A trained ballet dancer to a senior lecturer in nutrition and dietetics is quite the career change, but for Alyse Davies it all came about from her passion for dance.
Alyse – who trained at the National Theatre Ballet School in Melbourne – toured throughout Australia and internationally in the musical Cats as Victoria the White Cat and Sillabub from just 17 years old.
With eight performances a week and a busy schedule of travelling, Alyse soon realised that she needed a better understanding of how to fuel her body to feel her best and have the energy needed for one of the most physically demanding shows in musical theatre.
“I knew from trial and error which foods made me feel good performing,” she says.
“Then I would eat foods, like a fried Katsu when we would be in Asia, and due to the oil content, I felt terrible throughout the show.
“It even came down to the timing of when I ate.”
Alyse explains that in musical theatre there’s no dietetic support, so it’s something she had to figure out on her own. And her eagerness to know more led her back to the classroom.
After five years of touring, Alyse returned to her hometown of Sydney.
As the first person in her family to attend university, she has built an impressive academic career, earning a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Nutrition and Dietetics, and later completing a PhD.
Just last year she also finished a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education).
Today, she shares her expertise with the next generation of health professionals, teaching across UniSC’s Bachelor of Dietetics, Bachelor of Nutrition and Master of Dietetics (Sports Nutrition) programs.
What started as a personal quest to better fuel her body for performing evolved into a successful academic career, and now her research is leading her back to dance.
“I am in the early stages of developing research in the performing arts space,” Alyse says.
“I am hoping to work with musical theatre and opera performers to support their performance and health and wellbeing .”
But that’s not the only research on Alyse’s plate. She was recently awarded a First Nations CVD grant from the Heart Foundation.
“I am co-designing and implementing a 12-month nutrition and physical activity program ‘Strait from the Heart’, with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth and communities in Townsville,” she says.
“I love the collaboration aspect of this work, with community partners and the project team which involves researchers from a range of different universities, research institutes and partner organisations.”
Alyse and Dalibor Jenis in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for Opera Australia in 2014
Alyse has been at UniSC for nearly 18 months and says that the decision to move here from Sydney was due to the academics she wanted to work with – though the relaxed pace of life and early morning beach swims come in a close second.
“Professor Fiona Pelly and Professor Gary Slater are well known in my field and that was a big drawcard for me,” she says.
Alyse enjoys the variety that comes with academic life. In Trimester 2, she’s teaching and coordinating Public Health Nutrition and Dietary Assessment, helping students build the knowledge and skills they’ll take into their future careers.
Alongside teaching, she contributes to course development and pursues research that advances understanding in her field.
Alyse says her skills as a trained dancer compliment this role, such as discipline, resilience and the value of hard work – which all work together to help her balance the workload and research commitments.
“Much of my research is community and stakeholder engagement, requiring travel and the ability to respond to opportunities as they arise,” she says.
“I feel like my training in dance – the structure, detail and professionalism – has given me the skills to succeed in my role and research.
“These are lessons that have stayed with me throughout my academic career and continue to guide me today.”
