what it was like growing up with your Mum, Melanie, as the new director of PSD?
Growing up, I lived and breathed dancing. It’s really all I ever did and the school was such a big part of my life and my family because I was aged one, turning two when Mum took over the school. So I don’t really know any different.
I started classes in 2007, when I was not yet three. It was a little ballet class around the corner from where we live in Mornington because that was easier for Mum. Watching back the video from my first concert that year, I was so tiny and so cute! I knew what I was doing, I was on the music (or sometimes even a count in front).
Mum then had the PSD concert in December that year and, even though I hadn’t been doing the class, Dad suggested I be put into the little dance that was to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, wearing ears and a little red skirt. So, my first concert was to Mickey Mouse and now, 20 years later, I’ll be working for Disney!
“My first concert was to Mickey Mouse and now, 20 years later, I’ll be working for Disney!”
I was also at the studio a lot, especially because I have a younger brother two years younger and a sister six years younger and we didn’t have grandparents nearby to come and look after us.
Mum tells me that, on Saturdays at age four and five, I’d be done with my own ballet, jazz and tap classes by 10:30AM but then I would just do every single jazz class over the rest of the day. There are photos of me in one of Miss Sandra’s classes, maybe Advanced I, and I’d be at the barre doing an arabesque.
As I got older, I started searching up professional dancers on YouTube and watch on my iPod for hours. By age eight, I could do fouettés and was so flexible that my leg was behind my head. I was in my Dance Mom era, let’s say that!
You knew you wanted to be a professional performer from a young age. Tell us about how that dream was kept alive thanks to some incredible early performance opportunities.
When I was nine, turning 10, Mum created an extension program called DStep We were a hip hop crew essentially. One of the first times we performed that wasn’t the end of year show was in 2015, the first time we went to Victorian Dance Festival (VDF). Even though it was nowhere near what it is now, we had workshops from choreographers like Michael Demeski, who is now a backup dancer for Lady Gaga. I have a picture with him and I remember fangirling him.
After that, we started doing more performances. These were prime Liv years! I loved being onstage, having the lights shine on your face and the screaming in the crowd and the applause afterwards. As I got older I was like: “This is what I want to do.”
“As I got older I was like: this is what I want to do.”
Liv (bottom left) with the D-Step dance crew
Liv with dance idol Michael Dameski at the Vic Dance Festival 2015
Then, starting in 2016, when I was 11, I performed with Spark Youth Dance Company, which was created by Alex Dellaportas. The first year we did The Nutcracker as a contemporary dance work, then Shatter, a performance about suffragettes. The following year, 2018, I was the lead dancer in a show called Ariadne. That pushed me as a dancer, especially in broadening my experience of how I express myself, as I had to use my whole body to show emotion and tell a story. My face was the show so I had to carry it.
As I got older, I always responded to the question of what you want to do when you grow up by saying I want to be a dancer. But I didn’t really know what that might look like until 2019 when we went to Disneyland and Universal Studios with the dance school.
Dancing in LA and Disneyland in 2019 – a pivotal experience
At this stage, I was always glued to watching famous professional dancers and choreographers on Instagram so, when I went to Los Angeles, I knew that was the place to be. We went to Millenium Dance Studios, where all the professional dancers take class, and I thought: “This is where I belong.” We watched the parade and all the shows at Disneyland seeing the dancers in the most beautiful costumes and it’s all so magical, and I remember thinking to myself: “Hang on, I could do that!”.
Then … Covid times.
The Covid lockdown years happened when you were in your prime teenage years. What role did dance play in getting you through this tough time?
I’ve kind of tried to erase it all from my brain. But we were lucky in that my mum is a gem! She tried to keep the dance school running through Covid and, honestly, it kept a lot of us sane. She kept classes going on Zoom, we even did classes outdoors in a park at one stage and the 2021 concert was in a theatre but without a live audience.
Looking back, you can laugh, but it was an experience, to say the least.
” I always responded to the question of what you want to do when you grow up by saying I want to be a dancer.”
Liv with classmates, happy to be back in the studio after so many classes on zoom.
Liv achieved a high scores in her VET solos – even after months on zoom.
