Sunday 21 January 2007

Welcome to ClownBlog. I started this blog as a way of stimulating discussion worldwide on the subject of clown. It’s a serious subject but it’s hard to find serious discussion about it on the web. I’m not against forums that allow you to swap information on clown shoes, but I’d like to address other concerns, like:

What is clown in our contemporary world? More and more people seem to be turning to clowning as a kind of answer to difficult questions, in health, politics and spiritually. 50 years ago this would have been unthinkable. So, what’s going on?

(A note on language: I will endeavour to publish as much as possible in English and in Spanish. Comments and discussions in French and Catalan are also very welcome, but I am unable to moderate in other languages.)

Jon Davison

Bienvenidos a ClownBlog. He empezado este blog para poder estimular la discusión mundial del tema del clown. Es un tema serio pero es difícil encontrar algo serio sobre el clown en la web. No estoy en contra de los foros que te permiten intercambiar información sobre los zapatos de payaso, pero me gustaría hablar de otras cosas, como:

¿Qué es el clown contemporáneo? Cada vez más parece que la gente mira al clown para responder a unas preguntas complicadas, en la salud, la política y la espiritualidad. Hace 50 años esto habría sido impensable. Entonces, ¿qué pasa?

(Una nota sobre los idiomas: intentaré publicar lo más posible en inglés y español. También los comentarios y discusiones en francés y catalán están bienvenidos, pero no puedo moderar en otros idiomas.)

Jon Davison

7 comments:

Danny Schlesinger said...

Hi Jon,
It's great you have started this discussion page/blog. You asked what is the clown in our contemporary world? The same as always. There will always be some clowns who comment on the politics of the day, entertain, provoke and make people aware of issues close to their heart. But ultimately the clown is here to remind us how human we are with all our faults and failures. As well as celebrate our successes.
But I could be wrong!
Danny Sch

Jon Davison said...

Danny: I agree that there have always been clowns with different leanings, political, entertainment and so on. I also think that if we look into clown history a bit, we find clowning has at times been allied more with theatre, and at others more with variety, and others more with politics, etc. Our recent history has been about reconnecting with theatre, as has contemporary circus. But even that isn't new. Mid-19th century circus was far more connected with the theatre of its day: melodrama.

Danny Schlesinger said...

So perhaps if people are interested in themselves and developing themselves clown is perfect for that - and its fun. Perhaps someone should study clown and education in some format. What do you think?
Danny

Jon Davison said...

Yes, I think clown is idel for self-development, as it deals with learning that fears are foundless. Failure becomes success and this frees us to enjoy life rather than worrying about it.
Has anyone studied this in more depth in a conventional educational settings? Like schools?
Many business people have realised the value of play, which is also in part about allowing for failure as part of the creative process, but clown goes much further.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Hi college,

Pienso que el mundo del clown esta muy mitificado, y que todavía son utilizados como a los antiguos bufones de la corte dándoles pequeñas treguas transitorias en períodos de paz política.

Thanks for this blog

Anonymous said...

bones,ara fara uns dies que vaig llegir sobre els cliniclowns i els pallasos sense fronteres. Em va semblar genial, tant que m'agradaria formarme en l'art del clown amb l'objectiu de poder fer arribar les rialles i els jocs alla on fes falta. Pot sonar romantic pero benvingut el romanticisme!! La meva pregunta es a quin país de parla anglesa-doncs m'agradaria practicar aquesta llengua- podria formar-me? Coneixeu alguna escola que tingui un programa regular?
Salut. Jordi