Instructor Profile

I’d like to lead a workshop focused on improv techniques and physical expression through movement. I will introduce the class with some clown theory and how I relate to my clown persona. Once we explore a few exercises as a group, we will dive into the possibilities of clowning in flow performance. Some exercises I’d like to explore with a group are as follows: *BIG feelings.* -Clowning is expressing yourself. Your clown isn’t anyone other than you.. just with all the dials turned all the way up. We will talk about big expression and how to play a big movement on “stage” so that your message is recieved by the whole audience. *mirror masking* -We are all just reflections of one another through the lense of our experience. Using one word or feeling, express it, then the other person will express it their way. We go back and forth or around in a group circle like a game of telephone, seeing how it distorts or evolves over time. *emotional charades* -It’s like a silent conversation between partners, using our bodies to describe a feeling, an idea, or an expression. Partners take turns emoting and “listening”. *The Power of 3* -This idea is alive in all of clowning arts. See the clown fail, and fail again, as you root them on.. then their success is so much more delicious. When we watch something that doesn’t go as the performer planned, it makes us soo excited to share in their success! That’s when planned performance failures (or real accidental ones!) Enhance our performance as well as our connection to the audience. This is one of my favorite parts of clowning, and one of the most relatable to flow arts and juggling. *Prop Play* -using our flow toys as though we have never interacted with them before. Explore curiosity, awkwardness, and play. Forget the tech and tricks, and pretend that you don’t understand what this is used for. How does it work? How does it feel? How does it relate to you or the space around you? Allow yourself the space to figure that out in a different way. Carve out a different neural pathway.I’ll be passing out clown noses for those who want them. If we have time/interest, I’d like to try and organize a clown takeover “peformance” with people who want to participate.(I would love to teach this class more than once!)