For many, traveling the world may seem like a life dream. For Sacramento State dance studies professor Nolan T’sani, traveling the world was simply a perk that came along with his gifted talent: dancing ballet.

Growing up in Placerville, T’sani said he could be seen as a loud student. His teacher told his parents that 11-year-old T’sani needed a way to express himself. His parents thought it would be a good idea to get their son into extracurriculars.

T’sani said he knew exactly what he wanted to do: ballet. He began to dance at the Placerville Academy of Ballet, where he danced until he was a 17-year-old.

His senior year he received a scholarship to attend the North Carolina School of Arts where he graduated in 1967. Soon after graduation he received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York Ballet Company.

At age 19, T’sani was one of the oldest students at the School of American Ballet which generally fosters much younger dancers.

“It felt really good because I knew they were really picky on whom they gave scholarships to,” T’sani said.

T’sani was a student for six months and wanted to get into the highly competitive New York Ballet company. George Balanchine, the Ballet Master, observed one of his classes, T’sani thought that he would not make the cut. According to the the New York City Ballet’s website Balanchine is “regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet.”

“I was nervous I would not get into the company,” T’sani said. “I was 19, older than most of the students, and I thought that this dream might be too big.”

However, when Balanchine approached him, it was not to ask him to leave as he had feared, but to join the company where he stayed for 10 years.

After New York, T’sani ventured to Sacramento where he stayed at Capital City Ballet for 12 years. However he said when the ballet went bankrupt in 1990, he was offered a job as ballet master for the Ballet Du Nord in France.

T’sani stayed there for two years in France, but felt as though Ballet Du Nord was not for him.

“I felt somewhat unwelcome and it was the first time I was away from home for that period of time,” T’sani said. “(The French) do not like Americans to live in their country.”

From there he ventured to Hong Kong where he was Ballet Master for the Hong Kong Ballet. There he said he was able to travel to places such as Indonesia and Malaysia, and he even got to see the Great Wall of China. After three years of dancing abroad T’sani said he started to miss home.

“I had been out of the states for too long and I figured that I better head on home,” T’sani said. “When I came back home to Sacramento I was offered a job by Dale Scholl, and I said, ‘Sounds good.'”

T’sani has been teaching at Sac State for 12 years and has touched many with his choreography and passion for dance.

Sac State Dance Team’s coach and adviser Jolie Roberts is a fellow colleague and student of T’sani. She admits that T’sani made her appreciate ballet.

“I hated ballet, but he made it fun. He showed me things that made it exciting,” Roberts said. “You just need to absorb the knowledge he is giving you; if you are dancing like crap, he will let you know,” she said.

Roberts has danced in the faculty dance called “Dance Fites” that T’sani choreographs every fall and said that she wants to do justice to his work.

“I love every time I perform his work, you want to honor him because he trusts us as dancers to keep integrity to his vision as a choreographer,” Roberts said.

T’sani looks to challenge himself when it comes to choreography. While teaching part time at Sac State, T’sani also choreographs and teaches professional dancers for Modern Masters in the Sacramento Ballet, with an occasional cameo in the Nutcracker.

“I try to do something for the students as well as please myself artistically, as well as please the audience,” T’sani said.

One of T’sani students, Regina Metcker, an environmental studies and dance major, has taken his class for three semesters and describes him as a “funny old fart.” She admits that she does know the disclosed age of T’sani, which he was so adamant to not to speak of.

“He is intimidating with his sarcasm and jokes, but when you see that he has respect for the dancers and the performers, you just have the utmost respect for him,” Metcker said.

Metcker goes on further to express that T’sani’s work is always out of the ordinary.

“It’s amazing the work that he does – and the way he makes the dancers move is remarkable,” she said.

Vanessa Johnson can be reached at [email protected].