Dancers
Dancers
Mia Asamoto
Mia Asamoto is a senior at Mililani High School. At the age of five, she began dancing at Pas De Deux Hawaii where she started with ballet, but also danced jazz, lyrical, and ballroom. In 2017, she joined the ballet competition team under the direction of Annri Opitz-Kostick where she competed in various group and solo numbers. In summer of 2023, she joined Ballet Hawaii and since then participated in various Nutcracker productions, Ballet Hawaii’s Summer Intensives, and Ensemble seasons. Apart from participating in Ballet Hawaii’s summer intensives, she most recently got the opportunity to take part in John Cranko School’s International Contemporary Masters New York summer program. Some of her favorite pieces she has performed include “Cinderella” from Ballet Hawaii’s 2025 summer intensive and “Reminiscing” by Anna Quijano. Outside of dance, she enjoys reading and hanging out with her friends.
Elyana Belatti
Elyana Belatti is an 11th grader enrolled at Roosevelt High School. She has been dancing since the age of 4, and has been dancing with Ballet Hawaii for 9 years. Elyana has also danced with Honolulu Dance Studio for 3 years focusing on hip hop, lyrical, and contemporary dance. She has participated in summer intensives with Ballet Hawaii, Honolulu Dance Studio, Cincinnati Ballet and most recently Vaganova International Program. Elyana has performed in numerous competition pieces including “The Moment I Said It” at Spotlight Honolulu 2024 and “Heart Of Glass” which made it to the finals division at YAGP 2025. Outside of dancing, Elyana enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends.
Emma Belatti
BH Alumni
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Emma Belatti graduated from McKinley High School in 2023 and has been dancing with Ballet Hawaiʻi for 17 years. She is currently a sociology student at UH Mānoa with the goal of attending law school in the future. She has participated in Ballet Hawaiʻi’s The Nutcracker, Ballet Chicago’s summer intensive, and numerous Ballet Hawaiʻi productions, including its inaugural Performing Ensemble.
Emma also shows her love of dance by training in multiple styles. She especially enjoys hip-hop and has competed in several competitions with her previous schools. In her free time, Emma enjoys surfing, painting, and playing Magic: The Gathering with her friends.
Misha Duke
Misha Duke is 14 years old and attends Hawaii Technology Academy. She has been doing ballet since the age of 3 and spends about 30 hours a week in the studio. Misha participates in YAGP and other ballet competitions on the mainland. This year she is performing 2 classical variations (Giselle and Lilac Fairy) and a contemporary pointe variation choreographed by Ms. Regina. She was awarded 3rd place for her neoclassical variation at the California Dance Classics in Los Angeles in 2024. Misha has attended summer intensives with American Ballet Theater, The Rock School of Dance in Philadelphia, Joffrey Ballet, International Ballet School, and Denver Ballet Theater. She hopes to become a professional ballerina. While Misha likes competitions and the work it takes to perfect her variations, her true love for ballet is being able to perform and share her love of dance with the audience.
Alicia Fritz
Alicia Fritz is a homeschooled Junior. She has been dancing since the age of 9 starting at Prisma Dance. Alicia later moved to Honolulu Classical Ballet, Ballet Révérence, and now Ballet Hawaii. She has attended San Francisco Ballet School Summer Intensive in 2025 and Boston Ballet School Summer Intensive in 2026. Some of her favorite roles she has danced are the Sugar Plum Fairy and Drew drop in The Nutcracker. Outside of dancing she enjoys reading and hanging out with friends.
Grayson Ito
Grayson Ito is in the 11th grade at Mid-Pacific Institute. He has performed on stage since age nine and began dancing after enrolling in Mid-Pacific’s Certificate Dance Program in the 7th grade. Grayson joined Ballet Hawaii in 2023 and has attended summer intensive programs at Ballet Hawaii, Eugene Ballet, and Boston Ballet. He has appeared in Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker and seasonal showcases, as well as Mid-Pacific Institute’s Spring and Fall performances.
Aria Kaneshige
BH Faculty
Aria Kaneshige found her love of dance when she enrolled in her first class at Ballet Hawaii at the age of 7. Aria has since danced in their Performing Ensemble, Summer Intensives, and annual productions of The Nutcracker. Her favorite role was Clara in Ballet Hawaii’s Nutcracker 2022 production and sharing the stage with all the amazing Guest Artists, Principal Dancers and Ballet Hawaii dancers who made it so memorable and special. Outside of dance, Aria enjoys Photography, going to the movies, and spending time with family and friends. She also enjoys teaching her Ballet Hawaii classes and helping her young dancers find joy in dancing.
Hope Matsukado
Hope Matsukado is a 10th grader at Mililani High School. She has been dancing tap, ballet and jazz since the age of 4, previously at The St. Laurent School of Dance and Destination Dance. Hope joined Ballet Hawaii in 2025 with the desire to focus primarily on ballet. She enjoyed performing in Ballet Hawaii’s summer intensive and as a Chinese Umbrella girl in The Nutcracker. Outside of dance Hope likes to read, play the piano, serve at church, and hang out with friends.
Sarah Montoni
BH Alumni
Sarah Montoni started dancing at the age of 3 in New York and took a break a few years later after moving to Hawaii. She found her passion for dance again at the age of 9 when she joined Punahou Dance School. Over the years she also danced with the Royal Academy of Ballet, and Prisma Dance, where she was one of the choreographers and dancers in the student lead show Seasons- Change in Motion. She joined Ballet Hawaii in the summer of 2020. Since then she has participated in their Nutcracker each year, along with performing at the HSO gala, and in the Balanchine to Broadway Summer Intensive performance. In her spare time, she likes to read, play violin and sail.
