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The Television Academy has over 13,000 members ... and no two
of them alike. Everyone joined for different reasons, at different
times, for different career objectives. From time to time,
we'll introduce you to various members who will tell why they
are members.
Directors-Choreographers
Director-choreographer for the
twenty-fifth anniversary tour of Champions on Ice, scheduled to air
on TNT this spring. "It’s
a concert on ice. I do the opening and closing and put together the
overall look of the show. Because it’s the twenty-fifth, we’re
doing a celebration for the finale. I’m going to do a Latin celebration." Kawahara
is also cocreator, codirector (both with 1980 Olympic gold medalist
Robin Cousins) and choreographer for this year’s edition of the
European touring show Holiday on Ice.
WAS: Ice choreographer and associate staging director for the opening
and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games. "It’s
really very much like orchestration, and the skaters are the instruments.
One of the most interesting things about the experience was working
with Don Mischer. He really has a director’s eye for the camera.
We knew we had forty cameras, and we knew we wanted the artistic
segments to be shot more theatrically, not athletically, because
they were theatrical
presentations. We wanted the cameras to capture what was special
from a live standpoint, not just as a regular event." Kawahara’s
numerous other choreography credits include1984 Olympic champion
Scott Hamilton’s entire professional career, several Michelle
Kwan TV specials, Kwan’s 2002 Olympic long and exhibition programs
and two Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ice shows.
The Montreal native
now lives in Westlake Village with husband Jamie Alcroft, who created,
wrote
and stars
in a comedic
TV cooking show, Eat This! now under consideration by Sony, and their
children Alysse, Hayley and Thatcher. "Our family really isn’t
a showbiz family, but when it comes into the house, it’s fun for
everybody. My sixteen-year-old is a singer and dancer, very much
into musicals. My twelve-year-old would love to do TV. So there’s
a lot of music in our house — a lot of acting, auditioning and
vocalizing. It’s fun."
"I was working on a Disney
special in Sun Valley in 1994 when lighting designer Greg Brunton
told me
about joining the Academy and how great it was — you could make
a difference, and be involved as little or as much as you wanted
to be. He encouraged
me to join."
"I’ve enjoyed being
able to be privy on an inner-circle level to all the things you get — invitations
to interesting events, screenings. I enjoy reading emmy magazine
a lot because I’m from a different avenue of entertainment, so
it broadens me. I’ve worked with a lot of excellent producers
and designers, and you get information on what projects they’re
working on."
"I have two now. My husband
built me shelves for them on the mantle." In 1997 Kawahara became
the first choreographer to win an Emmy for ice skating rather than
dance, for
the special
Scott Hamilton: Upside Down. She won again in 2002 for the Olympics.
She also
received an American Choreography Award for her Olympics work.
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Sarah Kawahara
