Clowns Talk about Clowning- YouTube Videos

Jim Moore, the variety arts photographer who has probably photographed more clowns than anybody in the history of photography, has been doing something new-- he's been videotaping clowns.

If you check out his YouTube videos (URL below), he's putting up interviews with performers as they talk about their work, how they create their work, and even why they create their work.

Jim's got tons of archival stuff, so who knows what else he's got in his archives.

Recently he posted an interview with Keith Nelson of the Bindlestiff's, and he's also got David Engel and Hilary Chaplain talking about creating a new act for David's character El Magnifico.


HILARY CHAPLAIN & DAVID ENGEL VIDEO
I suggest subscribing to his YouTube feed on the page, or checking in there pretty often to see what rare and interesting material he surfaces. He'll also be interviewing somebody from the NY Downtown Clown Revue every month, where he remains the official staff photographer)

(And speaking of subscribing, thanks to the ever more efficient Pat Cashin of Clownalley.net for the link to Keith's interview. I knew Jim was putting these videos together, but didn't think to mention them until I saw Pat's post. He beats me to the punch a lot in posting stuff.) If you are not RSS'ing Clownalley.net, you should be!

Jim's Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=jm5star&p=r

Pat Cashin's Clown Alley: www.clownalley.net

Acme Clown Art Exhibit- 2001

In 2001, I became the Clown Laureate of Greenbelt Maryland. As part of my work there, I curated a clown art exhibit, that featured over 50 pieces of artwork. I' ve assembled some samples on a web page, and recently moved it to my own site:

http://www.acmeclown.com/clownartexhibit/

The piece to the left is "Dunk the Clown" by artist Frank Wu

Enjoy the artwork!

More about the Greenbelt residency:
http://www.acmeclown.com/greenbelt/

Workshop with Ronlin Foreman 3/2 in Chicago

On Sunday March 2, Master Clown Teacher at the Dell'arte School RonLin Foreman and Joe Krienke will teach a class entitled: The Powerful Presence: Effort, Risk Momentum, Joy. The 3 hour workshop, at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, will include work on the actor's presence, physical efforts, movement and improvisation.

Ronlin was one of my teachers at Dell'arte. And while I certainly didn't agree with everything that he said (in fact, at one point he told me that "I misunderstood the nature of education."), I have to say that he is an amazing clown, and for certain people, can be an excellent teacher. Years later, I feel like I am incorporating some of the things in my work that I didn't understand at the time (and that RonLin didn't help me understand at the time, either-- which made it a frustrating experience then) I highly recommend studying with him.

One of the pieces that I continue to use when thinking or teaching now: The clown must truly fail in order to succeed. Not pretend to fail. Not fail at something with low stakes. The clown must be at the point of failing, and at that moment, the audience will ALLOW the clown to succeed. This point of view is obviously more useful in the theatre than in the circus, where you need to get on, do your funny, and leave. But it still applies.

This is the bio from Ronlin's classes at the Clown Festival two years ago:

A provocative teacher and director, Ronlin Foreman is Director of Pedagogical Research and Master Clown Teacher at the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in California. Zany and poignant, Foreman's uniquely confrontational and poetic brand of physical theatre has been featured at major international Movement, Theatre and Clown festivals in Mexico, Spain, Canada and the U.S.

Foreman's hallmarks are his character (drawn from the fool, the clown, and the grotesque) and his ability to play profoundly with comedy, and irreverently with the profound, and outrageously with an audience.

The workshop at Steppenwolf will go from 10am-1pm. From 2pm-6pm, auditions will be offered for admission to the Dell'arte School of Physical Theatre.

Space is limited to 35 people.

Participation fee of $100 required at time of reservation. Space preference and fee waivers are available to serious program applicants.

To register, email Louise at louise@dellarte.com

WHEN & WHERE
Steppenwolf Theatre's Garage Space
1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL. (south side of the parking lot)
Workshop: 10am to 1pm
Auditions: 2pm to 6pm

To find out more about Dell'arte, visit their website listed below:
www.dellarte.com

Circus Juventas

Circus Juventas is a performing arts youth circus school located in St. Paul, Minnesota and serving the Twin Cities metro area. They offer youth circus arts training and performance opportunities for children and youth ages 3 to 21 in a safe and noncompetitive environment.

Circus Juventas was founded in 1994 by former circus performers Dan and Betty Butler. Originally known as Circus of the Star, it began as an after-school program in a neighborhood recreation center. The initial offerings were limited and
could accommodate only 30 students. From the start, classes were filled to capacity. Realizing that the need for this kind of education was great, Dan and Betty founded a non-profit, got a board of directors, and started raising money. By the time they opened their doors in 2001 in a long term lease from the city of St. Paul, they had raised over 2.1 million dollars and created a 21,000 square foot Big Top to work in Since that time, their enrollment has doubled, then doubled again.