Janie Okamoto
BH Alumni
Janie Okamoto is a 2023 high school graduate and was homeschooled. She began her dance training with Ballet Hawaii when she was five years old. Since then, she has participated in many of their Spring Showcases and has been a member of Ballet Hawaii’s Performing Ensemble for multiple seasons. One of her favorite pieces that she has danced has been the Kitri Act 3 variation from Don Quixote. Outside of dance, she often enjoys expressing herself through drawing and sewing.
Sophia Ozoa-Sioson
Sophia Ozoa-Sioson is a 14 year old freshman attending Mid–Pacific institute. She is currently enrolled in their dance certificate program and started dancing with Ballet Hawaii at the age of 4 at their West Studio. However, she took a break for a year to try new things. Sophia returned to Ballet Hawaii when she was 6 years old with the hope of performing one day in The Nutcracker. Her first Nutcracker with Ballet Hawaii was in 2022 and has since played the roles of party boy, clownfish, gecko, and little butterfly. Her 2 favorite roles have been Chinese Umbrella Girl and Ballerina Doll. Outside of ballet she enjoys spending time with friends and family and loves going to the beach.
Mabel Potts
Mabel Potts is a highschooler at Punahou and has been dancing for 8 years. She started her dance journey at 4 years old with San Diego Ballet. In 2016, she performed in her first Nutcracker as a mouse with City Ballet in San Diego, California. In 2017, Mabel moved to Hawai’i and continued to study ballet with Kailua Dance Academy where she performed Sleeping Beauty, Vivaldi’s Seasons, and Giselle. When she was in 8th grade, she transferred to Ballet Hawai’i and performed in their spring showcase under the choreography of Jennifer Gage and Regina Ahlgren. Within her first few months of dancing with Ballet Hawai’i, she joined the Performing Ensemble as a trainee. She performed in Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker as a Big Butterfly, Chinese Umbrella, and a Maid. In the previous few years she performed The Nutcracker with the Hawai’i Ballet Theater as a cake bearer, a chinese pretzel, an angel, and a soldier. Mabel also joined her classmates in Ballet Hawaii summer intensive for one week and then travelled to San Diego, California, to dance with City Ballet, where her mom was taught. While there, she was taught by many teachers, including Daniel Ulbricht, Indiana Woodward, and Ashley Bouder. She then performed in their summer show under the choreography of Elizabeth Wistrich, Geoff Gonzalez, and Daniel Ulbricht. In the summer of 2026, she was invited to dance at the Grainger Academy of Joffery Ballet in Chicago for 3 weeks. While at Joffrey, she performed an excerpt from Don Quixote, a Tarantella, and a contemporary piece where she was given a duet. After coming home, she was invited to join Joffery’s Grainger Academy’s dance lab program year round. She declined to keep up with school and stay with her family. Outside of dance, Mabel enjoys expressing herself through fashion and music. She likes to hang out with friends, shop, and listen to music. After high school, she wants to go into politics and become a politician.
Gabrijela Sandbo
Gabby Sandbo is a junior at Kamehameha Schools. She has been dancing with Ballet Hawaii since the age of 4. She has been in multiple productions of Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker and attended many Summer Intensives at Ballet Hawaii. Some of her favorite roles she has done are excerpts of Paquita and Orchid in The Nutcracker. Outside of dance, she enjoys reading and making art.
Andrea Santiago
Andrea Santiago is currently a 10th grader at Moanalua High School. She began her dance journey at the age of 3 in Florida, and later moved to Ballet Dimension in Germany, where she performed in her first Nutcracker. After her time in Germany, she continued her dance training with Ballet Yuma in Arizona, performing in The Nutcracker three times. She joined Ballet Hawaii during the summer of 2024, and has participated in their Nutcracker production since. Some of her favorite performances include “Groove is in the Heart” by Laine Sakakura, “Beatles” by Kathleen Sinclair, and “I Heard Everything In Slow Motion” by Regina Ahlgren. Apart from dancing, Andrea enjoys baking, shopping, playing pickleball, and spending time at the beach with her family and friends.
Junior/Trainee Members
Audrey Larsen
Junior
Audrey Larsen is a 10th grade student at Hawaii Technology Academy in Waipahu. She started dancing in 2015 at Impact Dance and trained at Northstate Ballet in 2017 until finding a home at Ballet Hawaii in 2019. She has participated in three Nutcrackers, two Ballet Intensives, and has enjoyed Spring Showcase contemporary and ballet pieces. Her highlight was dancing in Coppelia with principals from San Francisco Ballet. She loves all her teachers and classmates at Ballet Hawaii. Outside of dance Audrey enjoys art and volunteering as a tutor at Malama Mentors.
Kylie Nakatsuka
Junior
Kylie Nakatsuka is a 7th grader at Pearl City Highlands Intermediate School. She has been dancing with Ballet Hawaii since the age of 3. In that time, she has participated in Ballet Hawaii’s Summer Intensive program and danced in multiple productions of The Nutcracker, where two of her favorites roles were the Pink Clownfish and a Little Butterfly. Outside of ballet, Kylie enjoys gymnastics, reading, and hanging out with her friends.
Roosevelt Perez
Trainee
Rosie Perez is an 8th grader at Hawaii School for Girls at La Pietra. She began dancing ballet at the age of 3: first with San Diego Ballet, then Alameda Ballet Academy, and now with Ballet Hawaii since 2022. Rosie has enjoyed learning various forms of dance over the years alongside ballet including contemporary/jazz, hula, salsa, and character. She has participated in summer intensives through Ballet Hawaii, American Ballet Theatre (ABT), School of American Ballet (SAB), and most recently with Boston Ballet. Her favorite roles have been clownfish, acrobat doll, and party boy. Outside of dancing, Rosie enjoys reading, going to the beach, and hanging out with her friends.