'Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the clown room!'
I believe that one day humans will progress to live in harmony without money and sharing all the knowledge. Therefore, I share mine with you so that you could improve by yourself. You can revise what you learnt in my workshops or/and use it to teach. Remember that this is my point of view about the clown.
The clown style that I'm going to teach you.
It's a gestural clown that doesn't speak with words or hands movements (there are always some students that speak a lot with the hands... I would like to have a straitjacket!). Of course, you can speak, but just some words. The goal is to transmit with your eyes. We were already gregarious animals prepared to understand feelings and what the others were trying to express long before humans could speak. So, you can!
Sounds are always funny and are an easy way to clarify what you are doing and feeling.
I think the best clown is absolutely innocent and not vulgar.
I teach a lot of techniques mixed with some healthy values (therapeutic clown) that you can use in your daily life.
With regard to the clown personality, check the next clown philosophies.
Clown workshop in Brunico, Italy.
Clown philosophies.
Clown being.
Being a clown isn't acting. All people could perform a character in the same way, but performing a clown, your clown is something like a clown being. It's about recovering your natural personality that you lost because of the social pressure. When you are in this 'state' you cannot be nervous or angry.
Clown is love.
You must get that all spectators to love you and think 'Oh, I want to adopt this clown!'. What's the feeling that you have when you see a video of a very cute puppy? It's the same!
Clowns are innocent as children.
Children don't need to learn clown. They don't have malice even when they do something bad on purpose. Children just have two reasons to have malice: just for playing (e.g. when they are dropping once and again something to make someone else to pick it up), or rage, which is momentary (you can read more about it further bellow).
Clowns are always honest with their emotions.
Children cannot hide their emotions even when they are trying to lie. When you are performing as a clown isn't a good idea to lie to the spectators. They will know. Nobody likes liars. Be careful if you use the slapstick technique because if you aren't very talented, people will have bad feelings because of you.
Clowns never judge.
When children laugh, cry, walk,... don't care their external aspect, they just show themselves as they are. Society, family,... convince us to grow up following rules like 'adults can't play on the streets'. If you do, you are crazy... Adults judge everybody and themselves. When we go dancing, we do it in a 'correct' way. Children just dance. We have a little but powerful (and bad) judge in our brains. Kill your inside judge! Enjoy the full essence of yourself.
Problems are welcome.
This is the base of all clowns. A clown without problems is a bored clown. Clowns are always looking for problems to try to solve. It's like real life. For example, when the soup dish falls down, all your stuff gets dirty and you have to take a lot of patience to clean it... it's very entertaining!
Mistakes are funny.
Your first reaction when a friend of you falls down is laughing, then you ask 'Are you OK?' So, play with mistakes. On the other hand, imagine this situation: an actor forgets his line on the stage. This is a big, real and unwelcome problem. Now imagine the same situation for a clown... relax! Play with that mistake, stop the show and say 'Oh, I forgot my line' and solve it. People will love this moment. And the most important thing is that you don't have a reason to feel stressed when you are performing as a clown, ever.
Licence to do all.
If you enter into a restaurant and make jokes about the bald spot of a hairless guy, he will feel bad and angry. The rest of the assistants will feel the same (empathy). If you enter with a red nose (and you are performing a nice clown) and do the same, that guy will laugh about himself and the surreal situation. The others too. A clown can do all that he wants (but always with respect and innocence) because people will give him permission.
Clowns can do/be all (and believe it).
Can you fly? Are you an elephant? Can you put your body in a bottle? Are you a stone? Can you speak 50 languages? Are you superman or supergirl? Can you play 30 instruments? Can you eat stones? Your clown can! If you really believe it, you can, always within a clown solution.
Clowns do ordinary things in a different way.
How do you walk? How do you brush your teeth? How do you wake up in the mornings? And your clown? Try to find out how do you want to do everything.
Clowns accept (almost) all proposals.
When you are performing with a partner, accept his proposals to play together. Don't say no.
Clowns are never bored in an empty room.
That's absolutely true. You can play with the colours, the stains, the lines, the walls, your clothes,... and create an imaginary world.
The objective isn't the laugh. It's transmitting good vibes.
Please, don't look for the easy joke. Just enjoy on the stage. Spectators are very empathic with the artist. If you really enjoy, they will also enjoy. It's not good that you are nervous, stressed, feeling stupid, brain busy looking for ideas,... relax and enjoy! This way you will be ready to transmit good vibes.
Clowns love being on the stage and watched by spectators.
When you see a child playing alone, he isn't playing alone, he is playing with you because you are watching him. Is this sentence familiar to you? 'Dad/Mom are you watching me?'. They want an adult to watch how they play so awesome and talented (they move, speak, do special effect noises...). Clowns love to take the attention of everybody. So, when you are performing, enjoy that there are a lot of eyes watching you. If someone is not looking at you, do something to get his attention.
Intensive clown workshop in Traun, Austria.
Clown stuff.
A red nose is the smallest mask in the world.
