Derek Sakakura

“Become the teacher you always wish you had.” 

Derek Sakakura has been fortunate enough to be a professional performing artist for over twenty years as in ballet, musical theater, and acting. Derek danced as a professional the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Ballet Austin, and San Francisco Opera Ballet. He became a principal dancer with Ballet Met and Diablo Ballet and danced lead roles in ballets choreographed by: George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Dwight Rhoden, Ben Stevenson, David Parsons, Val Caniparoli, James Kudelka, Stephen Mills, Warren Adams, Jerome Robbins, Trey McIntyre, Stanton Welch, Christopher Stowell, Septime Webre, David Nixon, and many more. 

Derek’s unusual versatility afforded him the opportunity to perform as a cast member in the Tony Award winning (1996 Best Revival of a Musical), Broadway national tour of, “The King & I,” choreographed by the legendary Jerome Robbins with new choreography by Lar Lubovich. Performing in the lead dance role as King Simon of Legree in his hometown area, for family, teachers, and friends in San Francisco, is still a highlight of his early career. 

In the latter part of his performing career, Derek was recruited to play Bernardo in Woodminster Theater’s production of “West Side Story.” His experiences as an actor in musical theater led Derek to be scouted for Clint Eastwood’s movie, “The Hereafter,” while he was performing in Maui’s visionary show, “ ‘ulalena,” in the role of Taro. Derek continues to enjoy acting, on occasion, but he feels that his truest calling is in teaching and mentoring. 

A Bay Area native, Derek Sakakura has trained with some of the area’s legendary teachers: Lareen Fender, Sally Streets, and Sandra Chinn. His formal training continued under scholarships with San Francisco Ballet School and Houston Ballet Academy, where, at age:16, he was offered one of six out-of-state scholarships to live and train in their pre-professional program. 

Although Mr. Sakakura officially retired from performing in 2016, he has gone on to study salsa, argentine tango, contact improvisation, freestyling, and fusion-dance partnering. He loves dancing regularly in all styles, and he has been humbled by how a lifetime of study in dance still leaves many lifetimes of ways to experience dance. He has cultivated a daily yoga practice and has learned how lucky he is to be able to feel so strong and free in his body.