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.

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.

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.

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 teaches 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.

Chiara began dancing at the age of 3 with Luana Haraguchi, kumu hula of Hālau Hula O Na Mele `Aina O Hawai`i. 5 years later, she began her ballet training at Ballet Arts NJ under the direction of former Ballet Theatre soloist, Diana Turner Hauser. From 2007-2012, Chiara trained at the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive in New York City. Also passionate about science, she began working at the American Museum of Natural History in 2013. A year later, she entered Columbia University as an Astrophysics major, and continued her work at the museum. During this time, she also danced with Columbia Ballet Collaborative, originating roles in new ballets by Charles Askegard, Maurice Curry, Kevin Jenkins, Barry Kerollis, Robert LaFosse, Morgan McEwan, Kelley Potter, Janice Rosario, Michelle Thomson Ulerich, and Connor Yockus and dancing repertoire from George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins in Who Cares?, Valse Fantaisie, Serenade, and Antique Epigraphs. After earning her B.A. in 2018, she joined the Hawai`i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology as a Graduate Research Assistant. She is now a PhD candidate at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, studying the Moon and remote sensing. She loves that she has been able to continue dancing alongside her academic pursuits, and hopes to help instill a lifelong passion for dance in the next generation of students.

Instructor 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.

Lindsay is a proud alumni 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 Pre-Ballet, Ballet 1, Adult Beginning Ballet, and Adult Beginning 1 Ballet. She loves being back at QEB because her passion for dance and her lifelong friendships were born there. 

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.

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 a ballet instructor, production manager, and administrative assistant, and hopes to pass on the love of dance she acquired from her years as a former student.

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."

Celia Chun has a BFA/MFA from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Ms. Chun has danced principal roles with local dance companies: Ballet Hawaii, Hawaii Ballet Theater and Honolulu Dance Theater. Ms. Chun currently teaches Ballet and Contemporary Dance at the Mid-Pacific Institute and UH, Manoa.

Anna 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.

Well known to audiences as director of Diamond Head Theater. He has directed and/or choreographed many musicals including Into the Woods, La Cage aux Folles, Anything Goes, Hello Dolly! and most recently The Producers. John is a 32-time Po’okela Award winner. He has headed award-winning productions at LCC and Manoa Valley Theater also. John is the recipient of the Hawaii State Theater Council 2006 Pierre Bowman Award.