BEING an actor was not something Aniq Durar aimed for when he was young. He wanted to be a pilot, but that dream was quickly thrown out of the window because he was wearing glasses.
He almost majored in Civil Engineering, but he didnât think he was great at physics.
He shares: âI didnât really have a clue on what to do after high school, which is normal; I think the majority of teenagers have faced the same issue, itâs completely valid. I just went with the flow.â
However, performance arts have always been on the periphery. As an expressive child, Aniq took up cultural dances such as Ngajat and Alu-alu, and joined a musical when he was 17.
âI think the musical planted a seed in me which later would come to fruition in university and later on in my career,â he shares.
âI took part in a student theatre production at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia while I was studying for my business degree in Economics & Ancient Cultures Major. Then I went back home in 2016 and I worked as a museum professional for two years at the Sarawak Museum Campus Project alongside Jabatan Muzium Sarawak.
âI wasnât doing theatre in those two years, and I started feeling that something was missing. I loved working at the museum, but I had to pick a path to be an actor as I felt I needed to.â
To be reminded again of how acting made him feel, and that the stage was once his space to freely express, Aniq devised a street theatre performance titled River for the What About Kuching Festival in 2018.
âLife is funny, it surprises you with different paths and you just gotta trust your gut, take a leap of faith and trust that everything will be alright. As long as you take action and not passively flown with the currents of time or the world,â he adds.