Juventas was the Roman goddess of youth who had the mythical power of rejuvenation, and because of Circus Jeventas, hundreds of thousands of delighted spectators have experienced the mystique and rejuvenating powers of the circus arts.

To find out more about Circus Juventas, visit their website listed below:

http://www.circusjuventas.org/

Clown Show for Bruno Feb 27,28 in Atlanta

Acclaimed mime Daniel Stein and Dell'arte graduates Kali Quinn and Bill Celentano are featured in a new show about Polish artist and novelist Bruno Schultz (author of the classic Street of Crocodiles) Schulz was killed in the Holocaust in 1944 by a German officer. The show will be performed at Atlanta's PushPush Theatre. The play,written by author Murray Mednick, is produced in association with Padua Playwrights.


In 1978, Murray Mednick and five other playwrights, including Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornes, converged on the old Padua Hills estate in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, just east of Los Angeles. The playwrights, as well as playwriting students and actors, were given free reign to re-investigate their creativity, developing writing exercises for the morning, rehearsing in the afternoon, and presenting the results in the evening.

Since 2000, Padua has become a production company that produces works as well as inspires them.

The Bruno Project is expected to tour throughout the world, Poland, Germany, the Ukraine and Israel. Guy Zimmerman’s direction uses elements of mask, clowning and other theatrical disciplines to underscore the lyrical poeticism of Mednick’s text. This timeless production will speak to audiences at all levels – young and old, Jewish and non-Jewish - but will have a particular impact on younger audiences looking for new ways to understand the Nazi genocide.

Key collaborators in the Bruno project include, playing the lead, celebrated Commedia performer and teacher Daniel Stein. After attending the professional actor training program at Carnegie-Mellon University, Stein studied in Paris with French master Etienne Decroux, and made his home in Paris for 20 years.

Daniel started his professional career as an actor with the French National Theatre, and his solo performances have toured in more than 30 countries, as well as in theatres such as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center here in the United States. Formerly head of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, in Blue Lake CA (among many other prestigious teaching credits), Stein is joined for this production by two of his star students, Kali Quinn and Bill Celentano, who have made names for themselves in the Los Angeles and New York theater community. Also on board for Padua’s production of Clown Show for Bruno are award-winning designers John Zelewski (music and sound design), Ann Closs-Farley (costume design), Jeffrey Atherton (set and mask design.), and current Padua director Guy Zimmerman

SHOW DATES
Monday, February 25: Danville, Kentucky - Centre College, Norton Center for the Arts (Studio 502)
Wednesday, February 27: Decatur, Georgia - Push Push Theater
Thursday, February 28: Atlanta, Georgia - Goethe Institute Library

To find out more about the show and the theatre, visit the websites listed below:

http://www.pushpushtheater.com/
http://www.paduaplaywrights.net/

On the Padua site, there is a video (apparently not linkable) that you can view which is an interview with author Murray Mednick about the project. The video also features scenes from the production.

Johnny Peers Muttville Comix

One of the top working clown and dog acts is Johnny Peers' Muttville Comix. Johnny has been performing his act for over 25 years, and has performed it on four continents and with some of the best circuses in the business, including Ringling, Big Apple Circus, and Carson & Barnes, among many others.

Johnny's dad was a concessionaire on the Ringling circus. While helping his dad, Johnny ended up sneaking away to watch the clowns, and eventually decided to become one. He graduated from Ringling's Clown College in 1970 and a few years later, began creating the character and act that he's been doing ever since.

Johnny currently uses about 15 dogs in his show, but owns and cares for 25 dogs. The dogs do everything, including jumping rope, climbing ladders, walking a tightrope, and most importantly, knocking Johnny down several times a minute and then walking all over him.

It takes from 6 months to a year for each dog to learn its act, and the act is a collaboration between the dogs natural talents and Johnny's masterful ability to place the dogs in a circus context.

In 2003, Johnny and his group won the Animal Planet Pet Star award.

To find out more about Johnny and his Muttville Comix, please visit his website listed below:

http://www.muttvillecomix.com.
(site updated on 4/30/09)

Clown School of San Francisco

The Clown School of San Francisco is a character based school that combines small classes with intensive personal work to create clown characters and routines. The focus is on creating work that is personal to the actor. The work is primarily theatrical and exploratory in nature-- not particularly of the circus.

The instructor, Christina Lewis Clinton, has been teaching workshops in clown character development and improvisation for fifteen years. Christina started clowning in Nicaragua when she traveled there with a Women's Circus. She has studied and performed clowning in Europe, Mexico and the United States. She received her Master's in Drama Therapy in San Francisco.

Christina and I studied together with Czech master clown Ctibor Turba.

