Ballet Hawaii Performing Ensemble

Charlie Ahlgren Folkert is a sophomore at Henry J. Kaiser High School. She has been dancing since the age of four with Ballet Hawaii. She has placed as an overall division winner in multiple dance competitions, most recently placing 5th in Spotlight as well as receiving Technique Award. Her favorite productions that she has danced in are Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty. Along with attending Ballet Hawaii’s Summer Intensive programs over the years, she participated in the Bolshoi Ballet Summer Intensive, and the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive in New York City. She is currently starring in a high school production of Bye Bye Birdie, and is looking forward to participating in the Bolshoi Ballet’s Summer Intensive 2023. In her spare time, Charlie enjoys creating visual art such as drawings and paintings as well as reading and writing.

Emma Baynes is a 10th grade student enrolled at HTA (Hawaii Technology Academy). She has been dancing since she was 4 years old and has been dancing with Ballet Hawaii for 3 years. Emma attended San Francisco Ballet School’s summer intensive in 2020 and 2022. Her favorite roles she has performed are variations from Raymonda and Paquita. Outside of ballet Emma enjoys hiking and going to the beach.

Sophie Chen is a junior at Punahou School. She has danced for 13 years. Her favorite role that she can remember was one of the orchids in Ballet Hawaii’s 2022 The Nutcracker. Some of her favorite pieces she has danced in are Mrs. Susan’s, The Fire Within, and Mrs. Christine’s, Solidarity from Ballet Hawaii’s 2022 Performing Ensemble. Outside of dance, Sophie bakes a lot and hangs out with her rabbit, Jolly.

Aine Des Pres, a freshman at Kaiser High School, began dancing when she was 3 years old. Previously with Honolulu Classical Ballet in Kaimuki, Aine joined Ballet Hawaii in early 2022.  Her favorite dances include Fairy Doll and a Kitri variation. Outside of ballet, Aine enjoys hanging out with her friends.

Elise Glazier is a sophomore at Punahou School.  She started dancing at the age of 3 in Charleston, SC and had been dancing at Ballet Hawaii ever since!  She loves to perform and has participated in every Showcase, several Ballet Hawaii summer intensives and with the Carolina Ballet SI last year.  Her most memorable roles –  a Baby Flamingo in Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland, a Garland dancer in Kansas City Ballet’s, The Sleeping Beauty, and dancing in the 2022 Nutcracker after a long hiatus.  In her free time, Elise is an accomplished skier, loves to surf, and cook!

Alana Haydu is a junior attending Mid-Pacific Institute. She has been dancing since the age of three and has danced at Hawaii State Ballet before transferring to Ballet Hawaii at age ten, where she has enjoyed attending the Summer Intensive Program. One of her favorite pieces that she has performed is Agape during Spring Ensemble. Outside of the dance studio, Alana enjoys reading.

Meg Huffman is a Sophomore at Myron B. Thompson Academy. She has been dancing with Ballet Hawaii since she was 4 years old. She has participated in many of Ballet Hawaii’s productions, such as Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker, Alice in Wonderland, and The Sleeping Beauty. Her favorite roles include Orchid and Chinese Umbrella Girl from The Nutcracker. Outside of dance, she enjoys playing the piano and baking.

An island girl, born and raised on Oahu, Aria’s love of dance and ballet began at a young age when she was enrolled in her very first class at Ballet Hawaii. She loved it! Aria has since danced with Ballet Hawaii for the past 12 years in their Performing Arts School, Summer Intensives, annual productions of The Nutcracker, and with Ballet Hawaii’s Performing Ensemble. Aria is currently a student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa pursuing a degree in Creative Media. She was recently accepted into The Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders Student Alumni Program and is currently interning with Hawaii News Now. Aria loves being able to inspire other little budding ballerinas to find joy in dancing.

Maximus Latu is a freshman and dance certificate student at Mid-Pacific Institute’s School of the Arts. He has been dancing since the age of 4 at Ballet Hawaii. His favorite performance to date is Unraveled. Outside of dance, Max is on his school’s Model UN team and enjoys spending time with his friends at the mall and the beach.

