Life’s just
a big kick

Dancer Carrie Ann Inaba
looks forward to another
season as a TV dance judge

COURTESY PHOTO "I keep myself just a hair naive because I think that makes me think I can do anything." -- Carrie Ann Inaba, "Dancing with the Stars" judge

A stubborn summer cold launches Carrie Ann Inaba into a bout of coughing, but the Aina Haina-born and raised performer is insistent on explaining her philosophy of success.

"My family was always very supportive and made me believe there was nothing I couldn't do," Inaba says in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, "but there were caveats. You don't hurt people, you always try your best and you have to be prepared.

"So I grew up believing I could always do anything. But I keep myself just a hair naïve because I think that makes me think I can do anything."

Inaba just finished the first season as one of three judges on the ABC hit "Dancing with the Stars," won by "General Hospital" star Kelly Monaco and dancer Alec Mazo.

"Dancing With the Stars" paired professional dance partners with celebrities that were trained to compete in front of a studio audience.

"I keep laughing that I'm a judge on a ballroom show because it's not what I expected at all," she says. "But then, how did I make a career out of dancing? It's really very simple. I never thought I couldn't."

Inaba's impressive choreography background gave her the confidence to work on numerous feature films ("Showgirls"), TV shows ("Miss America 2003," "American Idol," "The Swan"), music videos (Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon Bon") and tours (Madonna's "The Girlie Show"). Inaba also appeared in "Austin Powers 3: Goldmember" as Fook Yu, one of the sexy Japanese Fook twins.

She's also worked in Japan and Las Vegas and Fashion TV's "World Super Model Pageant" in Dubai.

Inaba's first big break was landing a role as a Fly Girl for three years on Fox's "In Living Color." Attention from that comedy-variety show parlayed her into the spotlight as one of Madonna's main dancers in her "Girlie Show World Tour," in which she also choreographed her erotic pole performance.

"But it all started back home at Hanahaouli Elementary School and at Punahou," says the 1986 graduate. "I think everything I've achieved in my life is because of Punahou."

Punahou didn't have a theater department, so Inaba focused on dancing, something she began as a 3-year-old at Hanahaouli.

"They had this creative movement program, and we ran around in this open pavilion to music, holding scarves," she said.

Inaba played junior varsity volleyball at Punahou, but at 5-foot-6, "the varsity never called so I moved on to the next best thing, dancing."

SHOW BUSINESS beckoned soon after graduation. At 16, Inaba and her friend Tina Horii won a statewide "Search for Talent" competition by dancing a piece they choreographed together.

"I was scouted to go to Japan to be a teen idol," she said. "I was a pop star in Japan for a little while, worked with Fuji Television and had three singles. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot about business."

But oddly, Inaba tired of stardom.

"It was too much of a big shock to my system," she said. "You know, in Hawaii, things are very casual, and no one ever says anything negative about how you might look one day.

"In Japan I had people tell me, 'Oh, you're puffy today.' I didn't care for that."

It was time to return to the United States, where Inaba wanted to launch a TV career, but in a "back-seat role" that centered on dancing.

"I found an old college application for UC-Irvine," she said. "I filled it out, and they accepted me in their choreography department.

"I dropped out when I got the urge to study in L.A.," she said. "Me and another Hawaii girl would drive up to L.A. every morning, dance all day, then drive back to O.C.

"I took six months to just train and didn't audition once. I needed to learn the L.A. dance community. I didn't want to rush in without being prepared."

When she was ready, Inaba auditioned for "In Living Color" and got the job.

"Here's an obvious strategy: You have to be prepared as possible," Inaba says, "because if you're not, then you get rejected and that hurts your self-confidence and you begin to feel desperate, and they can sense that.

"I never went to auditions where I thought I didn't have a good chance of getting the job."

The "Dancing With the Stars" judge job came out of the blue.

"The producers did an open call, and I went to four interviews," she said. "They were looking for the right chemistry with the other two judges, and we worked well together."

COURTESY PHOTO Carrie Ann Inaba

"I do a lot of on-camera choreography for reality shows," Inaba said. "I stage people who haven't been on TV and don't understand movement. Producers and directors bring me in to guide them on how to work with cameras, how to stand, how to play with an audience, how to hold the microphone, how to feel comfortable onstage."

This success has been largely due to Inaba's ability to understand producers' and directors' vision.

"I'm always aware that it's their vision and not mine," she said. "I am really about getting the job done in the time frame we have, in the most efficient way that makes everybody happy. I'm just part of the role."

But she wants to see her own vision onstage or on camera someday. She recently met with a major L.A. agency that seems to be interested in having her produce alternative programming.

"I've been developing children's programs and cultural dance shows for a long time," she says. "I'm ready for the move. I don't go out at all, and I read and write a lot."

Under the umbrella of her company, EnterMediArts Inc., she directs, writes and edits digital documentaries and films, and is also developing television projects.

Inaba lives in L.A. with her three cats, Squeaker, Taz and Shadow, but dreams of having a family and raising children in Hawaii one day. Those plans are on hold for a while, especially now that it seems "Dancing With the Stars" might return for a second season.

Inaba returns to her favorite subject: accomplishing goals.

"There are so many ways to do it, but basically you just keep trying," she says. "But be realistic and after a while stop knocking on the door that won't open and knock on the ones you're confident will."