Artists

• Amy Bertucci has worked extensively with Wise Fool since 1995, teaching puppetry, stilts, trapeze and aerial arts to youth and adults, conducting outreach, directing projects and performing in productions. Amy earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where she studied language, art, history and dance including the classical East Indian Dance of Orissi with Ratna Roy. After graduating Amy earned her license as a Massage Practioner at the East West College in Portland, Oregon. While developing a practice, Amy began studying trapeze and partner acrobatics with 'Do Jump' Physical Theatre company in Portland. It was here that Amy developed her passion for the circus arts. In 1999, she relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico and began to work with Alessandra Ogren with whom she developed Sorelle Sora, an aerial arts performance troupe, and The One Railroad Circus. Amy also became a part of the Nationally touring band, The Dolly Ranchers, with whom she sang, toured and recorded over the span of four years. Amy has received instruction in the aerial arts from a variety of trainers including Elsie and Serenity Smith of Cirque Du Soleil, Aerial Fabric originator Fred, and Carrie Heller, a nationally recognized trapeze instructor who has pioneered the use of trapeze and circus arts in therapeutic applications.
  
• Amy Christian
• Isabela Coelho, Performing Artist, Artistic Director and Art Educator from Brazil graduated in International Affairs from the University of Colorado in 2006. Throughout many years of artistic exploration in the performing arts, Isabela specialized her work combining elements from the circus, especially aerial arts and stilt acrobatics with physical and contemporary theater based on the work with three international companies: Stalker Theater from Australia, Carpetbag Brigade and Wise Fool New Mexico from the USA. Isabela has also performed with the Canadian Circus Company Cirque du Soleil at the Super Bowl in Miami in 2007, and she did an artistic residency at the UNESCO Universal Cultural Forum in Mexico with the physical theater performance Mudfire. She has worked in community projects such as The Sister-city Project in Nicaragua, Bridging for the Arts in NM, The Walking Tall Circus in Miami and Circo Agua Viva in Bahia, Brazil. Isabela is co-founder and director of OPA – Organization of Permaculture and Art, a non-profit that works with education, arts and the environment in Brazil. Through OPA Trupe, OPA’s Performing Arts Company, she directed the performance “A Jóia de Rama”, the circus show “Circo Agua Viva” and the multimidia performance “Desforme”. In 2010 she was awarded with a Brazilian prize in performing arts called “Interações Estéticas”, and as an outcome of that, she created and directed the performance of stilt and aerial acrobatics called “Um Conto das Alturas”. Nowadays Isabela tours to many festivals with Wise Fool with the performance Flexion.
• Amanda Crockett has been performing since she was small. Her father is a clown, and at age 8 she joined him in the delicate art of making people laugh. All these years later, she still can't imagine doing anything else. She is incredibly inspired by the clown's brilliance and all the ways a body can move through space to tell a story, to communicate through movement. Her pursuit of the perfect blend of physical theatre and high level circus skill has taken around the world to perform, teach and learn. Some performing highlights include: the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Midnight Circus, Moscow International Circus, Kimtom International Clown Festival, the Phyzgig Festival of Physical Comedy and La Bauta at Carnivale in Venice, Italy. Amanda has worked with Wise Fool New Mexico for the past 7 years as a performer, teacher, and many other odds and ends.
  
• Cohdi Harrell was born and raised somewhere between the Pecos wilderness and the sandy dunes of Cairo Egypt. Committed to the experiment of humans and objects, movement and sound, ground and air; his work has taken him across the globe in an exploration of humanism by means of circus and movement arts. As a performer, teacher, student, and dreamer, Cohdi has found himself in a myriad of projects and shows, ranging from nightclubs to operas, and has been featured in various publications and television shows. He is dedicated to the fusion of traditional movement forms with circus and performance art innovation.
• Kaycee Hinckley hails from Shell, WY. She currently lives near Espanola, NM and teaches, performs, and plays in schools, community rooms, libraries, and the great outdoors teaching theater/acting, stilting, and puppeting. She is pursuing a Masters in Occupational Therapy and hopes to bring this perspective to her work with Wise Fool! She loves to dig into art projects with kids and is endlessly inspired by their cool and weird imaginations.
• Corinna MacNeice is of Irish extraction, and grew up in postwar London, England. She holds a BA from the Slade School, UCL, and a Post-graduate year. Corinna has exhibited in London; Oxford; Belfast and Dublin in Ireland; Kathmandu,Nepal; Berlin, Germany; Fort Worth,Texas and Santa Fe NM in the US. After 45 years as a Londoner, Corinna travelled extensively in the 1980's and has lived permanently in New Mexico working at painting, video and theatre since the start of the 1990's. www.corinnamacneice.com
• Indi McCasey is a experiential educator, performer, and circus enthusiast. In 2006 Indi moved 1,500 miles to study with Wise Fool New Mexico which attests to the uniqueness of this company. Indi has over 15 years of experience working with youth ranging from teaching swim lessons, to leading trail crews, to presenting in schools, and looks forward to sharing the magic of circus arts with people of all ages.
• Colleen McKeown is a solo, duo and ensemble circus performer and instructor who specializes in Duo Trapeze and Partner Acrobalance. Her circus addiction began with Wise Fool New Mexico in Santa Fe and travelled on to 2 years of professional circus training at the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, VT. She teaches classes and private lessons in Partner Acrobalance, Acrobatic Yoga, Trapeze, Lyra and Circus Conditioning in Santa Fe at Wise Fool New Mexico and performs circus and burlesque acts nationally. www.circusduo.com
• Sarah-Jane Moody has been performing clown and physical comedy with Wise Fool since 1996. She believes in the innocent and simple beauty of the clown, and relishes in the exploration of this world. She is co-founder and artistic director of the One Railroad Circus. She studied Performance Art at San Francisco State University and is a graduate from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Sarah-Jane is also an activist, writer, and musician who toured with her band, the Dolly Ranchers, for many years and now plays in a duo called GoGoSnapRadio. She is currently writing a rock opera about the life of anarchist, Emma Goldman.
  
