Faculty

Received a B.A. in Education and a M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Hawaii. She studied with Reiko Oda as a child and continued her studies in Hawaii and New York City. Before founding Queen Emma Ballet with Eve Walstrum, Suzanne choreographed and performed statewide, was the recipient of State Artists-in-the-Schools grants and several choreographic awards by the Hawaii State Dance Council. Suzanne also attended the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet teacher’s workshop under the direction of renowned dance educator Marcia Dale Weary whose syllabus we incorporate in our youth program. She is married to Lawrence Rowland, and they have a daughter and a son who both danced with QEB. She considers herself so fortunate to be able to combine her love of ballet with the joys of working with children and young adults.

She received her early training at Joffrey, Harkness, and New York School of Ballet. At New York School of Ballet she trained under founding teachers Richard Thomas and Barbara Fallis. Her first professional company was Eliot Feld’s American Ballet. She then took her career international and joined Batsheva Dance Company, a well-known contemporary company in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her most influential and fulfilling professional dance came with her tenure of 12 years at Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT), an internationally acclaimed company. She was honored to dance under and originate roles in ballets with world-renowned NDT artistic director Jiri Kylian, whose choreography is highly sought by dance companies worldwide. After retiring from professional dance, Eve moved to Hawaii and founded Queen Emma Ballet with Suzanne Rowland in 1989. Eve has choreographed for University of Hawaii at Manoa, Ballet Hawaii, Dances We Dance, and Tau Dance Theater, among others. At UH Manoa, Eve taught the advanced ballet class for 25 years. Eve wants to help her students reach their full potential, improve their self confidence, and strengthen their artistic expressiveness. She aspires to instill in all her students a joy of movement.

Ms. Wendler was born in Honolulu Hawaii. She received her ballet training from Nina Marlow in Phoenix, AZ. The Joffrey Ballet Program brought her to New York City. Since then, she has danced and worked with Ballet Idaho, Ballet Metropolitan of Caracas in Venezuela, Ballet International in Indianapolis, Ballet Concierto of Puerto Rico, Ballet Jorgen Canada in Toronto, Thomas/Ortiz in NYC. She danced as a Principal dancer with Connecticut Ballet, Covenant Ballet, Dances Patrelle and Rebecca Kelly Ballet. She has been coached by Elena Kunikova, Diana Cartier, and Prima Ballerina and Master Coach at ABT Irina Koplakova.

Therese has taught extensively in NYC for Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in their Ballet Junior Division Department, The Ailey Extension, Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive Program and The Joffrey Summer program for Character and International Dance. She also taught at The Rioult Dance Center for the school and was a guest teacher for their company and as a guest teacher for the company of Jessica Lang Dance. She was a faculty member of Ballet Academy East in the Adult Division and was the Department Chair of Ballet at the Rivertown Dance Academy in Tarrytown, NY. She is thrilled to have returned to her roots where she is now the Artistic Director of Queen Emma Ballet.

From Colombia, trained at the Neubert Ballet Institute and the New York High School of the Performing Arts while on scholarship at Joffrey Ballet School. She danced with Ballet Arizona for eight seasons, as well as with Garden State Ballet, Princeton Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Albany/Berkshire Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, and Ballet Chicago. Featured roles include the Cowgirl in Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and Principal In George Balanchine’s Valse Fantasie. She was a cast member of the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera and Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Mexico City. As a choreographer, Minou has created works for Ballet Arizona, New Choreographer’s on Point, Youth America Grand Prix Competition, Three Phantoms in Concert, Latin Choreographers Festival in NYC, Hawaii Opera Theatre (Pearl Fishers, Turandot, and Sweeney Todd), Queen Emma Ballet, and Ballet Hawaii. She is founder and Artistic Director of Onium Ballet Project, which has regularly collaborated with Chamber Music Hawaii, creating new original ballets to Stravinsky’s L’Histioire du Soldat, Barber’s Summer Music, Milhaud’s Creation of the World, Hindemith’s Der Damon, Martinu’s La Revue de Cuisine, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Miguel del Aguila’s Clocks, Prokofiev’s Trapeze, Arvo Part’s Fratres, Osvaldo Golijov’s Lullaby and Doina and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas. Minou taught at the University of Hawaii and has been teaching and choreographing at Queen Emma Ballet for fourteen years. Minou also attended the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet teacher’s workshop under the direction of renowned dance educator Marcia Dale Weary whose syllabus we incorporate in our youth program. She enjoys sharing her love and knowledge of this beautiful art form with the next generation of dancers.

A proud home-grown Queen Emma Ballet dancer, studying under Suzanne Rowland, Eve Walstrum, Michael Sanders and Andrew Sakaguchi from 1998-2005. Journeying to the east coast for college in Massachusetts, she was a 4 year member in Clark University’s Dance Society, a co-director for 2 years, as well as the coordinator for the Polynesian dance for their annual International Gala. Returning to Hawaii after graduating, she has taught and choreographed for Keikidance through Ballet 2 and Jazz 1 at QEB.

Alyssa also attended the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet teacher’s workshop under the direction of renowned dance educator Marcia Dale Weary whose syllabus we incorporate in our youth program. She is thrilled to continue to be part of the QEB ohana as Managing Director and an instructor, and hopes to pass on the love of dance she acquired from her years as a former student.

Charlaine Katsuyoshi is a Kailua native and 1994 graduate of Iolani School. Her passion for dance took her to the University of California, Irvine, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She went on to an illustrious professional career performing with Momix, Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago, Lar Lubovitch in NYC, and danced the role of the cheetah in The Lion King on Broadway. After starting a family, she returned home to Hawaii to join the dance faculty at Mid-Pacific Institute. She simultaneously worked on a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Hawaii, Manoa which she completed in 2016.

