Main photo courtesy of Nohea Coleman.

For nearly two decades, Terrianne Butac Zonca ’06 built a career dancing professionally in Los Angeles. But in 2023, a single moment shifted the entire trajectory of her life: Just as she was about to give a remembrance speech at her grandfather’s funeral in Hawai‘i, she suddenly went into cardiac arrest.

That moment ultimately led Zonca and her husband to reevaluate their priorities and move back home to Hawai‘i the following year—to be closer to family. But it didn’t mean her dance career was over.

“The doctors flat out said, ‘You need to stop dancing,’” she said. “I looked at my family and I said, ‘You know that’s never going to happen, right? No one’s going to tell me to stop. When I stop, it’s my choice.’”

Fueled by determination, Zonca was back on stage just five months after her surgery.

Her return to Hawai‘i also sparked a reconnection with her roots. In May, she returned to Mid-Pacific as a guest choreographer for Kumu Michael Lanakila Casupang’s spring hula concert, giving back to the Pūpūkahi program and the school that helped lay the foundation for her career.

“It feels kind of full circle, but a circle that I didn’t know I wanted to happen,” Butac said. “Never did I ever think that this was going to be something that I was going to get asked to do. And I absolutely love it. It’s a pleasant surprise.”

Growing up in Mililani, Zonca entered Mid-Pacific in the seventh grade. She was already dancing five days a week at a studio outside but still enrolled in the Mid-Pacific School of the Arts program, balancing academics with daily dance training.

She switched to hula her freshman year, hoping for a break from the intense dance schedule. But she didn’t expect to fall in love with it.

“That’s a testament to Lanakila,” Zonca said. “Nineteen years after graduating, I’m still around helping him, wanting to be here, because he builds a family … and we do learn amazing life lessons from Kumu Lanakila.”

Zonca said Kumu Lanakila always held his students to a high standard, but for good reason.

“He’s a teacher who can see your potential without you even realizing that. And that’s a gift that I think a lot of teachers at Mid-Pacific have as well, especially in dance,” Zonca said.

One of her favorite memories is dancing in a hula and contemporary collaboration called “Nakulukulu.” The piece led Zonca and her fellow dancers to New Zealand for a dance festival during her senior year.

“Being the first hula group to go to New Zealand, and then seeing how many years and times they’ve gone since, it’s really cool,” Zonca recalled. In fact, she says the original group that traveled to New Zealand plans to have a reunion later this year.

Photo courtesy of Cheyenne Boivin of Boivin Photographe.

After graduating in 2006, Zonca moved to LA to attend Chapman University and got her professional start with Disney in 2008, performing in “Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular” at Disney California Adventure Park.

Since then, Zonca’s career has spanned the stage and screen. But throughout the years, she had been quietly battling a health condition that neither she nor doctors could fully understand—until she went into cardiac arrest at her grandfather’s funeral in 2023.

“For me, I finally have an answer to why I’ve been passing out, why I’ve had these episodes,” Zonca said. “I think in Los Angeles, I had them maybe five or six times, and in different places, too. It was always while I was dancing.”

Zonca was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome, a rare condition that affects the heart’s electrical system, causing abnormal heart rhythms. She believes her grandfather died so he could save her life. If her cardiac arrest hadn’t happened at his funeral—surrounded by family and a quick emergency response—she might not have gotten the help she needed in time. It also led to a diagnosis that had gone unidentified for 18 years.

Today, Zonca is committed to giving back in different ways — through dance, by advocating for the American Heart Association and by sharing her story with the world — thereby fulfilling Mid-Pacific’s mission of making a positive impact through purpose-driven passions and creativity.

Even though life looks different now—after undergoing surgery for a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD) and adjusting to new medication—she has learned to thrive with adaptability and has emerged with a renewed sense of purpose and an unwavering drive to keep dancing.

She shared this advice: “If there’s something that you absolutely love in this world, do it. If somebody says you can’t, don’t listen to them. As long as it’s something that makes your heart glow, that’s what you should be doing.”