• Deirdre Morris Deirdre's involvement with Wise Fool over the years has included principal performer, teacher, choreographer, Production and Booking Agent, Studio Manager, producer of the Women’s Summer Circus Workshop Intensive, and key creator of Ashes: the Alchemy of Hope. Deirdre has also been a member of the Production team for the “Walking Tall Circus” project in Miami.
• Kayo Muller has studied theatre and dance for 7 years and participated in numerous professional plays in Brazil, where she was born and raised. She worked with Wise Fool NM from summer of 2003 through 2008, developing new skills in the circus and puppetry arts. Her training includes instruction from Wise Fool teachers as well as intensive workshops in the aerial arts with Elsie and Serenity Smith of Cirque Du Soleil, Aerial Fabric originator and master Fred Deb and Carrie Heller, a nationally recognized pioneer in therapeutic applications of circus arts. Kayo has also studied with Master Clown, Moshe Cohen. Kayo has performed in major Wise Fool productions such as Circus Luminous 2004 and 2005, and Baggage 2005. She is also a children's trapeze teacher in the Studio Teachers' Collective and has taught in such educational programs as the Miami Performing Arts Center's "Walking Tall Circus" 2005 and 2006 and the "Wise Fool Kids Circus Camp" 2005 in Penasco and Santa Fe, NM.
• Alessandra Ogren
• Chioma "Journey Woman" Oruh is an artivist (artist + activist) scholar based primarily out of Washington, DC. A native Igbo (located in eastern Nigeria), she was raised in the US and has been privileged to travel widely to visit and be of service in many regions of the world. Chioma became a member of Wise Fool in 2006 after a 10 show run of Baggage and, although she no longer resides in Santa Fe, she is dedicated to promoting the arts as a tool for healing and restoration. As a poet she has published and recorded her works both individuall and with Tribe Phoenix poetry collective. In addition to her poetic and musical life, Chioma is also an activist organizing around core issues like AFRICOM, the prison industrial complex and global economic justice through the promotion of fair trade. She has published poetry and academic works to reflect these passions. Chioma currently pursing a joint Masters and PhD in African Studies at Howard University with a focus on music and its effects on liberation movements. www.journeywomanchi.com
• Jasmine Quinsier - Santa Fe native and performer at heart, Jasmine delves into beautiful creativity with a community of wonderful talent in Northern New Mexico. She has the honor of performing and dancing with Wise Fool New Mexico, Masnavi Dance Collective, and producing shows with New Mexico Dance Coalition. She is a bellydancer, firedancer, stage manager and career freelance graphic designer. Jasmine smiles a lot because life is brilliant! minaswirled.com
• Cynthia Ruffin is a theatre activist, writer and educator from Montreal, Canada. She has been doing social justice work, creating theatre with performers and non-performers of all ages for over 10 years. Her specialty is in adapting personal stories into healing theatrical performances as she believes strongly in the power of art to heal. She is published in the anthology Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations against Bigotry and her plays have toured middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across the US. She is currently working on a young adult fiction series called the Social Justice League that deals with the power of young people to be activists and make change in the world.
• Kate Russell
• Christina Sporrong is an artist, blacksmith and teacher. Originally from Stockholm Sweden, she currently lives in Taos NM where she runs her own metal shop and forge, Spitfire Forge. To de-mystify metal and empower other women in this medium she teaches locan and national women’s welding workshops. Visit http://www.spitfireforge.com for lots more info!
• Lori Swartz is a painter, performer, writer, jeweler, sculptor and metalworker who loves acrobatics and aerials. She is also a social worker who works to further social justice. She performs with Wise Fool and Chicks with Chainsaws. She is on the Board of Directors of Wise Fool. Visit her website www.loriMetals.com
• Rebekah Tarin is a self-taught artist and thinker who believes creative expression is a human right. She teaches visual and circus arts to young people in Taos, Peñasco, Santa Fe and other places.