JONATHAN CLARKE SYPERT

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Department of Theatre and Dance

1820 Edmondson Rd, Suite 102; Honolulu, HI 96822

sypert@hawaii.edu

Jonathan Clarke Sypert is a Theatre and Dance Lecturer and Practitioner of Hip-Hop Cultural Arts, investigating how the intersections of music, dance, poetry, and visual media influence the relationships between arts activism and performing arts pedagogy.

EDUCATION

Master of Fine Arts, Dance Choreography and Performance Spring 2025

Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

MFA Project: Beige: An Afro-Ballet

A story about BIPOC experience, generational transfer of knowledge, family, and folk tales with an all-black cast of 14 dancers and an original score by composer Marcus Moore.

Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Dec 2022

TRAINING

Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE) 2024

Guiding Best Practices

Intimacy Choreography

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Workplace Training 2023

General Ethics Training for State Employees

Workplace Violence Prevention

Preventing Harassment & Discrimination - Title IX

Certification in Character Work and Puppetry - Disney University 2001

Walt Disney World - Orlando, Florida

Certified in Stage Combat: Hand to hand – Long Staff – Rapier and Buckler 2001

Martial Arts experience in Karate, Silat, and Capoeira 1993-2001

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Lecturer, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI Fall 2021-Present

DNCE 140 Introductory Hip Hop Dance Summer 2023-2025

DNCE 241 Intermediate Hip Hop Dance Fall 2021, Fall 2022-Present

DNCE 341 Advanced Hip Hop Dance Spring 2023, Fall 2025

THEA/DNCE 152 Live On Stage (Writing Intensive) Summer 2023-25 

THEA 470 Creative Drama/Drama Education Spring 2024

Faculty Advisor, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI Fall 2022-Present

Each 1, Reach 1 (E1R1) Registered Independent Organization - Hip Hop Club

Organize Club Charter Development, Workshops, Meetings, and Public Events

Support Club Policies, Operations, and Intra/Interpersonal Relationships

Clarence T.C. Ching PUEO Program, Punahou School, Honolulu, HI 2010-2023, 2025 

Lead Kumu

Developed a 5-week Arts curriculum to complement College Test Prep 2010-2023

Taught improv, playwriting, acting, dance, stagecraft, and stage management to rising 11th graders in a 5-week intensive summer program

Organized culminating End of Summer Celebration - grades 5-12 

Department Head, Performing Arts and College Test Prep 2013-2019 

Served as liaison between team and overall program and directors

Provided instructional and administrative support to the teaching team 

Event Organizer, Hawaiʻi Book and Music Festival, Honolulu, HI Fall 2024 

Handled all aspects of programming for the Spotlight Community Performance Stage including curating and securing talent, creating performance schedules, and handling all aspects of stage management and communication between artists, staff, and festival.

Managed two full days of the event, including 18 different performing acts

Teaching Artist Liaison, Engaging the Senses Foundation 2021-2023

Mālama Honua Charter Public School, Kaneohe, HI

Developed curriculum for place-based arts education per trimester

Coordinated hiring and scheduling of teaching artists

Planned culminating trimester community sharing

Teaching Artist of Drama Education, Honolulu Theatre for Youth 2019-23

Interfaced, planned, and executed curriculum for Artists in the Schools grants

Social Emotional Learning

Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Nā Hopena A‘o (HĀ)

Built and facilitated funding programs for schools outside A.I.T.S.

Implemented Hawaiʻi Common Core and National Core Arts Standards 

Coordinated curricula and lesson plans with DOE teachers and administrators

Coordinated culminating showings at assemblies

Taught grades Pre-K-12

Dance Instructor, Henry J. Kaiser High School, Honolulu, HI 2011-19

Devised curriculum consistent with International Baccalaureate standards

Wrote, composed. and directed a 1½ hour original musical for Drama Club

Instructor, Dance/Acting/Singing/Poetry, The Movement Center, Honolulu, HI 2003-2013

Instructor, Tap Dance, Punahou School Dance Program, Honolulu, HI 2010-2011

PERFORMING ARTS PRODUCTIONS

Choreography

2025 - Beige: An Afro Ballet - Choreographer

UH Mānoa Kennedy (Lab) Theatre in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts Requirements

14 Dancers

>800 audience members over a run of four shows

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/01/28/afro-ballet-black-culture/

2023 - Ke Kula Keiki Aliʻi: The Royal School - Choreographer

Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Tenney Theatre

5 Performers

>1000 audience members (public and school shows)

https://membership.htyweb.org/the-royal-school-2023/

2022 - Form Within a Form: “Meta” - Co-Choreographer

Co-choreographed with Amy Schifner and Kaʻohi Yojo Daniels

UH Mānoa Dance Department, John F. Kennedy Theatre

12 Dancers

2023 - Pau Hana (End of SPR Semester Dance Department Sharing) - Choreographic Advisor

Dance Studio, UH Mānoa Dance Department

25 Performers

1 Performance of 150 audience members

2022 - Pau Hana (End of FALL Semester Dance Department Sharing) - Choreographer

Dance Studio, UH Mānoa Dance Department

20 Performers

1 Performance of 150 audience members

2019 - A Timeless Princess (Musical) - Choreographer

Denny Miyasato, Edgewater Productions Chaminade University, Mamiya Theatre

30 Performers

3 Performances of 300 audience members each

2019 - Korean Cinderella (K-Pop Musical) - Choreographer

Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Tenney Theatre

4 Performers

>1000 audience members (public and school shows)

