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Faculty Biographies:
Nataliya Andriyevska, is originally from the Ukraine where she received her
choreographic education from Kherson Cultural College, Ukraine, majoring in ballet,
historical ballroom dance, modern and character folk dance. She began her career touring
with various venues throughout Ukraine, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Greece and Macedonia.
Since she moved to Hawaii in 2001, she has been involved as a dancer and choreographer in many venues
around Honolulu, including Mardi Gras Follies, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii Opera
Theater and Army Community Theater and is currently involved in the Allure Dance Ensemble
project as well as teaching creative dance and ballet classes for the beginners at NIXPAC
and Ballet Hawaii in Kapolei .
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Yvonne Yanagihara Goss has a Bachelors degree in Marketing with a minor in
Dance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She trained with Nolan Dingman in
Orlando, Florida in the late 80s. She was the ballet instructor for the female
water-ski team at Sea World in Florida and The Columbus Dance Center in 1987, and
was the dance instructor at the American School in Japan for four summers in the
early 90’s.
Over the last 13 years Yvonne has appeared locally performing in numerous
Diamond Head Theatre musicals, and productions for Lisa Matsumoto's Ohia
Productions.
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Daphne
Hargrove - began her training at the School of American ballet. In 1993 she performed
with the New York City ballet in its Balanchine celebration. The following year, Ms.
Hargrove graduated from the High School of Performing Arts and joined the Miami City ballet
where she performed various soloist and principal roles. During this time, she performed in
Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center Honors for President Clinton and other distinguished
guests. In 1998, Daphne left Miami to become a founding member and principal dancer with
Carolina Ballet.
During the next four years in North Carolina, she created many principal roles in
world-premier ballets by renowned choreographers such as Lynn Taylor-Corbett and Robert
Weiss, as well as being featured in many class works. Her repertoire includes Balanchine's
Rubies, Concerto Barocco, Who cares, and Steadfast Tin Soldier, Anthony Tudor's Lilac
Garden, Jose Limon's Moor's Pavane, and Peter Martin's Valse Triste.
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Laura Kunimura
Laura Kunimura started her ballet
training at the age of five. At age eighteen she moved on to the
Washington School of Ballet, the National Academy of Arts, and then the
Minnesota Dance Theatre. She danced professionally with the Milwaukee
Ballet and the Minnesota Dance Theatre. As a soloist at the Minnesota
Dance Theatre, she performed in Loyce Houlton’s Ancient Air,
Peter and the Wolf, Nutcracker, Beauty and the Beast,
Movements of Four Seasons, Knoxville: Summer of 1915,
and Glen Tetley’s Mythical Hunters. Laura had the opportunity to
also perform in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Concerto
Barocco.
Laura is the director of Dance Island and has choreographed
many children's ballets including Wizard of Oz, Peter and the
Wolf, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and, most
recently, At the Ballet. Laura has taught ballet extensively in
the islands for 25 years.
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Minou
Lallemand graduated from the New York High School of Performing Arts and the Joffrey Ballet
School. She has danced solo and principal roles with Ballet Arizona, American Repertory Ballet,
Ballet Chicago, Eglevsky Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and Ballet Hawaii and performed with The Phantom
of the Opera national tour and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Minou currently teaches for Ballet Hawaii, Queen Emma Ballet, Pacific Youth Ballet and Drill Team
Hawaii, and has been a guest teacher at the Virginia School of the Arts. She has created works for
Ballet Arizona, the New Choreographer's on Point Workshop, Chamber Music Hawaii, and is the Artistic
Director of the Onium Ballet Project.
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Susan
Ushijima Quong received her early ballet training in the states of Oregon, Montana, and
Washington. Her most extensive training was with Madam Gabriella Darvash in New York City.
While in New York, she was co-founder and co-director of the professional company,
BalletWorks, Ltd. and later became a teacher and resident choreographer for the Ulster
Ballet Company in upstate New York.
Her works were shown in New York City, and in Hawaii, with Danceworks, The Dance Company,
Big City Studios and the Honolulu Dance Studio. She presently is associated with Ballet
Hawaii and teaches mainly at the Leeward branch in Wahiawa.
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Marie Takazawa - began her dance training in Hawaii. She studied and performed at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa, with Dances We Dance Company and Hawaii Dance Theatre. Moving
to New York she performed on Broadway, with the Uncompany as the lead dancer in the Yul
Brynner production of The King and I, and in a tour of The King and I,
starring Rudolph Nureyev.
Returning to Hawaii, Takazawa was co-director of Danceworks Honolulu, which was selected
as the 1994 People’s Choice Awards "Best Dance Company." Ms. Takazawa is a freelance
choreographer and teaches jazz, ballet, modern and street dance at local dance studios and
fitness centers. She is presently Ballet Mistress and resident choreographer for the Tau
Dance Theatre and on the faculty of Ballet Hawaii.
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takashi koshi has been the piano accompanist for Ballet Hawaii since 1981. Before that
he was the music accompanist for The Cloudgate Dance Theater of Taiwan from 1979-1981.
He is originally from Denver, Colorado and has a Music Education Degree from Oberlin
Conservatory and Master's Degree in Music Performance in bassoon from the University of
Northern Colorado.
He has received numerous commissions for his music compositions, and his one-hour ballet "Urashima
Taro" was performed in 2005 as the Spring Recital of Ballet Hawaii.
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