Jenny was born in Bristol on November 2nd, 1945, to Jewish parents. Her mother’s ancestors came from Belarus, and her father was an American naval officer during the 1939-1945 World War. As they were unable to share in her upbringing, Jenny was placed with various “mothers” until 1947 – when she was finally adopted by the Johnsons, who lived in Westbury-on-Trym. She began to write poems at the age of 5, by which time she had been an enthusiastic pupil in a ballet class for 2 years. From 1957 to 1964, she attended The Red Maids’ School – the oldest girls’ school in the country.

Poetry writing – including a poem about the meeting with her birthmother in 1984 – continued until she was 50, after which her creative energy became almost dormant for a decade. When, quite unexpectedly, it re-emerged, it was through choreography for circle dance groups. This is now Jenny’s passion and she is grateful for the influence of her main teachers: Julie Bell and Chrisandra in Nottingham, Margot Lynch in Exmouth, Judith and Raymond Thompson in Exeter - and Val Dawes and Roz Mudaliar in rural Devon, who lead workshops for those who love Friedel Kloke Eibl’s dances in particular, and wish to go into them in depth.

Jenny sees all circle dance as an opportunity to integrate mind, body and spirit: to heal the individual, the community and the wider world. She first came to it in 1996 while beginning to recover from her third bout of severe depressive illness. The music she uses is widely varied and she believes that there is no real divide between the sacred and the secular: if music – of whatever kind – touches her heart and inspires her to create a dance, that in itself is to be honoured.

Jenny now lives in Exmouth, Devon, with her husband, Noel, where she finds the energy much more conducive to creativity than it was in the city. She also practises Reiki and illustrates her poems for the eco-journal GreenSpirit. She has one son, Alex, who is married and lives in Nottingham.