Barefoot Studios is directed by Paul and Joséphine A. Zmolek. Since 1989, their joint ventures include collaborations with masters of Capoeira, Maculele, Flamenco, Kathak, Taiko drumming and Congolese Dance, co-directing a 30 member dance and music ensemble in San Francisco, founding and directing a not for profit dance and music academy and performance group in the Los Angeles area, creating and implementing an interdisciplinary performing arts curriculum at a San Francisco dance studio, as well as producing and directing several original stage productions at various educational institutions.
The Zmoleks collaborate with artists from various disciplines to create intermedia choreographic performance installations. Recent examples include collaborations with composer John Morrison to create In God We Trust which was based on their research into ritual form and Harvey Cox's article The Market as God; and with composer Robert Fruehwald to create Zaum: Beyond Significance which was inspired by the Cubo-Futurist, Suprematist and Zaum art movements from early Soviet Russia.
Their collaborations were initiated after they traded services as charter members in the San Francisco-based professional performing companies Giant Refreshed and Thick Dance/Theatre individually founded and directed, respectively, by Joséphine and Paul. Each hold three degrees in related fields and have been active as professional dance artist/educators for over 25 years and in academia for 12 years.
Paul Zmolek holds an MFA in Dance, an MA in Interdisciplinary Creative Arts and a BS in Physical Education. Highlights of his performing career include creating title roles for the world premiere of three Frank Zappa ballets and performing in works by Anna Sokolow and Paul Taylor. Paul performed professionally as a member of Tandy Beal & Company, San Francisco Moving Company, Omulu Capoeira Group, Omulu Capoeira Sul, June Watanabe Dance Company, Dance Co’Motion, Thick Dance/Theatre, Theater/Group and as guest artist with Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company, TanzDanz, and Giant Refreshed.
In San Francisco he founded and directed Thick Dance/Theatre. With Joséphine he co-founded and directed Z AFTERSCHOOL ARTS, co-directed Omulu Performance Group, and co-founded and directed Omulu Capoeira Sul.

Teaching in various settings as an independent contractor from 1981-1993, Paul has held faculty appointments in five different colleges and universities from 1993 to 2004. Paul’s academic responsibilities included the development and implementation of a new BFA in Performing Arts and consultation for the building of a new campus of the Arts at Southeast Missouri State University. Recognized nationally as an expert in dance pedagogy, Zmolek has trained hundreds of emerging teachers as a guest and resident faculty member throughout the United States.
Joséphine A. Zmolek holds an MFA in Dance, and MA in Interdisciplinary Creative Arts and a BA in Dance. Joséphine performed in works by Jeff Slayton, Nicholas Gunn, Kenneth Rinker, M.J. Eisenberg, Gus Solomons, Jr., Barbra Ubaldi, Karen Kristin, Tanz Danz and as a member of Giant Refreshed, Omulu Capoeira Group and Omulu Capoeira Sul. In America, she trained with Bella Lewitsky, Kenneth King, Bill Evans, Dorothy Percival, Viola Farber, Donald McKayle, Michelle Simmons, Eiko & Koma, Martin Kravitz, Tina Yuan, Dana Reitz, Marcia Sakamoto, Ellen Graff, Gloria Newman, Sean Greene, Aulani, and Ellen Bromberg. International training includes: Gugum Gumbira and the Western Java Jugala Dance Troupe; Madame Simmone Kuo, teacher of the late Grandmaster Lien-Ying Kuo style of Tai Chi Chuan; and extensive training in Capoeira with Mestre Preguiça, Mestre Ralil and Mestres Grande Camisa, Leopoldina, and Joao Grande. Joséphine has also had the great honor of working in collaboration with Sensei Tanaka of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo; Rosa Montoya of Rosa Montoya Bailes Flamenco; master of Khatak, Chitresh Das of the Chitresh Das Dance Company; and the great Congolese master drummer, dancer and artist, Malonga Casquelourd.
As an intermedia artist, Joséphine worked with video artists James Byrne, Lynn Hershman, and Christine Tamblyn, costume designers and fibers artists Barbara Cox, Bernard Johnson, and Patricia Reagan and studied with Rachel Rosenthal and Douglas Kahn.

In San Francisco Joséphine founded and directed interdisciplinary performance company Giant Refreshed, co-founded and directed Z AFTERSCHOOL ARTS, and co-directed the nationally renowned African-Brazilian Omulu Capoeira Performance Group. In Los Angeles, Joséphine co-founded and directed Omulu Capoeira Sul. Since 1993, faculty and guest artist appointments include: California State University, Dominguez Hills; Foothill/DeAnza Community College, CA; Loyola Marymount University, CA; El Camino Community College, CA; Alma College, MI; Luther College, IA; Southeast Missouri State University and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Wendy Ballard-Thurston, co-director and founder of the San Francisco Jazz Dance Company, concentrated her work in California where she established herself as a respected teacher and choreographer. She studied in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco where she has trained in jazz, ballet, and modern dance with notables such as Luigi, Lynn Simonson, Frank Boehm, Roland Dupree, Nadine Revene, Alonzo King and Anna Marie Frosythe.