Kendel T. Martin, homeschooled high school junior and dual enrolled at the University Hawaii West Oahu, has been dancing ballet for approximately 10 years as well as various contemporary styles for the last 5 years. She was first introduced to ballet at a small ballet school in South Korea where she took classes for a year, and then later took a second year of ballet at a dance studio on Hickam Air Force Base. She has spent the following years of her dance training at Ballet Hawaii where she has been given numerous opportunities to perform in The Nutcracker and in the Performing Ensemble. Thus far Kendel’s favorite role was playing a Princess in Ballet Hawaii’s Summer Intensive 2022 performance. In addition to performing, she loves to fill her Saturday mornings at Ballet Hawaii volunteering as a TA for both the Creative Movement and Creative Dance classes, however, her devotion to dance has not prevented her from pursuing her interests in other areas, such as creative writing.

Jadyn Pang is currently in 12th Grade at Myron B. Thompson Academy. She has been at Ballet Hawaii since she started dancing almost 14 years ago. She attended The Washington School of Ballet Summer Intensive in 2020. Her favorite roles so far are Snowflake and I’iwi Bird from Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker. Outside of dance, Jadyn enjoys traveling and visiting new places.

Mia Perkins is a Senior at Waialua High School.  She started ballet at age four and has been dancing for over 13 years. Mia has been with Ballet Hawaii for 8 years and danced at the Conservatory of Movement in Reno, NV prior to island life. She has attended several of Ballet Hawaii’s Summer Intensive and Master Classes and has appreciated the opportunity to learn from and dance alongside such renowned professionals. Mia has performed many roles in Nutcracker, Summer Intensive, Spring Showcase and the BH Performing Ensemble. A few recent favorites have been excerpts from Swan Lake as well as Snow and Orchid from this past year’s Nutcracker. Outside of dance, Mia loves to bake, do ceramics, go to the beach, walk the dog, and spend time with her friends.

Olivia Butterfly (OB) Rodriguez is in the 10th grade at La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls. She discovered ballet at age 2 when she spent most classes staring at the other girls twirling around.  Once she found her passion, she never stopped.  She became a part of the Ballet Hawaii family when she moved to Oahu from Spokane, Wa. just three months before the pandemic drove ballet online.  In Washington, she was a student of Sara Donally at the Spokane Ballet Studio and performed in State Street Ballet’s The Nutcracker. There she received a certification of merit in the Pacific Northwest Music Fest. Her favorite role has been Snowflakes in Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker. OB enjoys playing basketball and thrift store shopping when she is not dancing and has grand plans of becoming a contributor to her community.

Gabriel Salonga is a freshman at Mid-Pacific Institute. He has been dancing with Ballet Hawaii for 10 years, but he has been dancing for 12 years. Last year, Gabriel attended the Alvin Ailey summer intensive in New York City.  Gabriel also studies dance at Mid-Pacific. His favorite performances have been in Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker and a variation from Raymonda. When he’s not dancing, Gabriel enjoys computer programming and photography.

Shiina Tsuchiya is currently a senior at Kalani High School and she will be going to college next school year. She has been dancing at Ballet Hawaii for 11 years now. Her favorite roles are the I’iwi bird and the Snowflake from Ballet Hawaii’s The Nutcracker. Besides dancing ballet, she enjoys hiking and going on picnics.”

Madie Young is a 8th grader at ‘Iolani School. She started dancing ballet at age 3, in preschool, with St. Laurent School of Dance. She danced at Queen Emma Ballet for two years, before moving to Honolulu Classical Ballet, where she danced for the next six years. Madie joined Ballet Hawaii at the end of 2020 during the COVID pandemic. She attended the 2022 summer intensives at San Francisco Ballet and Ballet Hawaii. Her favorite role is Pizzicato variation from Raymonda. Outside of ballet, Madie enjoys baking and hanging out with her dog, Toby.

Drew Cai is a freshman at Punahou School. They’ve been dancing for 7 years all of which were at Ballet Hawaii. She doesn’t have a favorite dance she has done before and outside of dance she enjoys eating and hanging out with her friends.