Clowns don't need a red nose. But the red nose is a mask. A mask is a resource to feel protected, to feel the transformation, to feel the clown being. Actors use costumes, wigs, objects,... to feel the transformation. So, a red nose is the smallest mask in the world. The red nose has another benefit. When people see you with a red nose, immediately think 'Oh, a clown' and they are waiting anxiously for you to do something great. So, at the beginning it is highly recommended to use it because it's easier to take the attention and feel protected.
There are different kinds and colours of clown noses.
There are so many kinds of clown noses (different material, shape, size, price...). I recommend you to try different red noses and choose the best for you. Don't choose one too big for your face, keep your eyes visible. There are also clown noses that aren't red. People identify a red nose with a clown and say 'look, a clown is coming!'. But they don't know the meaning of a black, green, blue,... nose. They think 'Hey, a clo... hey, what happened...'. Why do you want to use another colour? Do you wanna be different? Come on, you are a clown! You are already unique. If you don't want to use a red nose, don't use an artificial nose.
Elastic string and a backup red nose.
Attach an elastic string to the red nose to avoid it falling down. There are transparent (that I most like) and white ones. The thinnest ones are more discrete but also more delicate. You can use makeup to cover the white string. Don't worry if your red nose breaks because you always have another one in your pocket.
Hats are useful for clowns.
You will feel a big protection covering your head because your hairstyle is a part of you. On the other hand, you have a toy to play with in different ways. Take care and don't cover your eyes or eyebrows. You can also play with your long hair and do something different.
Costumes.
You can use what you want as a costume, even ordinary clothes. Try to dress in a different way that what you do in your daily life. Most of people don't like the classic circus clown costume. Currently, clowns don't need to wear weird clothes with lot of colours to be identified as clowns. Too many colours is too much information for our brains. Try to simplify and be a little bit different. Dress as you would have always liked to dress but never did because society didn't permit you. Now it's your moment!
Makeup.
If you paint your face too much with a permanent big smile, you can't transmit sadness, rage,... The most important thing to transmit well is to show your eyes. You can paint a black line to make your eyes look bigger. Use makeup in a clever way. Don't make up yourself to be beautiful (the same rule for the clothes). If you are looking to look sexy and beautiful you will lose the attention from your show and the emotions that you want to transmit. All clowns are beautiful!
Objects.
All the objects that clowns bring with themselves are very important because they are part of their personality. Never leave one of your objects or clothes on the stage. Always carry them with you or come back a few seconds later to take them, do not even forget the invisible objects created by the imagination. It's very interesting to watch a clown playing with objects in a different way than what these objects were created for. Creativity is very important. An object can also be funny by itself if it's different than usually (bigger, smaller,...).
Clown workshop in Almere, The Netherlands.
Clown techniques.
How to put on the red nose.
The technique I teach is: go in privacy (nobody has to see your transformation and you must feel safe), close your eyes, breath several times and relax, feel good with yourself (you can think 'Oh yes, I am so nice that people will love me.' or whateverthought you want), smile to yourself, put on the red nose. Before opening your eyes you must remember that all you will see is beautiful (wow, the colours, the shapes, the materials,..) and new (everything will catch your interest as when you see something for the very first time). Before you open your eyes, image how so wide is the space that you can see, and finally open your eyes and your ears.
How to take off the red nose.
Just in privacy. Nobody must see your transformation. You can also close your eyes while you are taking off the red nose.
Sequence to get ready before starting the show.
It's really useful having a sequence 'to get ready' just after putting on the red nose. This sequence is like a ritual to do before arriving at the stage, similar to that when you leave your home and prepare your aspect in front of the mirror. It must be an easy and quick sequence from up to down or down to up.
Pointing with the red nose.
If you point to an object with the red nose, spectators will notice it. You can change the focal point if you look into a different place. Sometimes it's like if the red nose pulls your body. I teach a trick moving the neck that works very well.
Opening the eyes and ears.
You must open your eyes and ears every time, not literally, what I mean is that you should be prepared to see all people, all objects, the flies, the motions around you and to hear all sounds close and far from you. This way you could improvise a lot.
The red nose is a part of your body.
You never play with your real nose, you never touch your real nose and play 'music' ('Mec mec!'), you never touch the noses of the other people. You can't even see your real nose, but it's there are all the time. Do you see it now? Well, the red nose is a part of you, don't be surprised because of it. So, don't play with your red nose, don't touch it, don't play with your partners' red noses and take care with the little children! Don't allow anybody to touch your red nose.
Always looking at the spectators.
The thing I most must repeat in my workshops is 'Look at us'. It's very important that the spectators can see your eyes to understand what's going at every moment. Open your eyes when you are crying,... Remember to point with the red nose to the object and then to us,... If you have to walk to the background, do it while you turn back your head to look at the spectators. Look at them!
Your natural and relaxed walking.
When we are walking on the street we do it smartly. If you walk differently, people will think you are crazy. Nevertheless, children are allowed to do that. Remember that clowns are allowed to do everything! So, look for your special walking and enjoy it!
Improvisation is always fresh.
Improvisations are the funniest thing in the performances. Keep your mind opened to break your show and play with the spectators, animals, sounds,...
Asking for permission to enter.
