Giovanni Fusetti
| If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.William Blake (1757-1827) |
Boulder International Clown Training 2014: THE RED NOSE
23 August, 2014 → 17 September, 2014 - Boulder, Colorado
Welcome to the 10th edition of THE RED NOSE workshop:
a unique opportunity to study and practice the essence of Theatre Clown
and the roots of Physical Comedy.
Boulder, Red Nose 2010. Credit:Jen Hyde
Join us to explore the Sublime Stupidity of Clown,
with the gentle and powerful support of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Clown is about comic poetry : funny and touching, essential and rigorous. It's a dive into the mystery of laughter.
Deeply rooted in movement-based theater, this workshop proposes an intensive training in Theater Clown – a specific theatrical and poetical genre. The pedagogy focuses in particular on the analysis, amplification and play of the physical and emotional world of each actor, as revealed by her or his natural body. This will lead to the discovery of a unique individual clown, with a specific body, tempo, voice, costume, attitudes, emotions, and poetic world.
The journey begins with the exploration and analysis of the body within the theatrical space. In terms of movement, no body is neutral – every body carries profoundly expressive themes, embodied in everyday movement. There is a web of "non-neutral attitudes" and physical and emotional “background noises" within each person’s movement and physical presence. If an actor is observed with an eye to movement, using the reference point of the Neutral State, this web appears like painting/markings on a white sheet. They are “dramatic” in the etymological sense: they contain a drama – an action.
The use of the smallest mask in the world, the RED NOSE and the amplification and articulation of these very personal themes allows the actor to enter the Clown State.
The clown is not a character – it’s a state of playing where everyone has access to the key question: what is so funny about me ?
To discover one’s own clown is to reveal one’s own unique comic persona and turn it into a universal comic form.
For the theater artist as a poetical human being, there is something fundamental about the discovery of her or his individual Clown: it's raw, pure, personal, emotional, unique, challenging, empowering, revealing, and extremely rewarding... It’s the exquisite pleasure of touching the empty space of complete comedy.
As a theatre genre, Clown has a unique poetic potential because it allows the performer to explore and play with the naiveté and the vulnerability of the child and with the rigor and the technique of the adult, thus revealing the poetry of the ridiculous, and a unique personal poetic power.
As a personal journey it's an ecstatic way to get in touch with one's unique humanity and play with it in a space of openness, vulnerability and poetical fun.
The sublime stupidity of the clown is her/his enduring openness to life and to the present moment, despite her/his radical imperfection.
Boulder, Red Nose 2009. Credit: Young
There are as many clowns as there are human beings.
There is one way to stand while there are infinite ways to fall.
Intelligence is limited. Stupidity is infinite.
THE PEDAGOGY
The pedagogical approach integrates movement-based theatre with different principles and practices of physical and emotional awareness, coming in particular from Gestalt, Reichian Bioenergetics, Taoism and Process Work. The result is deep artistic and emotional work, involving the body in a dynamic of play, technical training, awareness and performing folly.
The workshop is simultaneously an artistic process and a personal process.
The personal process within the pedagogy is based on the combination of three fundamental principles. The first two come from the bio-energetics field, first expressed in the West by Wilhelm Reich and then explored by many different approaches. The first principle says that
What is not expressed by the body remains impressed in the body.
The second principle says that
The expression of all emotions brings fluidity (flow) to the body and this fluidity brings physical pleasure.
The third principle is related to the archetypal nature of theatre as a ritual of connection and exploration of the different aspects of human nature:
The parts of ourselves that we don’t play will play us.
As a way of getting in touch with and integrating different parts of the self, seen as a process, theatre becomes a powerful space of knowledge, awareness and personal and collective empowerment. Through the playful unfolding of the energies impressed in the body, a clown will appear, and through playing this form with the rigorous support of theatre technique, a unique poetic world will emerge, as well as a fundamental process of personal evolution.
The Way (Tao) of clown brings powerful and highly poetical insights, witnessed by the audience and celebrated with laughter, and generates the ecstatic joy of being who we are in a unique experience of letting go of all intentions (Wu-Wei).