2019 - The Story of Everything (Stage Production and Film) - Choreographer and Dancer

Engaging the Senses Foundation, The Historic Hawaiʻi Theatre

10 Performers

700 audience members, HIFF, Maui - film festivals

2018 - Jesus Christ Superstar, Choreographer

Kamehameha Schools

25 Performers

600 Audience Members

2018 - A Hip Hop Retelling of the Live of ʻŌpūkahaʻia

Director, Composer, Choreographer

Punahou Middle School Theatre Program, Thurston Chapel

20 Performers

200 Audience Members

2018 - King Lear, Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival - Choreographer

2015 - Othello, Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival - Choreographer

2014 - The Reign of King Edward III, Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival - Choreographer

2006 - Henry Kapono’s Wild Hawaiian Groovent Tour, Choreographer

Performance 

2025 - Dancer (Anansi the Spider) in Beige: An Afro-Ballet - UH Mānoa Dance Department

 BFA/MFA Dance Concert at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre

2025 - Dancer in “Papier” and “Jogo,” two separate pieces in Mieke Doezema’s Master of Music 

 in Composition Recital - UH Mānoa Music Department Orvis Auditorium

2025 - Co-choreographer and Dancer in Round Robin, UH Mānoa Dance Department

 Barebones Dance Concert at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre

2021 - Guest dancer with soprano Martina Bingham, mezzo-soprano Maya Sypert, and pianist 

 Mark Markham. Alliance Française, Honolulu, Hawai‘i

2021 - Guest dancer with mezzo-soprano Maya Sypert and pianist Jonathan Korth. Music at 

 Mānoa and Outreach College - SCEP recital Series - Livestream performance

2021 - Actor (Theodore) in Waiting for the Host – Mānoa Valley Theater, Honolulu, HI

2021 - The Story of Everything (Film) - Choreographer/Dancer

https://storyofeverything.org/

2020 - Dancer - Indigenuity, Tau Dance Theatre at Hawaiʻi Theatre

https://www.taudance.org/_files/ugd/c938c0_cfc93e0d072047b385e87fddc79d5f01.pdf

2019 - Choreographer/Dancer - The Story of Everything (Live Performance) - Hawaiʻi Theatre

https://storyofeverything.org/

2017 - Singer, Rapper, Dancer in Rise Up: A Patriotic Peace with Melina Lilios – Palikũ Theatre

https://vimeo.com/224106584

2017 - Supernumerary in Tales of Hoffman, Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre (HOT)

2015 - Beatboxer/Composer in Dancing Off the Page, UH Mānoa Dance Department

 John F. Kennedy Theatre Mainstage

2014 - Macbeth - Macbeth (Touring School Show), Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival

2013 - Hector in Troilus and Cressida, Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival

2011 - Seaweed J Stubbs in Hairspray, Diamond Head Theatre

2010 - Actor (Fred Duran) in the Pilot Episode of Hawaiʻi Five-O, CBS

2010 - Actor (Jared) in Respect is a Choice, collaboration with Honolulu Theatre for Youth 

 and the Sex Abuse Treatment Center

2008 - Ensemble Player in Waikīkī Nei, Royal Hawaiian Show Room

2006 - Dancer and Rapper - Naupaka, Tau Dance Theatre

2003 - Founding Team Member of HawaiʻiSLAM (competitive spoken word team)

 Competed in San Jose

2002 - Dancer - Hanau Ka Moku, Tau Dance Theatre

2001 - Umbuik Mudo in Umbuik Mudo and the Magic Flute, first Randai production at UH 

 Mānoa Theatre Department, John F. Kennedy Theatre Mainstage

Presentations and Guest Clinics 

2025 - Presenter/Performance, Scholar/Artist, Workshop Facilitator, Project Collaborator,

Researcher at the Festival A Corps at the Université de Poitiers in France

2024 - Guest Judge, Dancers Unlimited       

 All-styles Dance Battle - La Mama Theater, NYC, NY

2017 - Invited speaker on behalf of Performing Arts Education within the Clarence T.C. Ching 

 PUEO Program at the National Conference on Afterschool and Summer Learning – 

 Phoenix, AZ

 https://clpha.org/events/nsla-summer-changes-everything-conference

Guest Clinician, Movement Workshops, Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre Young Voices 2014-24

Guest Speaker, with Sam Seidel HipHop Genius, PLACES - SEED Program UHM 2014

Guest Clinician, Hip Hop Workshops, Pals and PLACES - SEED Program UHM 2010-18

Awards

Tammy Hunt Award for Excellence in Theatre for Young Audiences - UH Mānoa, Theatre and Dance - 2013

Best Supporting Role as Seaweed J Stubbs in Hairspray, Diamond Head Theatre - 2011

Best Hip Hop Teacher in Honolulu - Honolulu Magazine - 2009

Hawaiʻi Theatre Council Poʻokela Awards for Supporting Role in a Musical, Sound Design, 

 Choreography, and Member of an Ensemble

Media Announcements, Press, or Articles

2019 https://hawaiistatetheatrecouncil.com/reviews/2019/7/19/timeless-requires-more-time

“The design team Ng had alongside him also brought their A-game to the stage. Jonathan Clarke Sypert’s choreography was sharp and well delivered.”

2019 https://www.htyweb.org/korean-cinderella/

2019 http://www.kealohapoetry.com/the-story-of-everything.html

2018 https://bulletin.punahou.edu/honoring-the-life-and-contributions-of-henry-opukahaia/