Beth Muaina is from Laie, Hawaii. She received her dancing degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with an emphasis in teaching creative movement to children. Immediately following college graduation, she moved to Philadelphia, PA, working as Residence Director for the Rock School for Dance Education. She loved working with the ballet students in Philadelphia, but the islands eventually called her back home. She returned to O`ahu where she married her high school sweetheart and is now a proud mother of four young children – 3 of which are students at Queen Emma Ballet. Beth teaches Wee Dance, Keikidance, and Pre-Ballet movement classes at QEB. Beth loves working with children and sharing her joy for dancing, music, and creative expression.

Miss Jenny grew up in the former East Germany, where she found her passion for ballet. She was trained in the Russian style ballet (Vaganova) in her hometown theatre where she also performed in professional ballet productions like Esmeralda, Sheherazade and Coppelia. Her marriage to an American brought her to San Francisco, California, where she dedicated most of her time in training ballet with teachers from all over the world and getting certified as a Ballet Master with Dance Masters of America, Inc. as well as Pilates and Yoga instructor. When she returned to Germany, she opened up her own dance studio that she ran successfully until she moved to Hawaii in 2018. She is honored to have the opportunity to teach at Queen Emma Ballet.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico but grew up in Orange County, California where he first received his dance training. At the age of seventeen, he moved to Los Angeles to continue his studies. His path took him to Japan where he taught and performed for two years. He has also worked in film, television and the stage in the U.S. He was cast as lead dancer in the Broadway production of The Lion King and as lead dancer and Dance Captain for the touring company, as well. Touring gave him the opportunity to teach in studios around the country and eventually brought him to Hawaii and Mid-Pacific Institute where he has been teaching contemporary dance for the past two years. “I have been so blessed my entire life, but to now have the opportunity to pass the torch to young dancers here in Hawaii is a dream come true. Truly the Circle of Life.”

Lindsay is a proud alum of Queen Emma Ballet. She’s studied with Suzanne Rowland, Eve Walstrum, Michael Sanders, and Minou Lallemand from 1995-2009. She attended Wesleyan University and received a B.A in Dance and East Asian Studies. After returning home in 2013, Lindsay began her career teaching Special Education at Waipahu High School. In 2014, she started the Creative Dance program and in 2015 she helped create the school’s competition hip hop team. Lindsay came back to Queen Emma Ballet in 2017 and teaches, Adult Beginning Ballet, and Adult Ballet Basics. She loves being back at QEB because her passion for dance and her lifelong friendships were born there.

Annie Motteler is a graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts and performed with the State of Alabama Ballet under the direction of Dame Sonia Arova. Locally, she performed with Onium Ballet, Tau Dance Theater, Honolulu Dance Theater, Hawaii Ballet Theater, and Ballet Hawaii. She trained with Nolan Dingman at the Honolulu City Dance Center, John Landovsky at Hawaii State Ballet, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and at the Chicago City Ballet School with Maria Tallchief. She currently teaches and performs at Diamond Head Theatre.

Christine Kaminski began her training at Harbor Ballet Theatre in Port Jefferson, NY. She holds a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Christine then danced as a soloist with the Kentucky Ballet Theatre for four years, where she was featured in Dracula, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Saerpil, and The Wizard of Oz. In 2006, she moved to Newport, RI, where she danced for Island Moving Company for 12 seasons. Christine danced leading roles in IMC’s productions of The Nutcracker, Dracula, and Peter Pan, and had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of choreographers. She has been living and working in Honolulu since 2018 and teaches QEB’s Adult Ballet 3-4 class every second Sunday of the month.

Jacob Seltzer-Rios is a classically trained dancer and choreographic artist, recently completing five seasons as a corps de ballet member with the San Francisco Ballet. A graduate of the San Francisco Ballet School’s Trainee Program, Jacob has performed in world premieres by Helgi Tomasson, Cathy Marston, and Alexei Ratmansky, among others. His training includes prestigious programs such as the Paris Opera Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre. We are thrilled to have him join our team of talented QEB instructors!

Crystal Yukumoto, born in Honolulu and raised in Germany and the USA, holds a BFA and MEd in Education from Texas Christian University. With over 20 years of experience, she has taught ballet, pointe, and body conditioning at the Swedish National Ballet School and studios across Texas and Hawaii. Crystal’s professional performance credits include Skånes Dansteater, North Texas Ballet Theatre, and Ballet Frontier, as well as collaborations with renowned artists like Debbie Allen and Alonso King. She has choreographed over 25 original works, produced multiple full-length ballets, and developed dance programs for institutions like the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. Crystal is excited to bring her diverse background and love for dance to the Queen Emma Ballet community.

Ballet Faculty: QEB, ABT open class, Broadway Dance Center, Peridance (NYC), Paul Taylor Dance Co. Choreography: King & I (Associate: Broadway, West End London, 1st & 2nd National US Tour, Tokyo production, 1st & 2nd UK Tour, World Tour). TV/Film Choreography: Tony Awards (2015), Olivier Awards (2019), Live From the Palladium Theatre: The King & I, BBC One Show, Live with Kelly & Michael, ITV This Morning. Also direction: Miss Saigon, The Sound of Music, The King & I, Elf The Musical, Singin’ In The Rain, A Chorus Line among others. Greg teaches Adult Ballet 3-4 on Thursdays and every third Sunday of the month at QEB.