Bollywood Dance Teacher With Fiji Ties Shares Moves With Students
Former Mrs Universe Australia Francesca McMillan brought her daughter home for her husband to experience the warmth of her Fijian community.
“The last time I was here was six years ago and it is so good to be back in this beautiful country,” Mrs McMillan said.
She was born in South Australia, her mother from Fiji (Indian descendent) and father an Italian.
Since she was young her mother always made sure she (McMillan) came to Fiji to connect with her family here.
“The reason I am visiting this year is because I needed to bring my daughter to meet her families here,” she said.
“Second objective is to visit schools which are what I do over in Adelaide.
Childhood experience
“I teach at Bollywood workshops – dancing and more about building the confidence and having fun with it.
Her family were in Fiji for two weeks. Mrs McMillan did a lot of her workshop in Ba where she stayed most of the time.
“I went to one of my mom’s old school and so I had to look into three schools (Veisaru, Vunisamaloa, and Ba Sangam).
“I just loved it because everyone was embracing the moves especially the girls because I think females don’t have many opportunities to dancing even at schools.
“For boys it would have been soccer after school or something to run around for but the girls really got into learning dance moves.
“Some told me that they have been watching my channels on YouTube and they have been learning even before I came.
Her mum is from Vunisamaloa, Ba and had moved over in 1981 and settled in.
Mrs McMillan became a leader within South Australia’s Indian community – and now recognised as the ‘go to person for promoting South Asian Arts and events in South Astralia and interstate.
Francesca McMillan with children
In 2008 she established South Australia’s first Bollywood Dance School, Fusion Beats – trained and mentored many students who have gone on to further opportunities in dance, acting and choreographing projects.
Fusion Beats is one of SA’s leaders in performing Indian dance at cultural festivals and large state events, including the Credit Union Christmas Pageant and Oz Asia.
Her step taken in the Mrs Universe 2014 was a pure grand move.
Turning point
“It was amazing.I just put through my application and didn’t even tell my husband and I just put it through because I am pretty much of a person that has a sort of go with everything and if I hear someone or some people hasn’t done like dancing in a little bit of consecutive I will go for it.
“Mrs Australia Universe, I have never heard the title before so I applied and I got through.
It was actually a combination of Mrs Australia and Mrs India so the universal title was based on that.
“Things were different views especially when the title was Mrs Universe.
It was a different category because you’re a mom, and you’ve been married, you have been working and you’re in the workforce and it’s more driven and it opens up to doing more charity work.”
She went to Malaysia in 2014 for the Mrs Universal Pageant.
“There I made it to the top 10 which was pretty good coming from a non-pageant background.
“My father was my beacon because he never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do and my mom was a little bit suspicious of my involvement with the pageant.
Advise to young people
“Word of advice to people out there, like I always tell those I mentor I do tell them to just have a goal and like one thing my father always say that there people that talk about you and we will talk about a lot of things either it’s good or bad and if it is something bad it was because they are not in your shoes.
“People were asking why I was dancing because I already have a child but I was dancing when I was pregnant and even that didn’t stop me.
“This is my passion and I’m so grateful that I get to do my passion which is teaching, dancing and mentoring my students especially the young ones.
I teach young ages from 4-years-old till 60-years of age which is a whole range of ages.
She is most sought for Bollywood choreographer in SA – doing online tutorials for Australia, India and also Fiji students.
She advocates on giving back to the community and has served on several cultural committees, including the Indian Association of South Australia (IAASA), and current member of the Fiji Cultural and Social Club of SA.
She also works on various committees including the Asia Pacific Business Council Incorporation, and Ambassador of the Oz Asia Festival, Bully Zero Australia, and Crohn’s & Colitis Australia.
In 2016, she was nominated finalist in the India Australia Business and Community Awards (IABCA) as Young Community Achiever of the Year, which led to her becoming ambassador of the IABCA Awards in 2017.
Services she provides include:
MC/Celebrity Judge
Bollywood Classes @Fusion Beats Dance
Dance Choreography
Bollywood Wedding Choreography
Children’s Birthday Parties
Bollywood at Schools Programme
Fashion Show Coordinator/Chorographer
Pageant Training /Mentoring
