The curtain was about to rise on the Hawaii State Ballet's "Nutcracker" at the Mamiya Theatre last week, but founder/director John Landovsky was at ease. Apparently not a victim of opening-night jitters, his animated conversation conveyed the passion and excitement he feels for the art of ballet.

Born in Riga, Latvia, and raised in Germany, Landovsky had little knowledge of ballet before coming to the United States in 1950. Indeed, his interest was in sports. "I came with my soccer ball under my arm, but at that time nobody played soccer here," he said wistfully. While at home in Chicago, he became interested in ballet through a girlfriend.

"I used to go with a girl who danced, and I would watch her classes. When the partner starting throwing her around, I became jealous, so I started studying." The decision was a fateful one: Landovsky soon found himself earning a living as a dancer.

His first professional jobs were back in Germany with the Stuttgart Ballet under the legendary John Cranko, then in Essen with Kurt Jooss. Returning to the U.S., Landovsky danced with the International Ballet Company when it presented Rudolph Nureyev in his American debut.

Landovsky's career as a dancer took him many places but it was cut short because of injuries. Eventually he began accepting jobs guest teaching.

In 1982 he came to Hawai'i to take over the direction of Ballet Hawaii. When funding fell through, he created his own school, forming the Hawaii State Ballet in 1983.

"I train dancers, that's what I do," Landovsky said of his goals and philosophy. "I'm not running a company at all. I don't take dancers over the age of 9. It just doesn't work because my classes are very hard."

Most students begin between the ages of 4 and 6, and start very slowly to build the strength, discipline and commitment necessary to make a dancer.

"My school is small, about 150 students. I take anybody who comes in the door, but I work them so hard that, if they don't really want it, they leave."

When his students reach 17 or 18, "I kick them out the door. I tell them you have to go and see the best in the world." He encourages especially gifted students to try out for large national ballet competitions.

Despite his strictness, students revere him. Many have gone on to have significant careers in ballet, appearing with regional ballet companies in San Francisco (Amanda Schull) and Boston (Romi Beppu), among others, and with the American Ballet Theatre (Elizabeth Mertz).