Looking back, you can laugh but it was an experience, to say the least. Dance honestly made the two years of lockdowns a lot easier, because we had an outlet and something else to do. During the day, you’re just stuck inside on your laptop doing school work but then we were able to dance in our living room while Dad was making dinner in the background.
Towards the middle of 2021, Mum asked if I could teach two hip hop classes. I was 16 or 17 and I was like: “This is my calling.” I love teaching and I mainly love choreographing. That end of year concert, I created two really good routines for those hip hop dancers and I was so proud of myself.
“This is my calling.”
Year 12 was a big year for you! What were the highlights and lowlights of 2022?
Personally, Year 12 was really rough. That’s life and school’s not for everyone but I’m so grateful for what happened that year because, as hard as it was mentally, this was the year that shifted my brain into: “You can do this girl”, in terms of dancing plus performing and choregraphing. I owe a lot to that year as an example of how life is one big puzzle and all the pieces come together and work out eventually.
Dance got me through each week. I started teaching so much more, including two jazz classes, little tappers, little jazz and the itty-bitties. I loved creating chorey for my classes.
In Year 12, at age 17, I performed in the Victorian State Schools Spectacular! The audition, which happened at the end of Year 11, was the first audition I’d ever done and I was so nervous. A few weeks later, I got an email saying: “Congratulations, you’re a Principal Dancer for the show.” It was a professional show and we were professional dancers. Performing in an arena was wild (it was at the John Cain Arena). There were tunnels under the stage so you had your own individual map of your presets.
“It was a professional show and we were professional dancers.”
Teaching was always fun.
Olivia performing at the John Cain Arena – State School Spectacular 2022
Liv with PSD besties – Karis, Katie & Alley
Liv with Lachie Clue and below with classmates performing Miss Sandra’s famous Tarentella
I worked with two people I look up to so much: Hara Papoulias (daughter ex-PSD dance student, Effie Papoulias and Yvette Lee, who was Artistic Director of Vic Dance Festival at the time.
By September, when the show happened, I was thriving and doing so well. We did the show twice and I had all my family and dance friends and teacher come. That was so special for me. By the final dance, I was crying because I could hear them all yelling, clapping and cheering. I was like: “OMG, this is insane and I want to perform on the biggest stages in the world!”
This year was the last PSD dance concert as a student. I was in 10 routines and I’d choreographed 10 as well. I was the leading lady in Graduation Ball, a role that my Mum danced as a teenager. One of my best friends, Karis was Pigtails and my two other best friends, Katie and Alley, were the ballet girls. Lachie was the leading boy and Dad was in it as well – he’s always making comebacks! This was our first show with an audience in three years so it was a big year but it ended perfectly.
“As a dancer, your body is your temple, so you can’t take it for granted.”
You then went onto full-time dance school. Tell us about your first year at Patrick School of Dance (PSA).
I’d known since Year 12 that I was going to go full-time the following year. I was accepted to PSA by mid-Year 12 and started in 2023. There was no option to take a break. As a dancer, your body is your temple and you have to make the most of it while it can do all these things. You can’t take it for granted.
So, I started when I was 18 and I genuinely did not have a clue about what was about to happen. I knew I’d be fine meeting people because I’m an easy-going person but it was nice already knowing two girls from Spec and someone I went through primary and high schools with.
I was also lucky to do gigs and places like Crown Palladium. That’s unusual for a first year student.
That’s a big year! Was second year even bigger?
Looking back, I was just a baby in first year. In second year, in 2024, I knew what I was doing and I knew that we’d start auditioning.
Olivia performing at PSA
In April 2024, we had our second Disneyland trip with PSD and it was great being back at the most magical place ever. I did extra classes at Millenium Studios and it was so nice to be in a studio with other dancers and other choreographers. I pushed myself in different ways and, being older and more confident, I locked in even harder to my goal of being a backup dancer for the most famous touring artists.
I locked in even harder to my goal of being a backup dancer for the most famous touring artists.
PSA has the Patrick Management agency attached to the school. I wasn’t signed by them but we would get emails about auditions. One of these led to me dancing with Katy Perry at the AFL Grand Final in September 2024.
