 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
WHERE IS THE CLOWN? JUST SIMPLY INSIDE OURSELVES!! REALIZE YOUR YOUR OWN COMIC UNIVERS. DISCOVER YOUSELF. ACCEPT YOUR IMPERFECTIONS AS YOUR STRENGTH. USE YOUR OWN ABSURDITY AND RIDICULOUSNESS. GIVE THEM A THEATRICAL DIMENTION.
The clown, omnipresent, is bigger than life, an exaggeration of reality, one can even say that he or she comes from another planet. Her presence alone can intrigue the public who is breath taken when the clown simply appears on stage or wherever he may happen to appear. Time expands with clown, and thus we can find a larger dimension of exhistance in which moments can be actually stopped and reality magnified to such an extent that we can see ultimate human truth. So far away from the "norm", the clown is unable to live at the pace that this world demands. Always behind, ahead or apart from everyday reality, the clown finds logic within his own absurdity. For a moment, lost in his own universe, the clown can bring the outside world into his own terrestrial sphere. Simplicity becomes extraordinary, ugliness becomes beautiful, beauty becomes ridiculous, banality becomes interesting. All of the above belong to the paradox of the clown. Through his own errors and misfortunes the clown is the mirror of the hidden side of society. As an outsider, the clown asks "who am I ? What does the world say that I must be? How can I be a part of it even though I don't really fit in? Often anarchististic, messy, dissordered, infantile, there are few rules for clowning and even if there were, the clown would break them because that is the nature of the clown. He wouldn't even know how to follow them if he tried to and why should he want to? And if there were really a "system" that would be the end of originality which is also at the source of the clown. The clown is such an individual and so different with his own strangeness, that all we can do is to search for his/her authentic way to get there. There is often a duality within the clown, for there is his performance and who he is. The audience may laugh at what he is doing and above all because of his person. This is also what makes the clown stand-alone in the world of performance. In the work on the stage, interactively and throughout improvisation, we quest to recognise and to define these moments. Through movement, voice, theatrical play, solo or with the group, through improvisation. Let your clown be born. In an open, calm, and interactive atmosphere one can let go, break the barriers of reason, and enjoy. Through having fun we learn to accept and thus perform and play who we really are and with what we've got...
A day of work is made up of four parts:
Corporeal preparation:
Here we wake up the senses by getting moving. We look for the relationship between ourselves and the space around us, the movement and the breath, breathing and the voice. We use different practices to prepare the working terrain such as Theatrical Movement, Dance, Yoga, Tai Chi, Voice Training, Breathing Exercises, Mime, and Neutral Mask to create a centred base, a ready base that can react spontaneously, vigorously, with the body and the spirit reunited, open, present; the elements of which the clown is based in our work. Movement and Mime energises us, opens the space in which we play, our joy, and freedom. Becoming aware of the space that the actor inhabits, learning to encompass it completely and with full dimension, to open physically towards the space around is at the foundation of the clown’s presence and exploration. Mime serves as body language with which we can play, tell a story, enrich our universal communication which is the language of the clown. We enrich our capacity to express, perform; and learn the language of gesture and a vocabulary of mime that enhances our precision. The clown, going beyond all cerebral comprehension, is understood everywhere we see him as he is the joining of everything that is human. Breathing is one of the imminent realities of each moment in our live’s continuum and above all very important not to forget while on stage. Learning to breathe fully and well can permit us to live each moment completely. Practice of Zazen, Yoga, Chi Qong, activities centred around the breath, highten our awareness and give us the space and the calm to really experience BEING. Learning to clown or to become a clown only through clowning itself would be like exercising the same muscle over and over again to the point of tiring it out and tearing it. Thus, we start the day with this preparative approach to being ready to discover one's clown time after time, and playing. Improvising individually or within the group without the clown nose, we don't have to feel the necessity to be "funny" or "amusing". We can explore other domains of theater and quietly observe our potential, enjoying the freedom to find a new opening within one's self, a greater presence and freedom of expression.
Theatrical Play:
Theatrical games are proposed so that the actors can get in touch with their impulses, spontaneity, and pleasure just by naturally playing, thus encouraging complicity and fun between the actor/clowns. By playing theatral and childhood games such as 1,2,3, soleil, by dancing to one's favourite music, or upon catching a ball and spontaneously singing a made- up- on- the -spot nonsense song...we can begin to observe potential clown moments. Joy and pleasure belong to the key to finding our inner clown. Each person has for himself elements that bring on that sense of profound delight. What are the sources that bring one to life and make one forget everything else and just simply be there? The quest is to find out.
On Stage:
Taking the fun and energy found through playing and bringing it to the stage, we use different exercises and themes of improvisation to work with the actor/clowns. We also discover and learn how to make use of the many theatrical techniques and the basics of performing... Wearing the red clown nose, a small mask that helps us to better see the expression and the state-of- being each person, we recognise in each one his or her own truth that can transform into the elements one’s own clown. Working interactively to find a path to the creation a of a new clown and a new world of comedy-theater, individual work with each one helps to identify and amplify what one is already doing naturally .We realise, together, the generosity and the freedom that each one can have while simply being real. There are times in improvisation or in group work or preparation that the clown suddenly and surprisingly appears. We grasp this opportunity to actively dress and or make up the clown searching for his silhouette so we can see more evidently the clown who lives inside us.
Collective Creativity:
Themes shall worked on and evolved into sketches through group work and presented at the end of each week. Should the group wish, at the end of the workshop a show may be presented. Whether the clown plays directly to the audience or remains in his own world, the clown transmits what is happening on the stage and to himself to his audience. It is the back and forth or the “complicity” with the audience that is so unique to the clown. The development of new material and the experience of playing it in a genuine performance situation is essential to the growing of a clown.
Classroom language: English/French
Laura Herts, born on the 20th of February 1966 in Georgetown, Washington D.C, began a world tour at the age of 18 and one year later rediscovered a childhood passion; mime. From that moment, she began to perform wherever possible, and it was while crossing Europe by street performing that she made a stop in Brussels, Belgium to study at the School of Mime - Theater Lassaad in 1986. Setting in Paris in 1987, she followed the teachings of Jacques Lecoq, Daniel Stein, and Philippe Gaulier , took the experience she received in movement theater, clown, neutral mask, and mime and combined them with the elements of street-theater to create a world of comedy , clown, and social satire of her own.
Invited to a number of festivals and theatres, she has performed in France in events such as “Printemps de Rire” , “Festival d’ Humour” , “Été de Vaour”, “Mimos”, “Chalons dans la Rue”, and internationally in events such as “ The International Festival of Clowns”, in Switzerland, “Bizarte”, in Belgium, “Palassos” in Spain, “Jerusalem Festival” in Israel, “Noge Festival” in Japan, “Unter Wasser Fliegen” in Germany, “Crazy Woman” Festival in St.Petersburg, Russia, “Riso de Terra” “festival FILO“ in Brazil ,Ecuador, New Calédonia.
