Uehara makes 4,000-mile trek to teach in MAC dance program

Of all the new teachers hired this year, Natalie Uehara had one of the longest journeys to take in order to have the job. Ms. Nat, as she’s known by her students, has traveled nearly 4,000 miles from Honolulu, Hawaii, to teach majors and nonmajors dance classes at McCallum. She is taking the position vacated by Brazie Adamez last year.

Originally from Florida, Ms. Nat has lived in Hawaii for the past eight years, teaching dance at James B. Castle High School in Honolulu choreographing for the school’s musicals, and working around the city at various dance studios. She has a passion for teaching young people and says that it’s her favorite thing to do.

“I love teaching because I love making personal connections with students, and I love watching students grow,” she said. “Whether they have lots of dance experience or they’ve never danced before, I just love watching the progress they can make and seeing each student being the best that they can be.”

Prior to teaching high school, she attended Marymount Manhattan College, a school renowned for its dance program and worked for a cruise line as a dancer and later a production supervisor. This is where she met Joshua Denning, McCallum’s theatre director. The two stayed in touch as they followed similar career trajectories, both going from performers on a cruise ship to teaching high school. In fact, it was through her connection with Mr. Denning that she heard about the job opening at McCallum.

Ms. Nat said that so far has been very well received by her new students, already forming a bond with them.

“The students have been really helpful and welcoming, and I’m looking forward to dancing with them,” she said. According to sophomore Chloe Shields, Ms. Nat has been taking time to get to know the dancers and has so far been very warm and accepting towards them, even going as far as to call them her “family.” McCallum’s veteran dance teacher, Rachel Murray, thinks that Ms. Nat has so far been a fitting replacement for Mrs. Adamez, calling them both “highly professional and very knowledgeable in the work that they do.”

Ms. Nat’s background is predominantly in commercial dance, jazz, Broadway and tap, contrasting with Ms. Murray’s experience which lies mainly in classical modern and ballet. Ms. Murray hopes that training the McCallum dancers in a wide variety of styles will help prepare them to work in the world of dance.

“We (dancers) just never know where our jobs are going to come from and where our opportunities are going to come from,” she said. “We want to train dancers to be prepared for all aspects of work.”

Chloe Shields agrees, the variability in dance style will equip the McCallum dancers with the skills they need to find work if they continue to dance after graduation.

“A lot of a dancer’s work is in Broadway and musical theatre, commercials and TV,” she said. If that’s the kind of thing that she’s going for then that’ll be good because it’ll open us up to new opportunities and help round us out.”