Jenn Cohen, Artistic/Executive Director & Core Faculty:
Jenn has worked as a professional circus performer and coach for the past 20 years. Her training includes: The Circus Space in London, Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre, sacred clown & buffoon with Sue Morrison, and Chinese acrobatics with Master Lu Yi at the San Francisco Circus Center. Jenn has performed extensively in ensemble theaters throughout the United States, and as a solo aerial artist in Europe. She has coached children and adults in aerial and acrobatic work, from very beginners to advanced and professional students. In addition, she has worked as a choreography consultant for companies including Teatro Zin Zanni (San Francisco) and UMO Ensemble (Seattle). Jenn was a tenured instructor at the San Francisco Circus Center from 2001 to 2004. 
Prior to founding The Circus Project, Jenn worked with both Do Jump! and Pendulum Aerial Dance in Portland. In addition to her work with The Circus Project, Jenn has a master’s degree in Process Oriented Psychology and a private counseling practice in Portland. She teaches workshops and seminars around the world for circus professionals in both choreography and coaching.
Tracy Broyles:
Tracy Broyles is a dancer, teacher and performer. She performed with aero-betty and Aviator (2000-2006) and continues to make her own work which falls somewhere between dance, theater, and installation. She has been a certified Pilates instructor since 2001, currently teaching at Body Mechanics. Tracy was the dance/theatrical coach for the Circus Project Intensive Training Company, as well as the assistant director for helped direct Circ-Odyssey with the Circus Project in 2011.
www.tracybroyles.com for more information.
Alysia Marie Colon:
Alysia was born and raised in Portland, Oregon where she started in dance at the age of 14. She trained intensively for a year before she was introduced to aerial and contortion at Pendulum Aerial Dance Theatre. She quickly found a passion for circus and devoted her life to becoming a circus artist. Alysia trained and performed with Pendulum for two years before continuing on to perform with a large part of the circus community in 
Portland including: Wanderlust Circus, Circus Artemis, Kazum, and A-wol Dance Collective where she was a company member as well as a founding member of the youth company called the A-wol Aeros. She was then accepted to l'Ecole Nationale de Cirque, Montreal where she trained for a year in Tissu by two of the schools most experienced coaches, Jacinthe Tremblay and Sarah Poole. Alysia now performs internationally and has performed, taught, choreographed, and directed in many different forms of circus arts such as Aerial, Acrobatics, Partner Acrobatics, Contortion, and Dance. Her training and experience in different forms of circus gives her a unique mix of athleticism, grace, and creativity in the air with a strong and solid knowledge of body technique and form.
Esther Edelman, Aerial Tissu:
Esther has over 20 years of choreographing, directing and performance experience that spans international stages and events. She is an Artistic Director and Co-founder of the groundbreaking UMO Ensemble. Esther's passion is aerial arts and some of her choreographic and performance highlights include:
Esther strives to create a "fluid mix of circus and aerial arts" that is "elegant and expressive" Seattle PI. Committed to transcending the limitations of individual forms, Esther has made her mark in combining disciplines such as aerial circus and theatrical narrative to produce truly innovative work.
Martha Enson & Kevin Joyce, Buffoon & Vocal Composition:
Martha and Kevin have created and produced theater and educational programs for 15 years. They are co-founders of UMO Ensemble, and were performers and directors with Teatro Zinzanni in Seattle and San Francisco from 2000 – 2006. They formed EnJoy Productions in 2003. 
EnJoy produces special events, performances and trainings throughout the region and abroad. Events incorporate humor, music, specialized skill work, circus and customized theatrical productions, and are designed to delight, inspire and promote sustainability. EnJoy Leadership trainings apply advance theatrical and improvisation techniques to the development of presence & communication skills in organizational settings.
Mizu Desierto, Costume Designer and Theatrical Consultant:
Mizu is the founder and Artistic Director of Portland's Water in the Desert, and the Artistic Director of The Headwaters Center for International Exchanges in the Arts. 
She is a choreographer, performer, costume designer and educator. As such, she has worked with Human Nature Dance Theatre (AZ) for over a decade, and was a founding member of the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theatre Company (S.F.). She has performed with Harupin-Ha Butoh Theatre (S.F.), Yoshito and Kazuo Ohno (Japan) and Diego Piñón (Mexico). Her solo and collaborative projects have been showcased in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Tucson, Portland, Boulder, Tokyo, Mexico, France and Spain. In addition to her work as a performer, Mizu has taught butoh for over ten years, and served as adjunct faculty member at Prescott College (AZ). www.mizudesierto.com
Stefan Furst, Partner & Sports Acrobatics:
Stefan began competing in gymnastics at an early age in Vienna, Austria, where he was born and raised. He attended the Coaching School for Gymnastics while simultaneously embarking 
on a carrier as a massage therapist. After competing in several National Championships as part of the Austrian National team, Stefan moved on to Sports-Acrobatics. Stefan was a National champion in men's pair and men's four, placing at many international sports-acrobatics competitions. He made it to the top twelve at World Championships (1988) in Men's Pair, after placing 6th at European championships in 1987. He is a co-founder of the Austrian Sports-Acrobatics Federation, and coached the Austrian national team from 1987-1989. His experience teaching and performing for the National Theaters in Vienna, Austria, and the ATTIC Circus School eventually led him to the field of circus arts.
