On the Scene with Derek Daniels

Two months after graduating from Castle High School in 1981, Derek Daniels was dancing in a Hawaiian show on Guam.

It was the first stop in a career that has included stage, television and film work on the mainland, in Japan and Europe. Daniels danced and acted, recorded an album in France, and worked internationally as a choreographer, director and producer.

In 1999 he returned to Hawaii to help care for his parents. He’s been choreographing and producing here ever since and also branched out into real estate, property management and interior decorating.

Daniels returns to the stage each December to play the Rat King and Mother Ginger/Momma Moana in Ballet Hawaii’s spectacular production of “The Nutcracker.”

JOHN BERGER: You celebrated your 55th birthday last month, and you look like you live in a gym. How do you stay so fit?

DEREK DANIELS: I’ve always gone to the gym, even in my younger age, like when I was 19. I eat right.

My body is my tool so I like to take care of it so I can continue to do what I love to do, which is dance, perform and choreograph.

JB: How did you get established in Hawaii when you came back?

DD: I produced the International Market Place Hula Show, then I choreographed the show for the Navatek, and everything just snowballed.

Other than that, I’m an entrepreneur who’s always been interested in many things.

JB: Are you able to watch dancers without critiquing them?

DD: No, I cannot, but I learn a lot too. I’ve always been like that.

JB: What do you like to do to get away from business?

DD: I love to go to movies by myself. That’s my “down” period. You don’t talk to anybody in the movies anyway.

JB: Who is the most memorable person you’ve worked with?

DD: Grace Jones. She has that “Grace Jones persona” everybody knows, and although she’s not like that 24/7, she really knows how to put that “diva” out there.

(Lady) Gaga is creative like that, but there is nobody like Grace Jones.

JB: What is something about you that might surprise people?

DD: That I speak four languages? Japanese, French, English and Hawaiian.

JB: What’s your next big project?

DD: Two projects. I’m going to Japan in April to conduct a hula workshop, and I’ll be doing “Sleeping Beauty” with Ballet Hawaii this summer.

“On the Scene” appears on Sundays in the Star-Advertiser. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.