They are currently in the midst of a 20 week session that started January 20 and will finish in May with a public show. They will also have an intensive two day workshop in June.

To find out more about their work, visit their website listed below:
http://www.clownschoolsf.org/

JUGGLE THIS! - NYC March 7-9, 2008

	NYC's 7th Annual Juggling Festival! Friday March 7-Sunday March 9, 2008 Pratt Institute 200 Willoughby Ave Brooklyn, NY Juggling, workshops, games, shows, prizes, special guests, a raffle and more!! For more information click the links to the right. All events open to the public. JUGGLING AT PRATT ACTIVITIES RESOURCE BUILDING: FREE and open to the public Friday 5-10:30 pm (open juggling) Saturday 10 am-7 pm (open juggling & workshops) Sunday 10 am-5 pm (open juggling, workshops, & games) SHOW SPECTACULAR AT PRATT MEMORIAL HALL Saturday 7:30 pm Admission $10 Featuring world-class local and international talent, including: From Brooklyn: telepathy from The Adult Circus From southern California: Josh Casey, comedy juggling From the Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine: Amanda Huotari, dramatic clowning From France, via Montreal's National Circus School (ENC): Florent Lestage, mesmerizing manipulations From NYC: The Maestrosities: The Coolest Band Ever! From rural Vermont: Brent Eden McCoy, "Clown at Work" From Spain, via ENC: David Menes, juggling communication From Harlem, NYC: Paris, the hip-hop juggler From Denmark via France: Jens Sigsgaard, "beyond belief" high-technique juggling and subtle artistry From ENC: Yann et Grég, hand balancing BONUS: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at the Zipper Factory Sunday, 8pm followed by post-festival party. For details on the show, see bindlestiff.org. Juggle This is hosted by Jugglers Anonymous: the Pratt Chapter with support from the Carmine Street Irregulars For more info about Juggle This, visit their website: http://www.jugglenyc.com/fest_08.html

Dell'arte Workshop in LA 2/9/08

In conjunction with the LA tour of The Golden State, the Dell'Arte Company is offering a one-day workshop at 24th Street Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 9.

Where: 24th Street Theatre
When: Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, 2:00-6:00pm
Cost: $100


This four-hour workshop will be an exploration of the physical comedy techniques and ensemble-based exercises at the core of Dell'Arte's work. Physical theatre explores how proven notions of craft interact with an individual's physical expressive
possibilities. From commedia and vaudeville to contemporary theatrical circus, Dell'Arte training is the source of the work necessary to become an actor/creator.

Capacity: 25 students
Come dressed to move and ready to play.

Taught by Joan Schirle, School Director of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre

You can purchase your "ticket" to the workshop at the website listed below (more info about Dell'arte and their show (which the SF Bay Guardian called "...a glittering gem of a farce") is also listed below.

WORKSHOP: MORE INFO/PURCHASE
THE GOLDEN STATE: MORE INFO/PURCHASE TICKETS
ABOUT DELLARTE: http://www.dellarte.com

Tall Toys Troupe

The Tall Toys Troupe is a group of stilt-walking performers based in Connecticut who perform a number of stilt-based shows. They provide a number of entertainers and shows for corporate gigs, parades, birthday parties, and other events.

Their costumes are great, and they have a number of different looks, including a 9 foot tall Uncle Sam, trees (like Ents from the Lord of the Rings), wizards, and lots of other characters.

Although their name implies stilt-walking, they also provide jugglers, balloonologists, face painters, and of course clowns. Many of the performers they bring in are graduates of Ringling Clown College (one of the founders, Katie Wilson Peterson, was in my year)

To find out more about the Tall Toys Troupe, visit their website at http://www.talltoys.com

UPDATE: Both their email and their phone isn't working, although their website works like a charm. Not sure if everything is okay with them. If anyone reading this has more of an update on Tall Toys, please let me know. Or you can post in the comments....

Safety Last, with Ben Model Riverdale, NY 1/26

Safety Last with Ben Model

Yes, it's Harold Lloyd in his iconic climb up the side of the 12-story Bolton Building, accompanied live by Ben Model, a silent film historian and accompanist for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1997 he founded "The Silent Clowns Film Series" with film historian Bruce Lawton. Ben composes all his own scores, and performs in a style that is both evocative of the silent era and also aware of a contemporary (and younger) audience's awareness of music and film scoring. Ben composes and improvises all his own scores, and performs in a style that is both evocative of the silent era and also aware of a contemporary (and younger) audience's awareness of music and film scoring. After each movie - come upstairs to our candle-lit cafe and enjoy complementary coffee, wine, and sweets before you go home for the evening.
Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Neuwirth Theatre
5625 Arlington Avenue
Bronx, NY 10471
Map & Directions
TICKETS ARE $12 and available online: http://www.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=121438

Who Put the B in Ballyhoo?