Stefan brought his acrobatic mastery to the U.S. in 1989, coaching gymnastics and sports acrobatics at Gymnastics Plus in Maryland until moving the Pacific Northwest in 1996. Currently, Stefan coaches gymnastics and acrobatics at VEGA Gymnastics (Camas, WA), Do Jump!, and the Circus Project, in addition to practicing massage therapy at Back in Motion, a chiropractic clinic in Beaverton. Stefan's intimate knowledge of anatomy and physiology, coupled with his 30 + years of experience as an acrobatic champion and coach, have enabled him to develop a unique training methodology for partner and sports acrobatics, tailored to both children and adults, beginning through professional levels.
Kate Jobe, character development and movement coach:
Kate is a trainer in Process Oriented Psychology and uses that work’s psycho-spiritual orientation to explore the fluid range of human experience to extend the artistic experience beyond the expected. 
Kate is a dancer, choreographer, artist, and Process Worker. She studied dance in New York, Seattle and St. Petersburg, Russia. She taught Modern Dance, Ballet, Improvisation, Composition, and Laban Movement Analysis at Western Washington University, Tanzwerkstatt in Zurich and The Academy of Performing Arts in Bellingham WA, to name a few. Many of her students perform in dance companies in the United States. She studied at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movements Studies in New York and went on to teach Laban Movement Analysis at the West Coast Certification program at the University of Washington and directed and choreographed for the dance company Western Ordered and Random Movement.
Angela Kim:
Angela Kim is a professional figure skater and circusartist specializing in aerial silks and Mongolian contortion. Based out of Portland, Oregon, she hasperformed throughout Europe and North America. Her extensive t
raining started at age 6 in figure skating anddance. After her competitive career as askater, she toured with Disney on Ice, Royal Caribbean’s revue ice show, NewYork Ice Theatre, and Holiday On Ice. Angela received her acrobatic training at the renowned Circus Center ofSan Francisco where she was under the wing of one of Mongolia’s topContortionists, Serchmma Byambaa and Chinese master teachers, Yu Li and Xia KeMin. Infusing the two disciplines offigure skating and circus arts she presents grace and strength through theair. Angela is currently one of fewperformers internationally displaying her unique aerial act on ice. She has been in numerous galas, corporateevents, and productions around the world. Angela continues to push the envelope as a multi-disciplinary artistwith new artistic and athletic feats.
Sue Morrison, Clown:
Sue Morrison has been teaching, directing and collaborating on Clown and Bouffon across the globe for more than 25 years. Her students are currently featured in Cirque de Soleil, Slava’s Snow Show, Blue Man Group, the Second City and on other international stages. Sue trained with Second City and Keith Johnstone and performed improvisation throughout Canada, and later became a Second City main stage writer/performer. 
On a quest ‘to work from her heart’, she met Clown Through Mask visionary, Richard Pochinko, and after studying with him for years, he chose her to become his apprentice. An accomplished Clown and Bouffon in her own right, Sue also studied and facilitated with Master Teacher, Philippe Gaulier.
Today, Morrison’s unique and powerful work brings together the diverse elements of Native American Clowning, Clown Through Mask, Bouffon, le Jeu and Improvisation, ultimately creating dynamic performance spectacles. Sue has been Artistic Director of Toronto’s Theatre Resource Centre since 1993. She has taught at the Dell’ Arte School of Physical Theatre and works regularly with the LUME company of Brazil. Recently, she has been a presenter at International Theatre Conferences in Brazil and Argentina, and the New York Clown Theatre Festival, taught in Boston, Portland Oregon, and the Escola de Clown in Barcelona, co created and directed, ‘Party of One’, and ‘Moving Target’, debuting at the NY Clown Theatre Festival and she is working on a book on clown. Sue is increasingly sought after as a director and co-creator both in Canada and Internationally, and her work is the focus of several documentaries. Her clown shows have risen to the top of the festival scene and have been produced in theatres around the world.
