Our Team
Elizabeth Klob
Program Director
Create Your Story
Elizabeth has been directing, teaching and leading UMO School since its inception in 2007. She is a long-time physical theater practitioner, and has been Executive Artist for UMO Ensemble for 15 years. She is thrilled to share the skills of creating physical theater and bringing students stories to stage whether it be in the form of an “aerial poem” or a clown routine. She looks forward to the new directions that the students and school will take in the years to come.
Abraham McBride
Parkour
Bio coming soon!
Amanda Thornton
Aerial and Partner Acro
Amanda has been in love with aerial arts since the moment she took flight in 2012. Having discovered circus arts while studying theatre and writing at Western Washington University, Amanda found that the best way to express herself was by combining the power of aerial skills with the beauty of storytelling. Having moved to Seattle in 2015 to pursue theatre, she kept finding herself drawn back to the circus scene and quickly devoted all her attention to teaching and performing aerial. Her favorite style of aerial arts is duo aerial silk, which she trains and performs with her husband, Nick Perry. But when she is training solo, she still loves the silks most of all. Amanda has taught aerial arts at circus companies all over Seattle, including Teatro Zinzanni, SANCA, Arcadia, and Synapse Circus.
Axel Sullivan
Parkour
Kickboxing
Bio coming soon!
Bobby Dodd
Skateboarding
Jiu Jitsu
Bio coming soon!
Esther Edelman
Adult Aerial
Esther started her movement career as a modern dancer in NYC. She co-founded Vashon-based UMO Ensemble, performing original physical theater internationally for over 20 years. Esther then began a love affair with aerial arts and started performing as a soloist. She has appeared locally in Seattle’s Moisture Festival, Open Air, Burlesquo, and corporate events around the region. Some highlights include: dangling from a crane at the Point Defiance Zoo, Silkfire fabric piece in the Hotbox at the Museum of Glass, Fabric Tango with Glenn Easley, Aviatrix -a 4-woman aerial troupe. Esther’s most recent full length creation was Secrets I Can’t Remember, an aerial dance quartet. She teaches Pilates at her home studio and is excited to continue sharing aerial arts with UMO School.
Mik Kuhlman
Create Your Story
A performer with sublime comic timing, serious depth and strong physical presence, Mik Kuhlman works and teaches across many genres, cultures and forms from Improv to Shakespeare, Solo to Ensemble; On-Camera to Immersion Theatre. She has taught all ages and levels throughout the United States and abroad. As a physical comedian, she was the Associate Artistic Director of Seattle Mime Theatre; an ensemble member of UMO Ensemble; a State Department cultural envoy with Al-Hakawati in Jerusalem; and a dancer with Compagnie Brigitte Dumez in Paris. She finds joy in observing human physical behavior and embodying the gestural world around her, instilling curiosity, creativity, self-confidence and physical awareness to all students regardless of their experience.
Sarah Smith
Aerial
Sarah has been pursuing aerial arts for many years now with UMO School. An alumni, she is generously spending time between college courses at UMO teaching classes. She loves the dynamic nature of aerial rope and hopes to inspire others to try out this extremely physical discipline.
Sean Lang
Jiu Jitsu
Bio coming soon!
A special thanks to our founders!
Kajsa Ingemansson
…started the journey of UMO School back in 2007. A graduate of the Dell Arte Institute and member of UMO Ensemble, she combined her deep knowledge of clowning and physical theater with her love for teaching. Mik Kuhlman, returning teacher, joined her in the development of the clown classes. Kajsa has since moved back to Sweden with her family. Many thanks to Kajsa for getting the ball rolling.
Lisa Elliott and Kathy Zbryk
…joined UMO School in 2007, bringing their years of teaching experience and love of aerial to the program. While they have moved on, we thank them for their program building contributions.
Sadie LeDonna and Shawn Kellogg
…followed close behind and helped create the curriculum that is now our aerial and circus gymnastics programming. They have since moved on to open their own studio in Port Haddock. Their incredible dedication will live on at UMO School.
