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Aidwina A.W. is truly a renaissance woman. By day, this Melanau girl from Kuching, Sarawak works as an administrator and leads the dance club at Swinburne University. After hours, she’s both a dancer, who conducts ‘live’ classes online and a barre fitness instructor. On top of that, she finds time to dabble in crafting and quilting when she’s not busy with the above.
In what has become a daily ritual for most of us these days, I communicated with Aidwina over Zoom. Having discovered each other through social media, my computer screen was permeated by her tangible exuberance even though we’ve never met in person.
Aidwina and I first struck a conversation after she liked a Jazz dance class snippet I had posted on Instagram. Fast-forward two years later and we’re still encouraging each other with thoughts and ideas on movement.
Like many others, Aidwina’s journey began at a young age when her mom adamantly enrolled her in ballet classes. Beyond the discipline, she fell in love with the art form. “I got addicted to ballet; that’s when mom realised I was living in the studio more than I was at home,” she happily reflects.
Epitomising the true meaning of resilience, Aidwina has not only battled health issues to get to where she is but also the grief of losing a spouse.
Diagnosed at 16 with lupus, a systemic auto-immune disease that attacks one’s organs and tissues and causes debilitating symptoms such as inflammation, joint pain and shortness of breath, Aidwina moved to Perth, Australia to pursue dance and study full-time for her final year of high school despite her illness.
“There were certain days I couldn’t get up. I just had to push through. I felt so behind in terms of technique and strength. There were certain days I couldn’t get up,” she added.
With the support of her teachers and friends, Aidwina conquered each day as it came, making sacrifices daily, to keep going.
“I had longer (periods of) rest, but I had to warm-up longer than the others — the other girls came 30-minutes before (class) but I needed an hour.”
The sacrifice eventually paid off as she went on to pursue a Certificate in Dance and a degree in Early Childhood Education, whereby she would attend classes during the day and dance in the evenings.
“(That time) was an eye-opener for me. I didn’t know how to dance to live music and didn’t feel dancer ‘enough’, and I felt really shy about my body.”
In her third year of university, her lupus symptoms became unbearable. “My joints hurt so much. I gave up (dance). I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t hold a pen anymore.”
It was time to speak to her doctor. That was when she received an ultimatum; it was time to take a break.
“I was really disappointed. But I couldn’t stop moving. When I stopped moving, everything hurt even more — if I moved, it hurt (and) if I stopped, it hurt.”
Although she started to slow down, she refused to stop moving. She took walks around town and came across yoga and pilates.
“I couldn’t do those crazy moves, but it taught me to slow down and give myself another chance.”
Amid this adversity, Aidwina found her silver lining. “The (yoga) studio was right next to a dance studio and one day, I saw an advertisement for an adult ballet community class.”
This happenstance led her to find her purpose.
To be continued...
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Aidwina’s story next Wednesday, as she rediscovers her joy for movement & her barre fitness journey.
You can reach out to Aidwina on Instagram: @balletfiness_aidwina or on Facebook
