You could say Melanie Halacas is living the dream, flitting from one country to the next while calling a world-renowned resort home. Sarah Harman caught up with the Mildura ex-local recently and found out how it all began.
WHEN people ask Mildura’s Melanie Halacas her occupation, she often gets a few surprised looks when she tells them she performs in the circus.
However the 26-year-old does not work in a traditional circus, but rather for international resort chain, Club Med.
The resorts have an onsite circus, which teaches guests the art of trapeze and puts on an entertaining evening show a few times each week.
This year alone Melanie has worked in Indonesia, Thailand and Japan and recently travelled to Mexico to continue teaching and performing on the trapeze.
The seemingly exotic lifestyle stemmed from an overseas holiday Melanie took with her sister to Club Med in Mauritius, which led her to check out employment opportunities.
“I studied tourism and event management in Adelaide and after two years of that thought I’d probably learn more on the job so took a break from uni and started working for Club Med in Indonesia,” she says.
“I worked as a life guard at the swimming pool, taught water sports and on my days off and during breaks I would do yoga and practiced flying, but at the time I never thought I could be on the circus team.”
After then doing a stint at the resort in Thailand, Melanie returned to Mildura to study yoga while working at Club Aquarius, which she had long been involved with.
“I’ve been going to Club Aquarius since I was 14. Mum got me into the gym doing body balance, which is probably where my love of yoga came from,” she says.
After returning to Indonesia’s Bintan Island, this time as a yoga instructor, a rare opportunity came up to join the circus team.
Melanie jumped at the chance and received on-the-job training by some of the best in the business.
“Some of my trainers were ex- Cirque du Soleil performers and my first trainer grew up travelling in a circus, so I was very lucky to learn from those professionals,” she says.
While being part of the circus is anything but easy, Melanie says she is driven by the challenge.
“Each morning to early afternoon we teach kids on the flying trapeze, then we do our own training for the shows in the afternoon, in the late afternoon we work with the adults,” she says.
“At night we do our performance and will sometimes train after that as well.”
Contracted to Club Med, the performers can be moved anywhere in the world, with most stints six to 12 months.
“It’s really cool, I work with about 20 different nationalities so wherever I’m placed there is a real mix of people,” Melanie says.
“Everyone is in the same situation, we’ve all moved from home, we’re all in a new place, so you all have the same mindset and everyone’s really open and friendly.”
The performers live at the resort and dine with guests.
Recently while on a rare break, Melanie spent some time teaching classes at Club Aquarius and was surprised when the wellness centre’s yoga room was named in her honour.
She has now moved on to her next adventure, having taken up a post at a Club Med resort in Mexico where she will spend the next year.
