The Players

Allison Ballard, Founder and Director

Allison Ballard

(FW Taiko Founder)

Allison is the founder/Director of Fort Wayne Taiko and has been playing taiko since 1998. She attended the 1998 Taiko Conference held in Los Angeles and has studied with various Japanese taiko masters while attending Taiko Camp in California in 1999, 2006 and 2008. She has also studied modern dance technique, creative movement, improvisation and Authentic Movement with various teachers and artists. Allison has a Master of Arts in Dance/Movement Therapy (Columbia College Chicago, 2003) and is certified as a Music Together® teacher, as a Drum Circle Facilitator (Arthur Hull Village Music Circles and HealthRhythmsÔ) and in Orff Schulwerk, Level I (Anderson University School of Music, 1998).

Allison has 17 years experience teaching creative movement and drumming/rhythm programs. She works as an outreach artist at the Fort Wayne Dance Collective and teaches at numerous schools and organizations. She is also the Director of the Jesters, a performing group of people with special needs. As a multi-media performance artist, she has created and performed various full-length performance pieces, both in Fort Wayne and Chicago.

Allison also works as an independently contracted grant proposal writer serving non-profits in the greater Fort Wayne community. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Ball State University in 1986 and was a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1985.

Jackie Hinsey

Jackie has been making music and performing since she was 10 years old when she  started playing trumpet in grade-school band. That love of music turned into her career when she became a Music Therapist in 1985.

She started taking Taiko classes with her sister Chris in April of 2006 as a fun “sister thing” to do together.  Jackie was inspired to compose her first song after seeing San Jose Taiko perform in Indy.

She’s trained with John Yost and San Jose Taiko and attended Taiko Camp 2008, studying with Seiichi Tanaka, Kenny Endo, Jeanne Mercer and Russel Baba.

Libby Alter

Ever since she can remember, her favorite part of fireworks was the BIG boom, no fancy colors, just the loud percussion that she could feel deep in her chest and down to her toes.  As a child, it would make Libby laugh out loud.  

That was the feeling she had the first time she had the pleasure to hear Fort Wayne Taiko perform and it hasn’t stopped since! 

Besides having the great honor to play and perform with Fort Wayne Taiko, Libby is a Yoga Teacher.  She is also a certified Thai Yoga Massage Therapist.  She is married with two kids, and has lived in Fort Wayne her whole life and indeed, she loves this community.

Laura Hillyard performs at USF

Laura Hillyard

Laura started drumming on the djembe drum at Sophia’s Portico, a women’s spirituality center, in 2004.  She has further trained with Sally Childs-Helton from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Ubaka Hill. 

Laura started classes in Taiko drumming in 2007 at the Fort Wayne Dance Collective under the direction of Allison Ballard. She has trained with John Yost of Chicago’s Kaiju Daiko and California’s San Jose Taiko.

Laura is a Certified BodyTalk Practitioner and owns her own business.

Chris Johnson

Chris has been drumming with Fort Wayne Taiko since April 2006, when she began taking lessons with her sister Jackie. According to Chris, she had no idea what she was getting into when Jackie invited her. But Chris is forever delighted and grateful for the opportunity!

She has trained with San Jose Taiko and John Yost, and attended Grass Valley Taiko Camp 2008. While at Taiko Camp, Chris had the privilege of workshops with masters such as Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka – San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Russel Baba and Jeanne Mercer – Shasta Taiko, and Koji Nakamora – Odaiko Master Los Angeles

Beth Fenstermacher

Beth drumming in downtown Fort Wayne

Beth has been drumming with Fort Wayne Taiko since 2005.  She has attended the 2006 and 2008 Grass Valley Taiko Camps in California where she had the privilege to study with Seiichi Tanaka, Russel Baba and Jeanne Mercer, Kenny Endo, and Koji Nakamora. She has also been highly influenced by her study with John Yost of Kaiju Daiko and also with San Jose Taiko. 

Beth also has a love for community hand drumming.  She is ever grateful to the women of Sophia’s Portico in Fort Wayne for first introducing her to the joy of drumming. She has begun training with Arthur Hull as a drum circle facilitator.

When not drumming, Beth spends her time as a homeschool mom.  She lives in Fort Wayne with her loving husband and two amazing daughters.

Lori Jo

Lori Jo performs

Lori started djembe drumming at Sophia’s Portico, a women’s spirituality center in 2006.  She was introduced to the taiko drums when Ft. Wayne Taiko performed at a summer solstice celebration at IPFW children’s garden for Sophia’s Portico. 

Lori began taking Taiko classes in 2008.  She has attended workshops with John Yost and San Jose Taiko.  She has also attended Sally Childs-Helton’s weekend drumming retreat for Women.
 
Lori is a social worker.  She is married and has one daughter, who is a high school senior.