Don't arrive at the centre of the stage suddenly and start your show. Take your time to connect with the audience. Make people to shut up and look at you. Do it with love. You don't need to speak. When you show your head from the backstage, some persons will see you and keep quiet. Then several more. If somebody laughs, the rest will want to know why and they will discover you. When all people are expectant for your show, it's the moment to arrive at the centre of the stage.
Saying the last goodbye.
The spectators will love you and they won't want you to leave. Just before you access to the backstage, turn your head/body and say goodbye (with your eyes, a hand, kissing,...). This act is a present for the audience.
Looking for an exit.
You know clowns love being watched by spectators and to stay on the stage for a long time. Take care with this sensation. You must leave the stage when people want more. If you are doing the same act for too long, people will get bored and they will feel embarrassed for you. If you are doing an improvisation, keep in mind that you must look for a nice exit. It doesn't matter if you find it very soon because then you could enter again since people want more.
The clown solutions.
Clowns love problems to solve. They are looking for new problems, even when they are trying to solve one. Clowns are very talented doing ordinary things in different ways and solving problems in a special way. Find your problem and enjoy it!
The gulp moment.
The gulp moment is the moment when the performer forgets the line. This situation is terrifying for an actor, very stressful. But as clowns are very natural an honest, it's not a problem (and it's very funny). Just accept your mistake and have fun.
The doubt.
To vacillate, to hesitate is great for clowns. Play with this.
4 emotions: happiness, sadness, fear and rage.
All emotions happen suddenly and for a short time. Look at the children. Anna and Laura are two little children playing together (happiness). Anna disturbs Laura who feels upset (rage) and hits Anna who cries (fear). Then, both feel sadness in a different way. An adult arrives and asks 'What's wrong??'. After the explanation, the adult says 'OK, it's not a problem. Laura, say sorry. Anna, say I forgive you. Then, one kiss and one hug.' and after that moment, Anna and Laura play together as good friends (happiness). Clowns must be very clear with their emotions, not like adults that always try to hide their emotions. It's very funny when a clown change quickly his emotions. It's very important to show the emotions openly, not like actors, but like children. If you want to cry, cry as the biggest miserable in the world; if you are happy, be effusive.
Clown state.
When we find our clown and we feel our inside clown ('May the clown be with you') we are in a clown state. What does 'state' mean? It is like when someone is drunk; he is in a different state than usual. The clown state is awesome and very healthy; you cannot be stressed and you will understand that life is easier than you thought.
Love.
Love is also a state. It is not an emotion because it is not for a short time and also you can play it in combination with the emotions (sadness of love, hapinness of love,...).
Imitating and exaggerating.
Imitating is a good resource to catch the attention and have fun. But if you exaggerate a little bit the imitation, much better. You can play crescendo and decrescendo arriving to both extremes.
Playing with objects.
Clowns are very talented playing with objects and finding new usages. A stick can be a flute, a pen, a plane,... When you have a friends meeting you can play a game to find new usages to different objects.
Playing with the imaginary world.
Do you remember that you played a lot with invisible objects and characters? Clowns haven't lost this talent and they can create a full and wonderful invisible world. And the best of this talent is that they get the spectators to see it. You must remember where is all the invisible stuff. It's very funny when you put an object in a place and 10 minutes later, you have an accident with this object because 'you forgot it was there'.
The empathy.
It's very important that you improve your empathy because you must feel the spectators' feelings and what they are thinking. If you feel somebody is sad, work in the way to turn his sadness into happiness. If someone is thinking you are dangerous, show him you are harmless. With empathy you will know when spectators want that you finish your show, even before than they know it by themselves.
Performing with a partner.
The best partner is who put you in trouble. If one of the clowns has an idea, he will suggest it and the other one will accept it.
Feeling the partner.
Use your empathy to know what's going on in the brain of your partner to help him in the show (if you want to help a clown, put him in trouble, always in an innocent way).
Taking care of yourself, your partner and the spectators.
Please, take care of everybody when you are in the clown being. It's true that your clown can do all but don't forget that your clown is covered by a wimp human. Take care with the imaginary swimming pools! You must control your movements. Don't hurt yourself, your partner or someone else. Take care of the spectators' feelings.
The focal point.
You must control the focal point. Maybe it is you, an object, a spectator, a fly, your partner,... Use your red nose to change the focal point. If there are several clowns, it isn't good that they do a lot of things at the same time because people won't know where they to see.
Simplify!
One important thing that one of my teachers taught me was to simplify the shows. We always have a lot of great ideas and we want to do them all. It is very complicated to understand a clown that is doing many things at the same time. Use one or two ideas for a show, and the rest, if anything, for other shows.
Clowns aren't stupid.
I have seen a lot of 'clowns' trying to get the easy laugh, making fake mistakes (for example: juggling balls very badly and dropping them a lot). It's not easy to make fake mistakes. If you are not talented enough to make it credible, don't do it. Stupid people can't solve problems, but clowns are very talented solving problems. Clowns aren't stupid, their brains just work differently (masterfully).
Clown workshop in Lublin, Poland.
I will share more topics, little by little. Please let me know if you have any questions: Clowntact me.