Clowning is a state of playfulness that allows us to experience a child-like, naïve and vulnerable state of being ... and paradoxically we grow, learn and are strengthened through reconnecting playfully with what makes us most vulnerable. This approach to clowning is not a technique (tricks, gags and routines), but a personal journey towards finding one’s unique way of being a clown, by listening and being receptive, essential skills for any creative and imaginative expression. It is only when we let go of control that we begin to be surprised by the depth of that around us. This course is about freeing ourselves from the “shoulds” and “should nots” that constrain our natural capacity to be playful and free.

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 in each other, the heart to be who we truly are, to trust life and ourselves. “Taking heart” is a profoundly inward process, and is an invitation for overcoming the fears that block us from being fully present in the here and now.

This course establishes the foundation for of all our work and is an essential first step before going on to more advanced courses such as Social Clowning and the Facilitators Training planned for 2011. Class size is limited,  please register early.

VIVIAN GLADWELL

VIVIAN GLADWELL lives and works in France as a modern-day Court Jester and facilitator with various businesses and teaches clowning with the Bataclown. Gladwell discovered clowning in 1978 and founded Nose to Nose in 1990 to promote a new approach to teaching this work in the UK and elsewhere. He regularly gives workshops at Emerson College in Forest Row, the Blackthorn Trust Medical Centre in Maidstone (UK), and at a number of Waldorf teacher training institutes in Germany, all inspired by the teachings and philosophies of Rudolf Steiner. For more information please visit nosetonose.info.

ANN WILLCUTT

 

ANN WILLCUTT facilitates Inner Clown Workshops—“Fools That We Are”. She has thirty-three years of teaching experience in Waldorf and public schools and is also a practitioner of Reiki, Jin Shin Jyutsu and the I Ching. She holds an MA in speech and theater from Indiana University. Since 2003, Ann has worked with Avner Eisenberg, Julie Goell, Keith Johnstone, Karen Montanaro, Ruth Zaporah and most recently, Vivian Gladwell—in search of her inner clown.