Allison Ballard is a musician based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who specializes in taiko drumming. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Ball State in 1986 and her Master's of Arts in Dance/Movement Psychotherapy from Columbia College Chicago in 2003. Allison has been a teaching artist with Arts for Learning for approximately five years through her connection with the Fort Wayne Dance Collective. Her taiko performances consist of a drumming and movement ensemble based on Japanese tradition. "In taiko, the choreographed movement used to play the drums is as important as the rhythms being played," she explains. Allison is the Founder/Director of Fort Wayne Taiko, the only performing taiko group in Indiana and one of the few in the Midwest. She has also studied with numerous Japanese taiko masters and North American taiko groups. "Taiko provides a physically aerobic, musically stimulating, spiritually satisfying mind-body experience," she says. "It draws on a martial arts movement vocabulary and encourages focus and discipline while exploring cultural studies as well as math, language, music/arts and dance."