Mckenna Finney is a freshman at St. Benedict Hall, a homeschool hybrid program. She has been dancing since she was 3 at various studios across the country. She has participated in 8 Nutcrackers, half of which have been with Ballet Hawaii. Her favorite Nutcracker roles have been dancing as Fritz and Flowers. Mckenna has participated in several other ballets, and she particularly enjoyed performing in La Bayadère and Alice in Wonderland with Carolina Youth Ballet. She has attended summer intensives at both Ballet Hawaii and Carolina Ballet. Outside of dance, she enjoys reading, writing, art, and baking.

Ella Garcia is a junior at Leilehua High School and has been dancing since the age of three. Being a military child, Ella has danced at various studios across the United States including Cornwall, New York; Killeen, Texas; El Paso Texas; Carlisle Pennsylvania and Falls Church, Virginia. Ella came to Ballet Hawaii in 2019 after dancing at BalletNova Center for Dance just outside of Washington D.C. Ella’s favorite performance to date was dancing La Soirée Enchantée in Ballet Hawaii’s Spring Showcase 2022. Outside of dance, Ella is on her school’s speech and debate team, golf team and serves in a leadership position for her class.

Carley Hanson is in 8th grade at Hawaii Technological Academy and has been dancing since age four. Studios include Floyd Ward Dance in Roanoke, VA, Virginia Beach Ballet Academy and Russian Ballet Academy in Newmarket, NH. Roles in The Nutcracker include soldier, candy cane, flower, snow angel and Hawaiian warrior. She also performed as a swan in Swan Lake for Northeastern Ballet Theatre. Outside of the studio, Carley enjoys baking, snorkeling, and paddle boarding.

Harley Izu is a sophomore attending Hawaii Technology Academy, where she is an honor student. Harley began her ballet training at 3 years old at Prisma Dance. In addition to ballet, Harley has trained in acro dance, lyrical, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, and partner acro. She has been a teacher’s assistant and has attended summer intensives at Prisma. She has competed in World of Dance Hawaii as well as at Spotlight Dance Cup. At Spotlight she performed one of her favorite lyrical pieces, Hero, where her team earned a diamond award as well as a judge’s choice award. Harley transferred to Ballet Hawaii in the summer of 2020, where her favorite performances have been Trepak and a Corps de Ballet excerpt from Le Corsaire. Harley enjoys drawing, painting and learning to play musical instruments.

Cameron Miyamoto is a 7th grader at Punahou School. She began dancing at the age of 3 with The Movement Center in Kaimuki, where she has studied ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, tumbling, rhythmic gymnastics, and musical theatre. She has been a member of the TMC Dance Company since 2015 and has since competed with numerous group and solo routines. Cameron was named Overall Future Gems Division Winner at the 2017 Regional Spotlight Dance Cup in Honolulu and is a 6-time Spotlight Diamond Award and 3-time Judge’s Choice recipient. Most recently, she received the 5th and 3rd place awards at the 2022 Regional JUMP and Spotlight Dance Cup competitions, respectively. Cameron joined Ballet Hawaii in the summer of 2022 and attended her first Summer Intensive shortly thereafter, performing in the Swan Lake corps de ballet. She also performed the role of a Chinese Umbrella Girl in Ballet Hawaii’s 2022 The Nutcracker. Her favorite performance piece thus far has been Thievery, choreographed by John Selya, in Ballet Hawaii’s 2022 Dancing Among the Stars. Cameron has a passion for performing and has aspirations of one day making it onto the big screen. Outside of dance, she is an avid reader who enjoys self-expression through photo and art journaling. She also has a fondness for animals, particularly canine companions, and is contemplating a possible career in veterinary medicine.

Mia Ng is a freshman at James Campbell High School. She has been dancing since the age of 4 at Ballet Hawaii. Her favorite piece to dance is the Chinese Umbrella Girl in The Nutcracker. Mia has participated in Ballet Hawaii’s Summer Intensive and Nutcracker productions.