honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, August 8, 2003

Dancers celebrate choreographer's life, work

By Liz Howell
Special to The Advertiser

Michael Sanders and his wife, Eve Walstrum, perform with the Netherlands Dans Theater.

Queen Emma Ballet

Tribute to Michael Sanders

A commemorative dance performance: memorial presentation, 1 p.m. tomorrow; dance program, 2-4 p.m.

UH-Manoa Campus Center Ballroom

Information: Queen Emma Ballet, 735-6553

A dance program tomorrow presented by members of Queen Emma Ballet and the Hawai'i dance community is designed to honor well-known Honolulu dancer and dance teacher Michael Sanders, who died of a heart attack last month.

The commemorative program will celebrate his life and his lifelong love of dance. Performers include Rachel Berman, former soloist with the Paul taylor Dance Company, Peter Rockford Espiritu of Tau Dance Theater, hula dancer Kanoe Miller, dancers Paul Maley and Marie Takazawa and singer Loretta Ables Sayer.

"This is how Michael would have wanted it to be," says Betsy Fisher, a University of Hawai'i-Manoa professor of dance and theater. "He had a great, joyous attitude about life — we'll miss him."

Monday night, Queen Emma dancers ranging in age from 15 to 17 met to rehearse and reminisce about their teacher, saying he always pushed and encouraged them to be their best.

Nicole Yoshikane, who has studied at Queen Emma Ballet since she was 8, said Sanders, who taught and choreographed for the organization, "was always encouraging and positive, very happy with a big smile," she said. "And so nurturing! He loved coming to class every day and working with his dancers. He never got mad. He was a joyful, cheerful, cheerful guy."

Sanders and Eve Walstrum, Sander's wife, dance partner and artistic director of Queen Emma Ballet, enjoyed many years of international recognition as members of the acclaimed Netherlands Dance Theater under the directorship of Jiri Kylian. The company first performed in the United States at the Spoleto Festival in 1978 in South Carolina and quickly became known for being on the cutting edge of contemporary ballet.

In 1984, Sanders and Walstrum vacationed in Hawai'i while visiting her parents. They made the decision to return upon retirement from the company.

The couple not only made Hawai'i their home but also decided to marry here and bring their worldly talents and love of dance to the Islands.

Twelve years ago, Walstrum and Suzanne Rowland, a dancer, teacher and administrator, took over Queen Emma Ballet. Hundreds of dancers have since waltzed across the Queen Emma studio floor.

Sanders also taught and choreographed for Ballet Hawaii and the University of Hawai'i. "The students loved him," said Pamela TayloriTongg, artistic director of Ballet Hawaii. "He always had a smile on is face. He will be missed in the dance community; he was always a light."

Fischer, who invited Sanders to choreograph a piece for her students at UH-Manoa, called him "a wonderful choreographer.

"He danced with some of the great contemporary masters of dance and spent much of his dance career in Europe prior to coming to Hawai'i, so he brings this dance savvy to the community," she said. "And it has rubbed off on us. His choreography always gave students an opportunity to do more than just recital material. He created new works that took them well beyond the regular drill."

"It was hard!" says Tau Dance Theater artistic director Peter Rockford Espiritu, of Sanders' choreography. "I performed one of his works when I was dancing with Ballet Hawaii in the mid-1990s, and it was the hardest partnering I have ever done in dance. But with his ballet and modern-dance background, Michael really had a natural understanding of how to work with inertia in partnering. I learned so much. He was amazing."

Queen Emma dance instructor Marie Takazawa said, "He was such a wonderful partner to dance with; everyone wanted to be his partner. He brought a passion and knowledge of dance to Hawai'i that we will all miss."

Rowland commented, "It's been such an inspiration to work with him. He really engaged the students and inspired them. His love for dance and compassion for his students was always paramount in his classroom. He's been the father of this school, and he was loved by his students."

Beyond the professional dancers and highly trained aspiring ballerinas in Hawai'i, Sanders reached out to an even broader audience of dance lovers and taught adult ballet to a regular following.

"Two times a week I climbed the stairs to the Queen Emma Studio, for 12 years," Carol Richelieu remarked. "After a stressful day at work, you'd get to class, and Michael would make you forget it all. He was a ballet sensei — he was more than just a teacher, he became part of my life."