There was a time when I was a clown. Not professional, not trained in clown school, more like an alter ego, a role outside my usual purview as a psychologist, a hobby if you will. I was a white face clown named Dandelion, a charter member and early president of Cowtown Clown Alley. I don’t know if you knew that an organization of clowns is called a clown alley, one of those great collective nouns, like an exaltation of larks, a murder of crows, a parliament of owls, a lamentation of swans, a pod of orcas, a sleuth of bears---well, you get the picture,
So as Dandelion , I mostly did meet -and- greet type events," Fests" of various kinds. I knew a little magic, juggled scarves, made balloon animals, painted faces, led games. That kind of thing. My sidekick was a marvelously constructed puppet monkey. This puppet was so animated that he upstaged me frequently. I remember a time a kid came up for an autograph and when I went to sign his program, he said, “not you!-- the Monkey!" He wasn’t the only kid who preferred the monkey. The monkey was actually a better joke teller, anyway.
It was as a clown at public events that I found out many people are afraid of clowns, many children in particular. I never understood the parents who would push a fearful child in my face saying, “see she’s not scary, she’s funny. “
I am thinking, "No mam, I am not funny, I am scary to your toddler". So I would back away, get down low, at the child's eye level or below, speak softly, say something about their shoes.
I spent a long time and did lots of research to design my face. I learned there are traditionally three kinds of clowns, with specific subtypes, and the make up and costume design is specific to each: white face, auguste and character clown, of which the tramp/hobo is one of the most commonly known. In the clown hierarchy white face clowns are the top, especially the classic whiteface which tends to be very skilled and regal, even elegant. A subtype is the comic whiteface with more exaggerated facial features and often brightly colored wigs, and Dandelion was this type of clown. I created a basic personality for my character, rummaged through thrift stores for costume bits and props, went to magic stores, looked at clown books and catalogs, attended clown conferences, took mime classes.
As I explored the history of clowns, I learned all kinds of things. How ancient the art is , the different cultural forms, the role clowns and puppets have played in theater over the years. I learned how hard clowns work at looking silly and spontaneous. Some of my friends in clown alley were naturals, their good spirits rolling out of them in exaggerated ways when they donned wigs and props. Crackers was a great ventrilioquist, Patches used music. Everybody took being funny seriously.
One year I talked a friend into taking a road trip to West Virginia for an International Mime and Movement Festival. We arrived late and the first person we met was a clown named Avner the Eccentric. He didn’t speak, but quickly made a little horse figure out of his business card. Avner was a great clown to see in action. Not long after that I would see him in the movie "The Jewel of the Nile" with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
At the festival, there were mimes, jugglers, clowns, dancers, guerrilla theater groups, singers, all kinds of performers. It was a great event.
This was a time in the world when there were also psychology conferences to be found called "Laughter and Play," where new ways of movement and playing in groups were being generated and alternative programs in schools and businesses were exploring play and creativity for wellness and productivity.
Then something changed, I couldn’t tell you what, and all that stuff went underground, you didn’t hear so much of it. But now, the expressive arts therapies are making a comeback, this time with solid research to back up their use and effectiveness.
I didn’t like clowns when I was a kid. I wasn’t into slapstick and thought clowns were silly and not very interesting. I liked verbal humor or more situational humor. But when I became Dandelion, an easygoing, cheerful little clown, I found it interesting to go around as not myself, and see all the different ways that people react. I was interested in the people who played along and the people who pretended I wasn’t there. I would stand behind the person they were talking to until they couldn’t ignore me. I was interested in the people who had high expectations for a performance that I couldn’t meet and I felt their generalized disappointment. I loved the kids who thought my cloth monkey was real, at least for a few minutes. What a great imagination those kids had, how useful that will always be to them.
I was reminded of my clowning days when I invited Diane Simons to be on the show. Years ago, Hip Pocket called Cowtown Clown Alley to look for clowns to mingle with the audience at a production. So I pulled out my clown stuff and some matching stuff for my then-teenage niece and off we went, car stuffed with long skinny balloons.
I used to love driving around in my clown outfit. People always did a double take, and then a big smile. I loved telling people who knew me as a psychologist that I was also a clown, the doubletake they did, the question marks in the air above their heads. I admit I was selective about who I told…..people don’t always allow for such diversity of roles in one person, it gets confusing.
Have you noticed this? Have you noticed how hard it can be to show certain parts of ourselves, that it can bring people to say, “you’re not yourself today”? We even say that to ourselves sometimes.
The great thing about engaging in play is it allows us to ask, “who else am I? Who else are you? What if we did it this way?”
FYI Hip Pocket Theatre, www.hippocket.org
Hip Pocket Theatre is an experimental theatre ensemble, well-known for their original productions, music and costumes.The Theatre was founded in 1976 by Johnny and Diane Simons and Douglas Balentine. For the past 34 years Johnny and Diane Simons have committed themselves to widening the vision and scope of theatre, relying on the imagery of fantasy and fable, and original adaptation. The performance focus is interdisciplinary, combining traditional theatrical elements with original score, drama, mime, dance, puppetry, as well as environmental and visual installations. The Hip Pocket Theatre has performed in many different venues, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. One of the great things Hip Pocket does is to get out in the community and bring people into a playful space, to laugh, enjoy, imagine, create and find out something new about themselves and other people. Their outreach programs in schools, hospitals, museums and other venues gives people a chance to express authentic emotion, some for the first time.