Wendy holds a BA in Theater Arts and a Lifetime California Community College Credential. Her teaching spans over 25 years encompassing colleges, high schools, and private dance studios in the San Francisco Bay area. Ms. Ballard-Thurston blends ballet, modern, and jazz into a classical jazz dance style in the tradition of Matt Mattox and Gus Giordano and has taught master classes and workshops in jazz dance through many organizations including Dance Masters of California, the Guam Cultural Council,, San Diego Teachers Association, and the Cecchetti Institute sponsored by Mills College, Oakland. In 2001 she relocated to the Pacific Northwest. Since her relocation, Wendy became certified in Pilates through Body Arts Science International. She is currently teaching Pilates at The Pilates Body and jazz at The Performance Place in Gig Harbor.
The San Francisco Jazz Dance Company, founded in 1980, was dedicated to the preservation of jazz dance as an American art form. In 1990 the company was invited to perform at the First American Jazz Dance Congress sponsored by Gus Giordano. The company performed internationally and worked extensively in the schools presenting “Jazz for the Eyes”, an educational lecture demonstration about American jazz.
Marla Simms received a BFA in dance at the University of Arizona in 1984.  Previous to this time she was a competitive gymnast and gymnastics coach.  While in Arizona, Marla worked with Territory Dance Theatre and Orts Theatre of Dance.  Simms migrated to the northwest in 1986 to work with Pat Graney and Company and Marsha Threlkeld and Dancers.  She has performed in numerous Allegro! Dance Seasons as well as Performa 87, The Very Serious Fun Festival at Lincoln Center and the Sister City Exchange in Kobe, Japan.  She also danced with independent artists Staci Bronson, Grace Fryberger, Annie Mercer and Karn Junkinsmith.   Marla was also a member of Thread Dance, an organized association between herself and dance familiars, Marsha Threlkeld, Lori Mitchell and Lara McIntosh.  The group’s approach to choreography and production was one of collective generation.  Thread Dance created site specific works for a variety of traditional and unusual venues.  As well as continually exploring the movement of the human body as a venue for artistic expression, Simms is a massage practitioner and bodywork educator.  The other hat that she wears is bookkeeper for her husband’s fabulous restaurant, Sofia Bistro (27th & Bridgeport in University Place).
Katharine M. Stricker, has been with Barefoot Studios for two years and is a founding member of Callous Physical Theatre. She has been teaching, choreographing and performing in the Puget Sound Area since her move here in 2005. Katharine is a teacher, performer, choreographer, writer, pianist, and painter with a BFA in Performing Arts from Southeast Missouri State University. Originally from Illinois, Katharine has been the recipient of several awards including the Young Artist's Tuition Scholarship to the American Dance Festival (2004), Scholarship to Conduit Dance (2005), funding for choreographic contribution to SiteWorks Performance Festival (2006), and most recently, the Tacoma Artist’s Initiative Project Grant (2007).
Katharine has worked with Lakewood Playhouse, Tacoma Little Theatre, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts and Capitol Playhouse as well as training with and teaching at Barefoot Studios.

Amanda Herman holds a B.A. magna cum laude in Dance and Movement Science, is a certified DanceAbility instructor, and is near completion of an M.F.A. in Dance. Amanda has performed in a variety of venues in AZ, CT, NY, OR, WA, WY, Italy and Austria with choreographers such as Guggenheim Fellow & Fulbright Scholar Alito Alessi, Tim Cowart, Walter Kennedy, Ellie Klopp, Gabriel Masson, Tiffany Mills, Kim Neal Nofsinger, and Frances Smith Cohen among others. She is a former member of Center Dance Ensemble (soloist), Co-Art Dance, University of Oregon Repertory Dance Company, and most recently Joint Forces Dance Company. Her choreography has been presented at several regional American College Dance Festivals, and was selected for the 2006 Gala Performance of the NW region.
Amanda was a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon where she instructed students in ballet, jazz, modern and tap dance. She has presented research at several annual International Association of Dance Medicine and Science conferences, and has an article forthcoming in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science.
Michael D. Hoover has an eclectic background in the creation of works of art  including  sculpture, photography, painting, landscaping, writing, film, dance, and music. Michael is both an educator and educatee and includes time spent at  Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College and as a Movement Specialist in the public school system. Michael has performed and choreographed dance works all over the USA and India including works for BYU Dancers Company, Dancensemble, Children's Creative Dance, Young Dance Makers, UVSC Synergy Dance, and Seattle based Walrus Performance Productions. Michael escaped his home town of Provo, Utah and moved to winsome Tacoma, Washington to be with his late partner Gary H. Mack, and there create his home and studio.