About Jo
I am an interdisciplinary performance maker whose practice sits at the intersection of storytelling, dance and theatre. Like many freelancers in the arts, I wear many hats: performer, director, facilitator, teacher, administrator and curator. I am curious about the transformative power of embodied myth, and acts of narration as cultural therapeutics.
I have a PhD in Emergent Storytelling Practices from the University of Chichester, an MA with Distinction in Dance Theatre from Trinity Laban and a First Class BA (Hons) in Performing Arts from the University of Winchester.
In 2009, I was nominated for an Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for Storytelling. In 2019, I founded a 6-month long contemporary storytelling training course called Body, Breath and Story, which ran for two years, before being rudely interrupted by the pandemic. I am currently developing new ways of sharing the practice in a different format in the post-covid world – check out my ‘Offerings’ page.
As a native Northamptonian, I have been active in my local region, building a long-term relationship with Royal & Derngate theatre, where I was Resident Storyteller between 2009 and 2011, and working with community dance theatre company, Deep Roots Tall Trees, in Corby. I have had several local commissions (Fotheringhay, Town, My Town, Behind the Curtain), and was part of the successful multi-arts, heritage and community project, 60 Miles by Road or Rail in 2021, through which I met my wonderful producer, Courtenay Johnson. I am an associate lecturer at University of Northampton, where I have taught since 2009.
I am amazed and grateful to have worked professionally in performance since 2005. From documentary films, to solo storytelling, to dance and puppetry, to mythic midsummer rituals, my projects a numerous and diverse… do take a look through the archive to see more…
I am a keen collaborator. Over the years I have worked with hundreds of school children, university students, and various prominent national and international institutions, including the National Trust, National Theatre and British Council, as well as established and emerging artists from diverse disciplines, both as performer and director. In recent years, I have also started mentoring solo artists, including Lorna Burchall and Izzy Brittain.
As a thinker, writer and academic, I have contributed to conferences and panels at University College, Cork; York St John Niversity; University of Sheffield; and University of Chichester.
