JOHN LANDOVSKY, Director of Hawaii State Ballet, was born in Riga, Latvia. Mr. Landovsky's extensive performing career has affiliated him with several dance companies on the mainland and abroad, both as principal dancer and guest artist with International Ballet Company, Chicago Opera Ballet and Wurttenberg Stats Opera in Stuttgart, Germany. He has shared the stage with many renown artists such as: Rudolph Nureyev; Henning Kronstrom, past director of the Royal Danish Ballet; the late Erick Bruhn, past di rector of the National Ballet of Canada; and Helgi Thomasson, director of the San Francisco Ballet. As a choreographer, Mr. Landovsky has earned acclaim for his ballets The Devil and Daniel Webster, Soliloquy of Hamlet, and his first ballet Moldavian Suite. He has won awards for choreography in musical theatre for Oliver, My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, and Fiddler on the Roof.

Mr. Landovsky has taken an active role in encouraging ballet in communities on the mainland and has taught in dance programs of many prestigious schools including the University of Illinois in Champaign, National Academy of Arts, Edinborough Festival in Scotland, Texas Christian University and the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. As a director, he formed the Bartlesville Civic Ballet in Oklahoma and was the Artistic Director of Duluth Ballet in Minnesota. He came to Hawaii in 1982 as Artistic Director of Ballet Hawaii. In 1983, Mr. Landovsky created Hawaii State Ballet with its exceptional Junior Company. He has trained dancers at HSB who have danced with ABT, the Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Washington Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, and Colorado Ballet.

GINA SURLES, Assistant Director/Ballet Mistress of Hawaii State Ballet, was born in Chicago, Illinois. She received ballet and modern training from Larry Long and Richard Arve at the Ruth Page Foundation in Chicago, and at the University of Illinois where she studied with John Landovsky, Beverly Blossom, and Mary Price Boday. Other studies included Dance Composition, Music, Dance for Children, and Anatomy. After receiving her B.F.A. degree in dance, Ms. Surles continued further dance studies in New York City, primarily from Finis Jhung, and as a dancer in the Larry Richardson Dance Company. Ms. Surles has also performed with the Illinois Dance Theatre, Beverly Blossom and Company, and Duluth Ballet. At HSB Ms. Surles teaches the Junior II to IV levels.