MISSION

Molly Johnston

Co-Director

Molly Johnston is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, screendancer, and co-founder of DanceBARN Collective. Her roots lie in Minnesota, but dance has taken her from the land of 10,000 lakes to Philadelphia, PA (BFA, University of the Arts), Eugene, OR (MFA, University of Oregon) and back to Minnesota where she worked as Zenon Dance Company and School's school coordinator before moving to rural Minnesota to pursue her passion for creating dance in rural communities. Since making the big move to small town Minnesota, Molly has cohosted the annual DanceBARN Festival and curated many other events, classes, and workshops in the region. Molly resides on Silver Lake in Battle Lake, MN with her husband and son and is excited about continuing the collective effort of bringing professionally charged dance makers to the community she loves. 

Ayumi Shafer

Co-Director

Ayumi Hori-Shafer is an educator, choreographer, dancer, and co-founder of DanceBARN Collective. New to the Twin Cities, Ayumi and her husband relocated from Oregon after she earned her MFA in Dance at the University of Oregon (2013). Passionate about dance and education, she completed her thesis research on the idea of play and creativity being effectively integrated into a curriculum in dance in higher education. Prior to her arrival at the UO, Ayumi extensively trained in modern dance in the city of San Francisco, and earned a BA in Dance from San Francisco State University (2009).
Following her passion for teaching, Ayumi has over 10 years of experience teaching in studios and schools that offer classes for both recreational and professional dancers. In building DanceBARN, Ayumi dreams of supporting all artists and creating an environment that encourages collaborative projects. With community in mind, Ayumi is excited in continuing to host workshops, shows, and the annual DanceBARN festival.