‘Children helping children’

LIHU‘E — It’s the Sacramento, Calif., youth helping the Kaua‘i kids, said Pastor Paul Kirchner of the Lihu‘e Lutheran Church.

Sonja Bardin, executive director and founder of the Sacramento Youth Ballet, said when she and Steve Bardin attended church, they witnessed a young lady being honored on her graduation.

“She had a lei, and when the church presented her with a scholarship, I was moved to tears,” Sonja said. “This is what we wanted. To be able to help young people realize their future.”

Sonja recently presented the Lihu‘e Lutheran Church with a check for more than $20,500.

“This represents savings from the Sacramento Youth Ballet from about 10 years of volunteer teaching and coaching the classics to children who ordinarily would not have that chance,” Sonja said. “We used to visit Kaua‘i a lot and found this quaint little church on the hill. When we learned more about the church and what it does in the community, I decided that this is the next best thing to ballet. We moved to Kaua‘i and bought a place in Kapa‘a.”

She said she remembers meeting Noreen Javinar, who works in the church’s office, and how she burst out laughing when told of the award.

Sonja said she had to close the Sacramento Youth Ballet after medical issues forced her hand and a search for a replacement over several years turned up no prospects.

“Under the terms of a 501c nonprofit, the remaining monies are transferred to another nonprofit,” Sonja said. “I did not want the Sacramento Youth Ballet funds to get lost in a big charity. This money was raised by young people and it should go to help other young people.”

When she started the Sacramento Youth Ballet in July 2000, Sonja, a former international prima ballerina, said her intent was to open the curtain of ballet performance to all children regardless of circumstances.

As a prima ballerina, Sonja lists being the first soloist with the Graz, Austria State Ballet Company in Europe. She also was a soloist with the German State Ballet Co. in Berlin from 1970-1972, and a soloist with the People’s State Ballet Theater in Zagreb, Yugoslavia before settling in California as a teacher and first soloist with the Peninsula Ballet in Burlingame.

In 1966, Harold Chistensen, director of the San Francisco Ballet Company awarded her, 15 years old at the time, a full scholarship. In 1968, Sonja was the first American invited to attend the Bolshoi International Academy in Moscow by the then-director of the Bolshoi Company, Asaf Messerer.

“It’s not necessary that students take dance,” Sonja said. “We just closed our nonprofit performing arts school. But when one door closes, another opens, and it is so gratifying to see children helping children.”

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lihu‘e was established in June 1881 with the arrival of a group of German immigrants who came to work at the Lihu‘e Sugar Plantation.

• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.