People like Jasmine Ahwah are exactly why Alice Springs is the most friendly place on earth
JASMINE Ahwah is one of the NT’s finest creative performers. READ HER STORY HERE
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JASMINE Ahwah is one of the NT’s finest creative performers, having graduated from Australia’s number one dance school, the Victorian College of The Arts at Melbourne University.
Now Jaz is back at the University of Melbourne, this time doing a Doctor of Dental Surgery, while simultaneously completing a Bachelor of Health Science and Masters of Osteopathic Medicine at RMIT University.
Jaz Ahwah is high achievement personified. Yet also such a humble, big-hearted and lovely person.
Born in Alice, mum Brenda is from Brisbane and dad Roger is from New York City.
Brenda moved to Alice to do social work with Aboriginal communities, and Roger came over to work at the Base.
They raised two magnificent kids, Jaz, and older brother Gabriel.
“I felt I always lived in the shadow of my big brother. He had the big personality, was the big sports star,” Jaz told the NT News.
“People always think I seem like the grandiose one! But really I’ve just been trying to live up to him! It definitely helped to push and motivate me.”
Jaz had been playing tennis- like Gab- when her Mum came to her and asked if she’d want to try Ballet.
“I’d just turned 10. Mum’s cousin was the principal dancer for Queensland Ballet and she was on a postcard,” she said.
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“Mum showed it to me, and said ‘Would you be interested to try?’
“I did my first class and it was actually a Jazz class, like Broadway. Mum asked me after if I liked it. I said, ‘Yes! It was so much fun! All the character playing!’
“Then I went the next time and it was an actual ballet class. After, I told Mum I liked it, but we did some kind’ve weird stuff!
“Little did I know that ballet was on five days a week, jazz was only once a week.
“Mum and Dad soon realised I wasn’t too keen on ballet but I loved jazz.”
Just after her 14th birthday Jaz decided she wanted to be a professional dancer.
Her dance teacher said there were infinite opportunities in the USA, but the next best step in Australia would be doing summer dance schools.
“My parents said ‘Ok, we’ll sign her up!’ I did the January summer school at Dance World Studies in Melbourne. I loved it! Oh My God! We did tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop," she said.
“I got the gist of what I needed to work on to get better. I went back the following year and won a scholarship.”
For the next three successive years, Jaz was selected for the sole scholarship position.
The mega accomplishments continued when Jaz was chosen as an Exchange Student to her first choice, France.
“I’d also been doing circus with my friend Adelaide in Alice. And I thought, well circus is French, and I’d love to learn French. I can’t believe I got it,” she said.
“My exchange was in a small town called Chinon, about three hours south of Paris. It’s like the ‘Alice of France’.
“It’s also where Joan of Arc met the King of France, because that’s where he lived.”
They had Joan of Arc, and now they’ve had Jaz of Alice. Lucky town.
By this time, Jaz had already travelled much of the world. The family would often spend a White Christmas in Dad Roger’s home town of New York.
The family explored most of the USA, the Caribbean, Europe, Fiji and Indonesia.
“Mum was an exchange student herself in Japan. She teaches Japanese. Other cultures have always been front of mind,” she said.
“I get so much enjoyment from other cultures! It’s a bit of an obsession of mine! The more foreign the better, and the more elaborate costumes! Mum really gave me that cultural sensitivity.
“Mum is my best friend. We have a really close relationship. She’s inspired me to do everything I’ve done! She showed me it’s cool to do things that are the compete opposite.
“She’s a five-foot-two lady, but she has really long hair, she teaches Japanese, she loves wearing stilettos, but she also loves wearing her boxing shoes. She loves shopping and make-up, but then she’ll be grappling with the men.
“She taught me that you don’t have to be straight down the line, you can be whatever you want to be.”
Jaz says her Dad is also a major inspiration.
“He’s the big academic push. He’s so smart! He’s a Space Engineer- I can’t even fathom what goes on in his head,” she said.
“He has that amazing maths and engineering brain. He’s a very hard worker and he’s never complained.”
Jaz says her brother Gab “inspires her athletically.”
“He loves tennis, he loves NFL, he is so in to sport and he challenges himself,” she said.
“You can have it all.”
Jaz returned from her Exchange Year in France, and completed Year 12 back at OLSH.
In between her final exams in Alice, Jaz was flying out to audition at the three tertiary dance schools- the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in Melbourne, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth and at the University of Queensland.
Jaz was accepted in to all three.
She chose the world renowned VCA in Melbourne.
Jaz graduated and was selected by the Melbourne Ballet Company.
Then, on day one, came a life changing epiphany.
“I hit the wall with dance. I showed up for the first day,” she said.
“I knew in the first hour that it wasn’t what I wanted. The principal dancer was away and they asked who wanted to step in. I thought ‘Oh God, not me!’
“I thought, if you don’t want that spot, then you can’t do this. I was done, simple as that.
“5pm hit and I called Mum and I said ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t want to do this’.”
As always, Jaz’s parents were 100% behind their girl, and she made the call to switch to her ‘Plan B’ ten years ahead of schedule.
“My other big passion was always to work in Health Science. I love science, anatomy, biology and chemistry. The plan was to do dance and then switch,” she said.
Jaz says there was no time to waste doing something her heart was no longer in.
“I know I’ve got so much I want to squeeze in to my life. There are so many wonderful things in the world. I’m not going to live long enough to get half of it done,” she said.
Jaz started with Osteopathic Medicene at the prestigious RMIT, then sat the General Admission Test to get in to Medicene.
It costs $500 for the pleasure of sitting the eight-hour long exam, alongside thousands of other people at Caulfield Racecourse.
Jaz sat the test, and, naturally, sailed through.
Next step was studying Dentistry at the world-renowned University of Melbourne.
Jaz is now studying in parallel at both Unis.
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And in a beautiful arc of symmetry, Jaz is now teaching dance at Melbourne Uni.
Jaz is also starring on our TV screens in commercial campaigns, for the likes of Oodie, where she is the face of ‘Australia’s favourite oversized blanket hoodie’.
Jaz’s next goal is to come home and work as a Dentist in Alice Springs.
“I love Alice. The people are so friendly and there is a big sense of community. No one is greedy, everyone cases about each other, and people build each other up,” she said.
“A friend of mine graduated Architecture and went home. They asked a local architect if there was any work. They were like, ‘Yeah! Here’s a shed to work in!’”
People like Jasmine Ahwah are exactly why Alice Springs is the most friendly place on earth.
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