Please tell us all about performing with Katy Perry at the MCG!
We knew Katy Perry was coming to Australia for the Grand Final, as that had been announced on social media, and we knew we’d be auditioning for Yvette Lee, who always choreographs and directs the Grand Final pre-show entertainment, but we weren’t actually told that that this is what we were auditioning for. Even after the audition when we got a confidential email giving us the dates of the rehearsals, nothing was said what it was for, but then the performance date was September 25th at 2pm so it was pretty clear!
We learned the routine at a high school in Melbourne and then, on the Thursday before the show, we went to the MCG for a rehearsal. I remember walking out onto the oval and my brain couldn’t fully comprehend that this place – that I’ve been going to since I was little to watch the footy – would be filled with 100,000 people. We didn’t know whether Katy would be there. We had ‘ears’ – headphones taped to your ear and connected to a little pack – and we heard ‘Katy’s ready’ and then she comes out! I think It was crazy, I started crying, I mean, how many times have I danced to songs like Roar and Dark Horse?
We heard ‘Katy’s ready’!
The show was hard as it was a 10 minute routine and we were wearing pink spacesuits, we were running up the stage with huge blow-up balls on our backs and you had to be perfect. I can’t describe the roar – it’s the only word to describe the loudness of the cheering and the yelling, which is funny because that’s one of her songs. But it was so much fun and such a cool experience.
2024 trip to USA included classes in LA and dancing again at Disneyland
2024 trip to USA included classes in LA and dancing again at Disneyland
On performance day, I told myself: “Olivia, you really have to take this in, you’re only 20 years old and not many people can say they’ve been on the MCG performing with Katy Perry.” I knew that, though this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that if I can do this, I can do anything and, in the future, I want to be performing in arenas with big artists.
After so many amazing experiences during your second year of full-time dance school, what was it like finishing up with PSA?
Finishing full-time was a very weird thing. Before our final show, I was absolutely exhausted and my emotions were heightened in every kind of way. I knew this was the last piece of structure and I just didn’t know what the following year would look like.
I now look at 2025 as if it was my gap year, as I’d gone straight from 13 years of school to two years of the most full-on dance course you can possibly think of. The start of the year was very hard but, ultimately, it was a year where I really grew up and fell back in love with dancing after being exhausted in body and mind.
I’m so grateful for my mum and the dance school. I was still teaching while I was at full-time school and, during 2025, I taught so much and loved having so much to give.
I went to VDF in May, primarily to do the auditions for cruises – Disney, RWS and Norwegian. At the Teachers’ Day, there was panel of people involved in the auditions and I asked a question about what draws their eye to someone in an audition. Later, a lady walked over and introduced herself as being from Disney and asked whether I have a profile. She replied saying: “I just want you to bring you, I want to see what you can bring.”
I was cut from an audition the next day. I’d been cut before, that’s just life, but I was so upset. The Disney audition was the last of the festival and I got to the last 20 people. That’s great but then they say: “You might hear from us in the next six months.” If you aren’t offered a job, they won’t let you know, it’s brutal because you just don’t know.
A few months later, when I hadn’t heard anything, I had a mental breakdown. I just started crying and kept thinking: “What is my purpose, what is my life?”. I knew what I wanted to do but I didn’t know how it was going to happen.
Others might have given up at this point but you kept going, including going to the next round of cruise auditions?
Towards the end of 2025, four cruise lines had auditions within two weeks of each other. I hadn’t danced that full-out for a long time so let’s just say that the body was sore!
I made it to the final four of RWS. I got cut from Norwegian. Then it was Disney. There were about 150 people there, which is huge, so we danced in two groups. We started with an across-the-floor combination of kicks, jumps and turns. Then a dance combination. They’re obviously watching you the whole time, including how quickly you learn, and they call out numbers of the people they want to stay.
Then, they asked whether any of us could tumble or tap. I can’t tumble, as we all know, but I’ve been tapping since I was four. They asked for just 16 counts. That’s not a lot! So, I did 16 counts that I was teaching my students for the end of year concert.