Blythe Olson, Aerial Arts:
Blythe Olson first discovered circus arts at Do Jump! In 1993, as a founding member of their youth company, the Zig Zags. Blythe went on to study a wide range of performing arts throughout high school and college, including musical theater, voice, experimental performance art, Stanislavsky and Meisner dramatic technique,Indian classical dance, mardala (Indian drum), ballet, jazz,modern and African dance. Blythe has studied acting technique at the Franco-Americain Cinema-Theatre in Paris, as well as classical Indian arts at the Darpana Academy of PerformingArts (Gujarat, India). She is a graduate of The Circus Project's 2010 Intensive Training Troupe, and has also 
studied under Portland aerial / dance coaches Kyoko Uchida, Daniela Steiner (Do Jump!), Gemma Adams (Night Flight), and Mizu Desierto (Water in the Desert). Blythe graduated from the Evergreen State College in 2009 with a concentration in Performing Arts / Anthropology. She is also a classical pianist and vocalist.
Blythe's passion for passion for teaching rivals her love of performing. She has over seven years of experience teaching and working with children (ages 4 - 14); particularly those from disadvantaged circumstances and with emotional challenges. Blythe led visual art classes in Guatemala, special education music classes in Norway, and theatre classes in Washington State. She has worked closely with children with Asperger's Syndrome and other high-functioning forms of autism. Blythe spent several years as the Arts & Culture Supervisor for the Blazers, Meyer and Regence Boys & Girls Clubs in Portland. She has worked as an instructional assistant for families with autistic children, as well as within a behavioral classroom in the David Douglas School District. She is currently Site Director for an arts-based before and after school program in West Linn, and continues to mentor children from the Boys & Girls Club when she is not joyously flying through the air.
Meg Russel, Aerial Arts:
Meg Russell stumbled upon the wonderful world of circus arts in late 2009 while at a musical theater workshop with Staged! Musical Theater Company, by finding a business card for the Circus Project. She is a graduate of the Circus Project's 2010 Intensive Training Troupe, and has since been performing professionally as an aerialist and contortionist with the Circus Project Performance Troupe, and as a human marionette for Dreamescape Theater. Her passions lie in contortion, 
trapeze, and marionette. Meg has studied circus and performing arts under Jenn Cohen (The Circus Project), Mizu Desierto (Water in the Desert), Sue Morrison (Clown Through Mask), The Oregon Children's Theater, and Staged! Musical Theater Company.
Prior to her circus career, Meg did noncompetitive gymnastics for four years as a youth, which lead her to join her high school cheerleading team as a freshman Varsity member. She stayed on her high school team, maintaining a leadership position for three of the four years, and eventually joined Oxford Premier All-Stars, a national championship winning team. In 2008, Meg joined Columbia Extreme All-Stars as a member of the Senior Co-Ed team, as well as a coach for the Tiny's team (ages 4-7), helping to lead the Tiny's to a first place trophy in a national competition. In 2009, Meg acted as coach and assistant coach for multiple cheerleading levels for Westside All-Stars, working with ages 6-16 and teaching everything from basic technique and safety to intermediate tumbling.
Daniela Steiner, Aerial Coach:
After teaching and performing with Do Jump! for 12 years, Daniela heeded the call to the Bay Area, where she worked as a circus coach at the San Francisco Circus Center and the Edgewood Center for Families and Children. While in San Francisco, Daniela co-founded Sweet Can 
Circus and performed in Teatro ZinZanni’s Cabaret Lunatique. Now back in Portland, Daniela performs with Circus Artemis, Curious Comedy, Pelu Teatre, and Nomadic Theatre Company. Other Northwest teaching credits include the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts in Seattle, the Portland Waldorf School, and Cedarwood Waldorf School.
Kyoko Uchida, Aerial Coach:
Originally from Japan, Kyoko Uchida began dance training in 2001 and was soon attracted to the circus. She's accomplished in trapeze, aerial fabric, hand-balancing and partner 
acrobatics. Her skills were sharpened by time studying under Cirque Du Soleil's Jacob Skeffington in Montreal and training with Ecole Nationale de Cirque's Yuri Bozyan. After a stint working with the Wonderbolt Circus in Newfoundland (2007), she has been back in Portland, blowing audiences away at cabaret shows around the city.
Jenn Cohen, circus performer, coach, therapist.
Peggy Ford, Program Director San Francisco Circus Center.
Paul E. Levy, General Counsel, Public Defense Services Commission.
Tania Rain, Marketing and Social Media Strategist
Director, Legacy Preservation Society.
Resource Council
Pippa Arend, Program Director, P:ear
Jonathan Dahl, Child Protective Services, DHS
Phelim McDermott, Director, Improbable Theatre
Jessica Stern, Program Associate, BCA
George Thorn, Arts Action Research
Ruth Wikler-Luker, Boom Arts Performing Arts Projects