Helikos 2012. Credit: Stefano Borghi
THE PROGRAM
First Week: THE CLOWN “STATE”
- Play, action/reaction and fun
- From the neutral state to the comic state
- The Red Nose as a mask: amplification and articulation of movement
- The clown as a state of being on stage
- The empty space
- Emotional presence and awareness and contact with the emotional body of the actor
- Contact with the audience
- Playing with space and with objects
Second Week: THE PLAY (le jeu)
- The relationship among clowns: hierarchy, masters and servants, levels of stupidity
- The Circus Clown Archetypes: Augustus, White Clown, Monsieur Loyal
- The Clown's Voice
- Clown acts and le bide (fiasco)
- The Rhythmical space and time: entrance, crescendo, development of themes
- The actor’s skills in service to the clown: playing with music, singing, acrobatics, juggling, dance and unusual or unique skills
Third Week: DEVISING CLOWN ACTS
- Devising of Clown Acts based on the previous weeks' improvisations
- Accidents and comic routines
- Devising a clown variety show
- Staging and directing clowns: each clown will work and rework on some acts /routines to be presented in 3 public performances
- Rehearsing the Clown Variety Show
Fourth week : PERFORMING
- Public presentation of a Clown Variety Show, devised by the participants under the direction of Giovanni Fusetti
- Feedback on the performance and re-work for a second and a third performance
Boulder, Red Nose 2010. Credit:Jen Hyde
SCHEDULE
August 23rd to September 12th, 2014
Saturday August 23rd: Registration at 12pm. Classes 1 to 6. Public lecture-demonstration by Giovanni from 7:30 to 9:30
Sunday August 24th: 3 to 9pm
Monday 25th to Friday 29th: 3 to 9pm
Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st: DAY OFF
Monday September 1st: 12 to 6pm
Tuesday 2nd to Friday 5th : 3 to 9
Saturday 6th: DAY OFF
Sunday 7th: 12 to 6pm
Monday 8th to Thursday 11th: 3 to 9pm
Friday 12th: DAY OFF
Saturday 13th: 2 to 9pm
Sunday 14th, Monday 15th, Tuesday 16th, at the Nomad Theatre, 11am to 10 pm with three Public Performances at 7:30 pm.
Wednesday 17th: 12to3pm. Closing
The location of the workshop is the Boulder Circus Center
Helikos 2013. Credit: Stefano Borghi
ADMISSION
The aim of this course is to give participants professional theatre tools and emotional poetical awareness, in order to play and create within their own clown world. It is addressed to people with previous performance experience (theatre, circus, dance, music, etc.) who feel a strong poetic urgence to be on stage.
It is a training based on generosity and commitment to turning one’s own genuine humanity into play. It requires the participants a genuine curiosity about self-discovery through the healing power of laughter.
The emotional work will be intense and ecstatic: the body will reveal what it needs to experience and express, in a dynamic of amplification, play, letting go, insight and theatrical transposition.
Shadows, archetypes, physical symptoms, dreambody processes will appear and will be welcomed in the alchemical space of the stage.
All will nurture the sublime human poetry of each clown.
HOW TO APPLY
There is no application form.
To apply to THE RED NOSE, please email
- a CV (Resume), including a recent photograph
- and a letter of motivation. The letter must include these themes:
-how did you come to know about this work?
-what is your experience with movement-based theatre?
-what is your previous experience with clown?
-for what purpose do you apply for this program?
Please state in the letter of motivation whether you wish to apply also for the advanced training.
Giovanni will choose students from the applications received, forming the group. In some cases Giovanni will ask the applicants to have a skype conversation. If the student's application is accepted, s/he will be given a spot in the class, in the order the application was received.
Once accepted, to confirm the enrollment, a deposit of US$500.00 is due.
Please note that the deposit is non-refundable.
Once Giovanni has selected 14 students, the workshop is full, and a waiting list will be created. Please note that this workshop tends to fill up fairly quickly so if you intend to participate, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
ENROLLMENT SITUATION ON JUNE 10th: 3 SPOTS STILL AVAILABLE
Helikos 2013. Credit: Stefano Borghi
TUITION
Early Bird: US$ 1,900, if tuition is fully paid by June 15th, 2014.
Full Price: US$ 2.200.
A reduction in tuition fees (US$ 3.000) is available for participants who enroll in both workshops. (THE RED NOSE + CLOWN'S LIFE).
ATTENTION: our administration is in Euros, so if you pay in US$ bank will make the conversion. Unfortunately, most bank hide an extra transfer fee, by applying a different exchage rate then the current one. In order to avoid exchange fees on both sides of the transfer, you can make the payment directly in Euros. Check online the exchange rate of that day (www.xe.com), and then you wire that amount in Euros. If in doubt contact us.
Please note that tuition does not include accommodation and that participants will be responsible for organizing their staying in Boulder. Upon request, we can provide a list of useful information and contacts on how to organize your staying in the beautiful Boulder.
Helikos 2012. Credit: Stefano Borghi
LANGUAGE
The workshop will be taught in ENGLISH
and requires a basic understanding of this language.
Helikos 2013. Credit: Stefano Borghi
INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS
Giovanni Fusetti
If you are interested in attending the workshop, please send applications to
Teresa Scaletti
Boulder, Red Nose 2011