So as Dandelion , I mostly did meet -and- greet type events," Fests" of various kinds. I knew a little magic, juggled scarves, made balloon animals, painted faces, led games. That kind of thing. My sidekick was a marvelously constructed puppet monkey. This puppet was so animated that he upstaged me frequently. I remember a time a kid came up for an autograph and when I went to sign his program, he said, “not you!-- the Monkey!" He wasn’t the only kid who preferred the monkey. The monkey was actually a better joke teller, anyway.
It was as a clown at public events that I found out many people are afraid of clowns, many children in particular. I never understood the parents who would push a fearful child in my face saying, “see she’s not scary, she’s funny. “
I am thinking, "No mam, I am not funny, I am scary to your toddler". So I would back away, get down low, at the child's eye level or below, speak softly, say something about their shoes.
I spent a long time and did lots of research to design my face. I learned there are traditionally three kinds of clowns, with specific subtypes, and the make up and costume design is specific to each: white face, auguste and character clown, of which the tramp/hobo is one of the most commonly known. In the clown hierarchy white face clowns are the top, especially the classic whiteface which tends to be very skilled and regal, even elegant. A subtype is the comic whiteface with more exaggerated facial features and often brightly colored wigs, and Dandelion was this type of clown. I created a basic personality for my character, rummaged through thrift stores for costume bits and props, went to magic stores, looked at clown books and catalogs, attended clown conferences, took mime classes.
As I explored the history of clowns, I learned all kinds of things. How ancient the art is , the different cultural forms, the role clowns and puppets have played in theater over the years. I learned how hard clowns work at looking silly and spontaneous. Some of my friends in clown alley were naturals, their good spirits rolling out of them in exaggerated ways when they donned wigs and props. Crackers was a great ventrilioquist, Patches used music. Everybody took being funny seriously.
One year I talked a friend into taking a road trip to West Virginia for an International Mime and Movement Festival. We arrived late and the first person we met was a clown named Avner the Eccentric. He didn’t speak, but quickly made a little horse figure out of his business card. Avner was a great clown to see in action. Not long after that I would see him in the movie "The Jewel of the Nile" with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
At the festival, there were mimes, jugglers, clowns, dancers, guerrilla theater groups, singers, all kinds of performers. It was a great event.
This was a time in the world when there were also psychology conferences to be found called "Laughter and Play," where new ways of movement and playing in groups were being generated and alternative programs in schools and businesses were exploring play and creativity for wellness and productivity.
Then something changed, I couldn’t tell you what, and all that stuff went underground, you didn’t hear so much of it. But now, the expressive arts therapies are making a comeback, this time with solid research to back up their use and effectiveness.
I didn’t like clowns when I was a kid. I wasn’t into slapstick and thought clowns were silly and not very interesting. I liked verbal humor or more situational humor. But when I became Dandelion, an easygoing, cheerful little clown, I found it interesting to go around as not myself, and see all the different ways that people react. I was interested in the people who played along and the people who pretended I wasn’t there. I would stand behind the person they were talking to until they couldn’t ignore me. I was interested in the people who had high expectations for a performance that I couldn’t meet and I felt their generalized disappointment. I loved the kids who thought my cloth monkey was real, at least for a few minutes. What a great imagination those kids had, how useful that will always be to them.
I was reminded of my clowning days when I invited Diane Simons to be on the show. Years ago, Hip Pocket called Cowtown Clown Alley to look for clowns to mingle with the audience at a production. So I pulled out my clown stuff and some matching stuff for my then-teenage niece and off we went, car stuffed with long skinny balloons.
I used to love driving around in my clown outfit. People always did a double take, and then a big smile. I loved telling people who knew me as a psychologist that I was also a clown, the doubletake they did, the question marks in the air above their heads. I admit I was selective about who I told…..people don’t always allow for such diversity of roles in one person, it gets confusing.
Have you noticed this? Have you noticed how hard it can be to show certain parts of ourselves, that it can bring people to say, “you’re not yourself today”? We even say that to ourselves sometimes.
The great thing about engaging in play is it allows us to ask, “who else am I? Who else are you? What if we did it this way?”
FYI Hip Pocket Theatre, www.hippocket.org
Hip Pocket Theatre is an experimental theatre ensemble, well-known for their original productions, music and costumes.The Theatre was founded in 1976 by Johnny and Diane Simons and Douglas Balentine. For the past 34 years Johnny and Diane Simons have committed themselves to widening the vision and scope of theatre, relying on the imagery of fantasy and fable, and original adaptation. The performance focus is interdisciplinary, combining traditional theatrical elements with original score, drama, mime, dance, puppetry, as well as environmental and visual installations. The Hip Pocket Theatre has performed in many different venues, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. One of the great things Hip Pocket does is to get out in the community and bring people into a playful space, to laugh, enjoy, imagine, create and find out something new about themselves and other people. Their outreach programs in schools, hospitals, museums and other venues gives people a chance to express authentic emotion, some for the first time.
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Posted by: New Jordans | 04/18/2010 at 02:56 AM