Annri Opitz-Kostick

Annri Opitz-Kostick was born in Yokosuka, Japan and began training at ballet schools in Japan and Hawai‘i, performing leading roles with Ballet Studio Geijutsu-za and Hawai‘i State Ballet. She spent her summers training at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Washington Ballet, Royal Academy of Dance, and Centre de Danse International (Rossella Hightower) in Cannes, France. She also studied with David Howard, and with numerous teachers from the Bolshoi Ballet, Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. Opitz-Kostick performed as a soloist with the National Youth Ballet, graduated from the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and received her BFA and MFA from the University of Utah, Department of Ballet.

She has choreographed and taught at dance schools across the mainland. Opitz-Kostick has been a dance faculty member at the University of Utah as well as the University of Oklahoma. Before returning home to Honolulu in 2008, Opitz-Kostick was an instructor and choreographer at Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also held the position of dance department chair at the Waterford School and created Waterford Ballet Academy. From 2010 – 2022, Opitz-Kostick was teaching at Pas de Deux Hawai‘i and also served as their dance department coordinator and ballet director.  Over the twelve years, her students have been accepted into prestigious dance programs and have won multiple awards with her choreography. She received an outstanding choreographer award at Youth America Grand Prix San Francisco in 2020 for her work “Let It Be”. Opitz-Kostick has also taught at Drill Team Hawai‘i, Page Academy of Dance, Honolulu Classical Ballet and Ballet Hawai‘i. She also co-founded Balance Forward Contemporary Ballet Theatre where she choreographed and performed.

Opitz-Kostick became the dance director of Punahou Dance School in 2022 and she is looking forward to creating new ideas as well as continuing the long history of dance at Punahou.