Peter Rockford Espiritu was a three-year letterman for the Aiea High School soccer team, a member of the marching band, took drama classes and studied hula. By the time Espiritu graduated (Class of ’81), his career choice was ballet. But after a few years in New York he realized that even with his training at The School of American Ballet, he was a “brown short dancer” in an industry where tall Caucasian men were always “the prince.”

He came back to Hawaii in 1989 and founded the Tau Dance Theater in 1994 as a dance laboratory where he could blend different types of dance — hula, ballet, modern, jazz and hip-hop — while staying grounded in the traditions of each. The theater group went dormant for six years when Espiritu moved to Fiji to teach at the University of the South Pacific; he returned to Hawaii earlier this year.

Espiritu celebrated his 55th birthday with a combination fundraiser and sponsors’ preview of his next production, “Ho‘ina,” on June 27 at Stage Restaurant in the Honolulu Design Center.

JOHN BERGER: When will “Ho‘ina” be presented to the public?

PETER ROCKFORD ESPIRITU: March 2019, in the Leeward Community College theater. They’re reopening (the theater), and celebrating their 50th anniversary, and I’m from Waimalu in Aiea so it’s a good fit. Before I left we were artists in residence there and I created three large works there — “Naupaka,” “Hanau Ka Moku” and “Poliahu” — so it’s a returning home for me.

JB: What are the things you consider when you are creating something that combines traditional dance and new ideas?

PRE: To make sure that what you put out there is pono (good/correct/proper), make sure that it is responsible, and that it isn’t something that takes us backward. The only way you’re going to do that is to know your foundation and be respectful and understand (it). Otherwise you shouldn’t touch it.

JB: “Naupaka” set a precedent in Hawaiian music by being a three-act opera performed almost entirely in Hawaiian. Have you considered presenting it again?

PRE: Yes, and I would love to partner with the opera community. That would be the ultimate — that we could rework the music and get it to that opera level and keep the Hawaiianess of it. I think it’s a story that could be accepted globally and I’d like to give it a chance to become a full flower.

JB: Can you go to something involving dance and not critique it?

PRE: It’s hard, but as I get older I’m getting better at looking at something not as a director and choreographer and just enjoy it.

JB: What do you like to do to relax?

PRE: I’m a foodie. I love art, I love museums, I love learning about different cultures. And I like to see how cultures evolve and how people have evolved, and where their foundation and base is from.

Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.