Three weeks later, I got an email that had the subject line: Disney Cruise Line | Wish Cast 9 | OLIVIA GARD.
The email said: “Hi Olivia, Hope all is well with you! We have an opportunity for you with the Wish 9 cast. Please review the information below and the performer outline attached. Let us know if you would like to move forward!”
Would I like to move forward? YES, I want to move forward!!!
I actually went into shock. I was beside myself, screaming and crying. I felt sick to my stomach but in a good way. I was shaking. My life literally just changed.
You’re going to be a professional dancer
on a Disney Cruise ship!
Everything has fallen into place and worked out beautifully.
Reading through the email, it gave me the start date and the information about the shows – Disney’s Aladdin Musical Spectacular, Disney’s Little Mermaid, Disney Adventure, Set Sail and a Pirate Party.
Then, it said ‘Tap Soloist’. So, from that 16 counts, just two sets of eight, I’m a tap soloist! Wild!
The ship, called Disney Wish, does three to four night cruises around the Bahamas leaving from Port Canaveral in Florida. Such a hard life! The first afternoon, the passengers get on the ship and there’s a 10-minute show called ‘Set Sail’ on the top deck, along with Mickey and Minnie and all the other characters, then the horn blows and the ship leaves.
Each night, we’ll do two or three shows of a different musical. The final night of the cruise, there’s a pirate-themed show on deck that everyone dresses up for. Each day, you wake up at a Bahama island, including Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.
I’ll live on the ship for six-and-a-half months, which is crazy! I’ve never been on a cruise ship. I’ve been on my brother, Austin’s tinny on Port Phillip Bay. I screamed a lot but I think I’ll be fine.
Everyone must have been so excited for you!
I told a few the seniors and a few of my younger friends when I next went to teach. We were all screaming! My news made the next few weeks of dress rehearsals and the end of year show very special. I was so emotional and so were others.
Sharing my news has made me realise how much of an impact I’ve had on PSD kids’ lives. Yes, I’m a dance teacher but I never realised how special I am to so many people.
It seems a little silly to ask about future plans when you’re about to embark on this huge adventure. But what are your thoughts about what might come after the rest of 2026?
I’m not putting too much pressure on myself or trying to jump ahead of this year – I want to soak it all in as much as I can – but now this is falling into place, I can see the next five years of my life and that gives me a sense of relief.
So, it’s a possibility that I could do another Disney cruise, hopefully after enjoying Christmas and summer back at home at the end of this year. I hope they see how passionate I am and how much I love what I’m doing. Down the track, I’d love to get into choreography and dance captain roles.
I’d like to do a few cruises, set myself up financially, then go to LA with a performing visa and work as a back-up dancer in music videos and arena shows. That’s a big dream but I know it’s possible, as there are Aussie dancers who are dancing for Lady Gaga, the Weeknd and Sabrina Carpenter.
You’ve been part of PSD for over 20 years! As the school celebrates its 65th anniversary, what would you like to say to your mum and others?
I owe everything to Mum and everyone at the dance school. Yes, I went to full-time school and if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t be the dancer I am but that was only two years compared with the rest of my life.
I’ve said to a few of the kids that my story shows you can do anything, whether that’s dancing or another big dream. Mum is telling everyone to ‘stay in tap’!
Genuinely, my mum is a super woman. I see how hard she works. I am so proud of her and I love her so much.
My mum is a super woman.
For me and so many other people, this dance school is so much more than just doing a dance class. It is genuinely family and a community. It’s a place to form lifelong friendships and a place to feel safe. It’s so inclusive and so much fun, without competitiveness in any way. All the teachers genuinely want the best for their students. I grew up here not just as a dancer but as a person.
I’ll be away for nine months, which is a long time but I’ll come home to what I left. People change but, coming back to the studio, I know I’ll be coming home to family. I’ll walk into the studio and people will be there with big open arms saying ‘Welcome back, Miss Liv’.
Super best wishes, Liv, for the launch of your cruise and professional dancing career!
Story by Vivienne Pearson. Vivienne is a freelance writer who writes feature stories for newspapers and magazines, as well as engaging content for business and causes.