DANCE TEACHER TO TAKE BOW AFTER 25 YEARS.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

Stella Matsuda knew she would be a dancer when she watched a friend tap dance to the Andrews Sisters' ``Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree'' in the middle of an Arizona desert.

``I guess I was about 4 or 5. My family had been sent to Poston, the internment camp in Arizona,'' said Matsuda, who now heads the dance department at Moorpark College. ``My friend's twin brother played a harmonica, and she danced. . . . I'm sure the camp was hard on my parents, but we were just kids and didn't know the difference.''

Matsuda, now a youthful 60, reflected on the source of her passion between rehearsals of the last dance concert she'll perform in and choreograph at Moorpark College. After the concert series, Matsuda, who turned a few community college dance classes into a full-fledged dance program complete with an associate of arts degree, is retiring.

``She improved the dance department immeasurably,'' said Les Wieden, head of the Performing Arts Department. ``She strengthened the emphasis on performing, and she fought for the department to move from the P.E. department over to performing arts. And before we had the new building, she managed to stage shows under very adverse conditions.''

The early days

Matsuda, who has taught dance at Moorpark College for 25 years, recalls dancing in makeshift studios without ventilation or room to leap and lift.

``The old studio had such a low ceiling the dancers couldn't do lifts. The men would lift a dancer and her arms would hit the ceiling,'' she said.

Twenty-five years ago, fewer classes were offered, and advanced dancers often shared studio and class time with beginners.

Now, dance classes for all levels run throughout the day and into the evening every day of the week.

Matsuda, along with other faculty, also lobbied for the new Performing Arts Building, which includes a large dance studio and stage. The new center has made it easier for students to rehearse and perform.

``Stella can now give us real-world performance opportunities,'' said Anne-Marie Jacobson, a Moorpark alumnus who has returned each year since 1987 to Matsuda's dance classes. ``All students also get the opportunity to choreograph and stage our own pieces.''

Matsuda has created a loyal following of dancers in the community, who like Jacobson return each year to dance and perform. Dozens of those followers will attend the dance concert series' final night, May 4, and Matsuda has choreographed a final routine that includes all her former students.

Calling all dancers

``I'm inviting all my former dancers to come up on stage and dance the finale. I'd like to see the stage filled with them,'' Matsuda said. ``It's not a difficult routine, and dancers don't have to be in shape to do it - so if someone hasn't danced in 20 years, I'd still like to see them up there.''

Matsuda choreographed the piece, called ``Walk the Street of Gold,'' to gospel music by Mahalia Jackson. She calls the piece celebratory and joyful that also exhibits her spiritual side.

Matsuda said that spirituality is present in all her work, though probably more so in pieces she choreographs for her own dance company, Alleluia Dance Company. Matsuda also sits on the board of the National Sacred Dance Guild, a group of dance companies devoted to expressing spiritual themes through dance.

``We believe that we dance to honor God, in a way that brings dance back to its origins,'' Matsuda said, noting that in ancient cultures dance was a form of ritual and prayer. Matsuda's company has performed in churches and synagogues throughout the state.

``We did a whole series based on women of the Bible, and we also did a piece on friendship and forgiveness which we performed at Temple Adat Elohim, Reform Temple of Conejo Valley in Thousand Oaks.''

An inspiring teacher

Matsuda's emphasis on spirituality inspired some of her best students.

``Stella introduced me to dance,'' said Mark Estrada, a former student who now dances at Brigham Young University who expects to dance professionally after graduation. ``When I started to dance with her three years ago, I had just come back from a two-year mission with the Church of the Latter Day Saints in Costa Rica, and I was attracted by Stella's spiritual interpretation of dance.''

Estrada, like others under the new dance major, was able to complete an associate's degree in dance at Moorpark College before going on to a four-year university, where he's also majoring in dance.

Estrada is one of several star students who will return for the final concert series and perform a piece he choreographed with Stella in mind.

``It's called `Dream,' and there's a figure in it who's yearning and stretching toward a goal,'' he said. ``Stella made me believe I could reach the goal of being a dancer.

And though Matsuda looks forward to seeing her star students during the final concert, the greatest pleasure of her teaching career has been introducing a wide range of students to dance.

``People will ask me, who are your star students - the big names in dance or on Broadway?'' she said. ``But I've always wanted to bring dance to the people, to give a taste of it to students: That's been my mission here.

``So that when they see the ballet or a performance, they have a greater sense of what goes into it - and, so, they also gain a greater appreciation and respect for their own bodies.''

Matsuda will spend her free time after retirement with her husband of 36 years, a retired engineer. The couple lives in Thousand Oaks and plans to visit Japan.

``After the camp, I rejected everything Japanese, and only as an adult did I start to learn about my culture,'' she said. As part of that learning, Matsuda choreographed a piece called ``Nisei,'' the Japanese word for first-generation Japanese-Americans.

``At the beginning of the piece, the dancer pushes away a kimono, rejecting it, and at the end she is able to pick it up, and carry it tenderly as she walks offstage.''

THE FACTS

Montage, the Moorpark College Spring Dance Concert and Stella Matsuda's final concert will be held May 1-3 at 8 p.m. and May 4 at 2 p.m. at the Moorpark College Main Stage Theater. General admission tickets are $10, $8 for students and seniors. For reservations or information call 378-1485.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: Stella Matsuda transformed Moorpark College's dance program from a P.E. class into a degree curriculum.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Box: THE FACTS (see text)