Clown Resources……. Waaaaaay more than you probably want to know!!
Websites:
www.mumpandsmoot.com This is Canada’s foremost clown duo. Warning! They are horror clowns, not for children. But seeing them over 20 years ago is what started me on my clown journey. I just didn’t know it then. M&S have several videos on Youtube.
www.nosetonose.info My most recent teacher founded this organization and this approach is beginning to inform my own practice more and more. One main difference from Pochinko style work is that all of the clown work is improvised.
http://richardpochinko.com/ Read about the person behind what has become known as Pochinko Technique. It’s fascinating stuff. There are links to other Pochinko Technique teachers.
Web Articles: The Nose To Nose website has quite a number of articles, some specifically related to education.
http://www.giovannifusetti.com/public/file/Useofclown.pdf An interview with Giovanni Fusetti. “The Heart of Clowning: on the use of a clown in the world.”
http://www.european-mediaculture.org/fileadmin/bibliothek/english/culham_esl/culham_esl.pdf
An article on ESL teaching which starts from the idea that “gesture” is of critical importance, far more than we recognize. It contains numerous activities as well as theory about ESL teaching.
http://canadianclowning.com/press_enroute.html Enroute magazine 1981, a look at Richard Pochinko
Books:
The clown, from heart to heart Ton Kurstjens http://www.clownerie.nl/ I’ve just read this recently. Quite good on many levels. Available from the author.
The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theatre Jacque Lecoq et al. Covers theatre in various forms, including a chapter on clown. ISBN-10: 0878301410
Why is That So Funny: A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy John Wright
Contains a section on clown.
Video: http://asap.ap.org/stories/909963.s Two short clips of Sue Morrison’s work. Sue is a long-time Pochinko Technique teacher.
The word "courage" comes from a root that means "heart." Through clowning and connecting to our playful spirit we can develop and sustain, in ourselves and each other, the heart to be who we truly are, to trust life and ourselves. "Taking heart" is a profoundly inward process, and an invitation for overcoming the fears that block us from being fully present in the "Here and Now." Vivian Gladwell from Nose to Nose
Being a clown is not about the nose, it’s about the heart. (p. 167 The Clown, from heart to heart) The following quotations also come from this book… original sources unknown.
Being a clown means nothing more and nothing less than being yourself. Daring to show our inner core without wondering what ‘the other’ might think of it. p. 79
“A clown does not avoid difficulties, he magnifies them. He even shows them in a grotesque way to others.” P 81
A clown holds up a mirror and lets you look beyond your limits. P. 83
A clown mirrors all pitfalls and stumbling blocks that we as human beings encounter on our path; our fears, expectations and desires, our defence mechanisms, blocks and pains. In the mirror of the clown all these tings are magnified, which suddenly makes them comical. In this way, a clown makes heavy aspects of life lighter and more bearable. P. 135
Other quotations….
There are as many clowns, as there are human beings.
There is one way to stand, and infinite ways to fall.
Intelligence is limited. Stupidity is infinite. Giovanni Fusetti
"If you ever face all directions of yourself at once, you can only laugh at the sheer beauty of your own ridiculousness. When you watch a great clown you have the feeling of laughing and crying at the same time." Sue Morrison (Pochinko Technique teacher)
“…between the panic and possibilities lies your clown. The panic and the possibilities are universal. If you can learn to laugh at your panic and together we can find a way to express it, then people will identify with it and go through their panic with you and release it. So you see what you’re doing for an audience? The audience identifies with the clown. That’s the difference between an actor and a clown. While an actor is playing someone else, a clown is playing himself and you. A clown doesn’t act; he pretends, like a child does. but is the innocence after experience.” Richard Pochinko
"What we need is a clown for our time. A clown that gives us a larger sense of God in each of us, that celebrates our humanness, our animalness, and the times that we can touch each other in a moment of laughter.” Richard Pochinko
The clown is a unique being. Not because he is “funny”, but because he shows himself. He shares what he thinks, feels or wants. And since the clown says YES to every situation and meeting, although he is not absolutely sure how to deal with it or is scared to death, he will find, through his uniqueness, logic unique (clown) solutions. To identify the human in things creates a basis for comedy. The clown holds up a mirror to the world and in the performance asks the audience to see themselves in this mirror. The recognition of myself in the clown's mirror is what creates the laughter. From Michael Chekhov website http://www.michaelchekhov.org/index.htm