Here, you can view short bios of some of Oomphalos’ Instructors. Simply click a link below to jump to a bio or scroll down.

Ayumi Hikasa
Karen Stone
Jolène Emery
Ben
Nadia
Joasia

Ayumi Hikasa
Ayumi Hikasa, Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance, attended the Noriko Kobayashi Ballet School and later the Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre, before continuing her training at the Royal Ballet School in London. After graduating, she joined the National Ballet of Portugal and later joined London City Ballet, where she appeared with the company as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker and was later promoted to Principal. After leaving London City Ballet, Ayumi was invited to join the cast of The Phantom of the Opera in the West End. Simultaneously, she was Guest Principal with the Wiener Ballet Theatre touring extensively in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Over the last decade, Ayumi has been teaching ballet. Her favourite books as a child were Heidi, Pippi Longstocking and Aesop’s Fables. As a kid, she loved to play hide and seek, but now enjoys playing Monopoly with her husband and two daughters. And, her favourite ice cream is strawberry cheesecake.

Karen Stone
As an NLP Master practitioner and with a BA in Technical Arts, Karen Stone is a well-qualified yoga, NLP, and painting and sculpting instructor. She received antenatal and postnatal training, as well as children’s yoga training at The Art of Health and Yoga Centre. Karen started her career as a painter and sculptor in film and television special effects, applying this experience while later choosing to work with children on art projects. Within her yoga practice, she teaches asanas and pranayama with keen attention to bodily alignment. Due to her warm and personable approach and her commitment to excellence, Karen has built a loyal student base in all areas of work. In addition to teaching classes with Oomphalos, Karen is currently operating from The Happiness Centre, a leading wellbeing centre in London.

JoJo – aka Jolène Emery
JoJo is at the heart of JoJo’s Travelling Minstrels, a children’s entertainment company in Central London. She has years of experience engaging children in interactive songs, stories, games and a whole lot of fun. In witnessing the tremendous joy created between children and adults alike when an entire group participates in singing, Jojo always encourages parents, carers and friends to join in on the fun. Given the choice to be anything in the world, Jojo would do exactly what be a professional singer who has a global children’s entertainment business, along with being a complete example of self-love, self-empowerment and love. Her favourite ice cream is chocolate – she says nothing compares to chocolate for her taste buds. One of her favourite games is soccer (European football), having played on a competitive team for a number of years. As a child, her favourite book was Sideways Stories From Wayside School. She loved imagining all the characters and their unusual stories.

Ben
Ben has been working as both a musician and educator for nearly 15 years, facilitating workshops in schools around London, in addition to writing and recording music for the film and music industry. He plays a wide range of percussion instruments from around the world, specialising in North African and Afro Cuban rhythms. A self-taught musician, Ben started playing drums at the age of 11, jamming with his three brothers in his mum’s front room in Paris. He recognises that music plays a vital role in child development, as through the rhythm of the day, a child can understand the dynamics of life. Ben believes music is alive, vibrating in the child’s inner being.

Nadia
Equipped with a BA in visual journalism, Nadia has worked as a Cultural Awareness instructor with Art in All of Us to raise global awareness through art to students around the world, as well as with Radiomarathon UK as a teacher’s assistant to students with learning disabilities. She currently works with the London International Gallery of Children’s Art in a role which involves stimulating artistic activity and encouraging development of the imagination as an integral part to learning. Previously, Nadia was a documentary researcher and photographer reporting on the impact of surf tourism in Central America and the socio-economic impact of the Western world in a Third World country. Fluent in French, English and Spanish and conversational in Arabic and Greek, Nadia has a relaxed and engaging approach. She is dedicated to providing sensory play experiences for little ones, experiences which will continue to encourage them in a constructive way outside the classroom. If she could be anything in the world, she’d be the wife of a very famous wizard. As a child, she loved to play I Spy, Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light. And her favourite ice cream is mint chocolate chip.

Joasia
Founder of Plasticine Candles & Soup, Creative Contemporary Dance for Children, Joasia’s primary aim is to introduce contemporary dance that is accessible, achievable and most of all enjoyable for all involved by delivering uplifting, positive movement experiences. Joasia strongly believes that from a young age there is a dancer within who when nourished has amazing creative potential. She has a Dance in Community Professional Diploma from the Laban Centre in London, a BSc Psychology and an extensive range of additional dance training and history of performance. As a Polish child born and raised in London, listening to her family’s folklore stories captured her imagination and today plays a vital role in her development of children’s imaginary worlds. In teaching dance to children over the past seven years, Joasia has developed a truly holistic approach. Recognising little ones as individuals and drawing from their natural organic movement, she combines eclectic music rhythms, contemporary dance skills and creative dance, ballet, jazz and yoga. Joasia also currently teaches her classes at The West London Buddhist Vihara in Chiswick. Married and a mother of two wonderfully active boys, Joasia is always keen to try out new things. Her favourite ice cream is Japanese green tea.