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.
Nelda Reyes, Director of Development:
Prior to becoming a full time artist, Nelda was a Business Strategic Planning Specialist and Consultant for five years. She is originally from México and in 2006 moved to Portland to pursue a MA in Theatre Arts at Portland State University. She’s also studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard University and in Mexico with Luis de Tavira and Teatro Línea de Sombra. In Mexico Nelda worked with the Company of Theatre of the University of Guadalajara and the Cultural Ministry of Zapopan as both actor and assistant director. Her recent Portland work includes performances at The Miracle Theatre Group, 
Shaking the Tree, Lunacy Stageworks and PSU. Nelda is also a voice over and on-camera professional actor, as well as dramaturge and art translator. At the present, Nelda is the Artistic Director and storyteller of Legends of Mexico, a touring educational program, as well as a resident Director at SEIS-Roosevelt High School and storyteller at the Washington County Library System. Nelda also participates as a Spanish Research Specialist with the Center of Environmental Services at PSU-OMSI. This year, Nelda has been living the dream of “flying” by joining The 2010 Circus Project Training Troupe.
Having been a floor dancer for over 12 years (beginning at da Vinci Arts Middle school and Jefferson High School), moving her art into the air was the obvious next step in reaching for the stars. Recent performances include Moisture Festival (Seattle), Duende (Rose Festival), Splenduh Salon, Chautauqua, Oregon Country Fair, P:earBlossoms, and Rose City Vaudeville.
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
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.
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.
Peter Schroeder, Juggling Coach:
Peter fell in love with the circus watching Circus Flora in Missouri every summer as a child. One summer, he worked behind the scenes of the show and saw people doing things even more amazing than anything he had seen in the show itself. It was their unassuming talent, more than the glitz and style of the show, that showed him the heart of the circus. It is this raw, human talent that Peter loves most. It was not long before Peter was touring himself as a roustabout with Circus Flora. 
In addition, he has taught and performed with the Circus Day Foundation in St. Louis and as a juggler with Circo Zoppe. In Portland, Peter has performed with Batty’s Hippodrome as well as performing, coaching, and directing with his home troupe, The Weapons of Mass Distraction. Peter recently graduated from Reed College with a B.A. in Dance-Theatre.
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.
