Clown Devising at "Cal Clown"

Here are two numbers from the show performed by students on the Professional Clown Course at the Escola de Clown de Barcelona, in "El Local", a bar in Figueres.

They show that in just 5 weeks (of an 8-week course) it is possible to be performing clown material that really works.

By "really works" I mean performances that make an audience laugh spontaneously at the stupidity of the clown (and not, as I have seen so often, at the concepts, fantasies, ideas or ideologies that many performers try to sell whilst trying to clown).

I mean numbers that are carefully constructed along clown principles (and not according to narrative, character, or vague ideas of improvisation or "self-expression").



At the Escola de Clown, we have created a course of studies that is taught by an integrated team of teachers. They are not an odd collection of individuals who each teach "their vision" of clown and who make the students start from the beginning every time they have a new teacher. They are instead concerned with leading the students through a process that passes through all the key moments: playing, pleasure, relationship with the audience, failure, form and structure.

There are many places where you can study with a single teacher, or with a mixed bag of teachers, but I think this place is still unique in providing a truly professional training.

Summer Intensive Clown Course

One-Month Summer Intensive Course
2nd-29th August 2010

A residential course with a total of 144 hours of classes, spread over four 6-day weeks.

Course Fees
Tuition: 750 Euros
Full food and board: 750 Euros
Total cost: 1,500 Euros

This course offers a broad training ranging from the pleasure of play, of life, which is the driving force of Clown, to the creation of Clown numbers in the final performance. We will work through the various stages of the Clown process: openness, pleasure, humility, freedom, craziness, ridiculousness, imbalance, status, generosity, the flop, intelligence and types of intelligence or stupidity, sharing with and giving to the audience, the mirror effect, the relationship with other clowns (solos/duos/trios/ensembles) and with the audience, admiration, sincerity, focus, surprise, energy, failure and success... How to speak as Clown? How to dress as Clown? How to think as Clown? Ways of creating a Clown number: from improvisation to a script, with text or without, traditional or contemporary, with or without music, with or without props. What is the difference between performing for adults and children, in the street and in the theatre? How to work from your own personality and knowledge in order to create a number. The rules of humour. The Clown and other disciplines (music, dance, circus, etc., according to the student’s interests), and theoretical studies (history, analysis, theory).

There will be rehearsal space and time outside of the hours of class, and during the weekly free day. The course is designed as a whole, and the teachers work as team, meeting regularly to assess the development of the students as a group and individually.

The classes are given by a team of teachers directed by the founders of the School, Clara Cenoz (Director) and Jon Davison.

This is a course that offers the possibility of understanding the Clown from the initial stages up to what is the aim of all clowns who wish to work independently: the creation of one’s own numbers, which will provide a basis for beginning and continuing to work prfessionally. Our objective is for the student to complete the course with their own criteria on what is Clown, having experienced a variety of contexts and teachers of differing styles, and feeling able to generate their own work and adapt it to a range of professional demands, whether in theatre, street, hospital, etc., and to different types of audience.

The basic requirements to attend this course are: the commitment and interest necessary to complete the course. No previous experience is necessary. The minimum age of students is 18. We admit up to 16 students to the course.

Escola de Clown de Barcelona,
Cal Clown,
Romanyà de L'Empordà,
17773 Girona,
Spain
www.escoladeclown.eu
info@escoladeclown.eu
tel. (+34) 872 004 898
móv. (+34) 622 110 537