Janet Craft, Jenny Carlson and Julie Pike Edmond

Welcome Amanda!

SCHOOL of DANCE FACULTY

Janet Taisey Craft (Choreographer & Company Director) is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Ipswich Moving Company. She instructs adult classes, cecchetti (a form of ballet) and works with the School's Youth Dance Ensemble. She also instructs aerial workshops.

Janet was formerly Head of the Dance Program at Emerson College in Boston, MA. She also pioneered the instruction of certain styles of choreography, as well as modern and aerial dance programs at Perry Mansfield in Steamboat, CO.

Janet's choreography has been presented in the United States, the Netherlands, the former Soviet Union, and at the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. She has conducted numerous artist-in-residence dance projects in public schools over the last twenty years. Her work was selected to appear in the First International Aerial Dance Festival in 1992. In addition to creating aerial dances, Craft has choreographed and presented over 40 dance theatre works, concert dances, and collaborative installation projects.

Janet has lived in Ipswich for over 25 years, where she has drawn inspiration for many of her dances and theatre pieces.

Jenny Carlson (School Director, Teacher & Dancer) is the Director of Ipswich Moving Company School of Dance and Assistant Director of the Ipswich Moving Company. She teaches classes for student who range in age from infant-toddlers in creative movement classes to elementary school students, teen and adult instruction. She has developed an audition-based performance group called the Youth Dance Ensemble.

Jenny also offers introductory dance classes at several local educational institutions, including the Ipswich Public Schools as well as private preschool and early elementary programs.

She has also danced with Flipside Dance Theatre, Fresh Squeezed Dance, Fallen Flight Project, Julie Pike Edmond, Julie Ince Thompson, and Adrienne Mincz. These companies and choreographers have taken her from California to Europe to perform. Jenny has taught Aerial Dance at Perry Mansfield in Steamboat Springs, CO with Janet Craft. The Boston Globe described Jenny as "a beautifully lyrical and articulate dancer, who moves with a lush fluidity."

Jenny Carlson trained at the Imperial Academy of Dance in Connecticut and continued her studies at Emerson College receiving a BFA in Dance. She has served as an instructor of choreography, modern and aerial dance at Perry Mansfield in Steamboat, CO.

Julie Pike Edmond (Teacher & Massage Therapist) uses her experience as a professional dancer, choreographer and body worker to teach students how to move in concert with their natural abilities - simultaneously encouraging young dancers to push their creative boundaries while maintaining happy, healthy bodies.

Julie began her academic pursuits in Dance Education and Performance at Columbia College in Chicago and completed her BFA at Bradford College. Upon graduation, Julie immersed herself in the Greater Boston dance community and has had the pleasure of performing with a long list of accomplished choreographers and companies over the past 15 years. Among them are Brian Crabtree, Caitlin Corbett Dance Company, Exit Dance Theatre, Karen Murphy, Nicola Hawkins and Weber Dance. Julie currently performs with EgoArt, Inc. and her own group, the TurnPike Project - an experimental contemporary dance company. Julie has been an athlete throughout her life, which allows her to integrate different aspects of physical training into her teaching and movement style. She has taught Modern Dance, Choreography, and Stretch classes at Brookline Public, Green Street Studios, Governor Dummer Academy and The Dance Place. Julie also runs an independent Shiatsu, Craniosacral, and Reiki practice.

Welcome Amanda! (Teacher) After adding little baby Luke to her family this past Spring, we are thrilled to welcome Amanda to Ipswich Moving Company. As a dancer for the company, you have probably seen her dance on the ground, in the air, on the lawn, and even the river wall outside Ebsco. Amanda has been a dance educator for more than ten years and we are overjoyed to have her teaching for us.

The following will share some of Amanda's teaching background with you:
Amanda grew up in Southern Maine and always loved to move. She graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst where she worked with Jim Coleman, Terese Friedman, Heidi Henderson and Susan Waltner. Amanda most recently performed with both Flipside Dance Theatre and The Ipswich Moving Company. This is Amanda's first year teaching at the Ipswich Moving Company School of Dance.

Elaine Hamill (Pianist) began playing piano at 7 years old. She played organ at St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Falmouth, MA, through her high school years. At the University of Lowell, she majored in Music Education with piano as her major instrument, studying with Inge Lindblad, and graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1978. She has continued to play piano and organ at churches and schools through the years, accompanying school choruses and church choirs of all ages, as well as many musicals. She has also played piano for Waldorf Eurhythmy classes and has been accompanying ballet classes at the Ipswich Moving Company for 5 years.

Elaine is married to Michael Hamill and mother of 2 adult daughters, Louise and Laura. Laura danced modern at the IMC during her high school years. She is also a dog trainer and competitor, training her own dogs to championship levels in many dog sports as well as her students’ dogs. She is an AKC Obedience trial judge.

Email: Jennifer Carlson, Director