Carlyn Beccia is an illustrator and artist who is inspired by the world of the circus and clowns. She has been painting and performing various acts of circus baboonery since she was a wee young girl. She first tested her own creativity in the human cannonball act by projecting her sister across the room. Her sister had to have stitches, but Carlyn knew she was destined for circus stardom.

Carlyn attended the University of Massachusetts on a 4-year art scholarship and graduated in 1995. She has been awarded a number of awards from the Society of Children's Writers & Illustrators. She lives in Lynnfield, MA with two ferocious cats and her famous Strongman husband.

Last year she wrote a fantastically illustrated book called "Who Put the B in Ballyhoo", which is an ABC book that features the circus and the sideshow. Each of the illustrations is beautifully well done, and is clever and witty. They run the gamut from tigers to acrobats to , yes, a flea circus!


This is definitely a book worth having.

Carlyn has a website for the book http://www.whoballyhoo.com which features interactive games, a make your own circus poster game, and info about author visits.

She has a couple of other sites that are also circus oriented (listed below) In addition to being an illustrator, she is a crack web designer.

If you'd like to purchase the book, get it at Amazon.com



To find out about more about Carlyn's work, visit the websites listed below:

http://www.carlynbeccia.com
http://www.circusballyhoo.blogspot.com/
http://www.circusco.com

Peter Pitofsky

Peter Pitofsky is a Clown College graduate who is currently plying his brand of amazing physical and facial comedy to the college and comedy circuits. He lives in the Los Angeles area, and he's been in a few movies and television shows, as well as a number of live shows, including Teatro Zinzanni, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, and the movie The Aristocrats.

After seeing the video below, you'll be wondering why he's not in just about everything you see.

Among Ringling graduates and road clowns, Peter is legendary for his 108's, for his always being on, and for being one of the funniest guys on or off the show.

Here's a YouTube video that shows him at some of his funniest:
(a special tip of the hat to Pat Cashin's ClownAlley.net for alerting me to this video)



To find out more about Peter's work, visit his myspace page listed below:

http://www.myspace.com/peterpitofsky

Circus Action International

Inspired by the success of Cirque du Soleil’s “Cirque du Monde”, Ethiopia’s “Circus of Hope” and Cambodia’s Phare Ponleu Selpak, Canadian director Jerry Snell has founded another institution for Youth at Risk using Circus and Performing Arts as a tool for helping migrant and street children, working children, freed bonded labor children, trafficked and victims of slave labor in Asia and Africa. In collaboration with co founder James Tanabe, they have begun to set up CIRCUS ACTION INTERNATIONAL which is currently a network of teachers, programs, companies using performing arts and circus as an educational tool or simply a way to build confidence and resolve feelings of isolation and abandon in youth cornered by complex problems such as human trafficking, war, AIDS/HIV, poverty and political corruption.

The first conference of Circus Action International will be hosted by Cambodian Arts & Circus Company Phare Ponleu Selpak in Cambodia at their Circus Festival 3 to 6 of April, 2008 in Battambang.

If you are interested in helping to organize communications (they currently need an english to french translator) or interested in becoming a teacher in the projects in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and India, please contact Jerry Snell. The teaching projects are set to begin in July 2008. Send him your background and availability for the future, especially if you already have plans to come to Asia.

For more information about Jerry Snell or Circus Action International, visit his website http://www.jerrysnell.com or email info@jerrysnell.com

For more information about Phare Ponleu Selpak, visit their website http://www.phareps.org
It's in French, but there's an English translation.

Tears of a Clown

Sorry guys that I have been off-line for nearly a month. During the month of December, I get pretty crazy because of the New Year's Eve Festival that I direct Bright Night Providence,
and that would normally be enough to put me off of posting for a while (although perhaps not quite so long as this)

I had a personal tragedy befall me, which I'm sad to report will happen to nearly everyone, if it hasn't happened to you already. My mom passed away on December 29.

(The next part is more about her and her story, so if you are expecting anything but the tears of a clown at this point, best not read the rest of the post-- I'll start posting more clown related stuff in the next few days.)

Although I should have been expecting it (she had been sick for a number of years-- five years ago they gave her 6 months to live) but she kept on beating the odds-- she'd go in for a procedure, and it would be a success, or she'd have radiation, and not have really awful side effects (at least none that she'd tell me about)

So when she went in for a surprise late procedure on December 17 (the day I taught my final clown exam at URI) and the doctor's reported total success, I was relieved and kind of expected it. She came out of the hospital the next day (I was staying with her to do Bright Night stuff, and I picked her up, and her spirits were great, and she looked great) I didn't expect anything would go wrong.

The next morning, I woke up and realized that she wasn't awake. I checked in on her, and she seemed slumped over, and sleeping wrong. I went in and tried to wake her up, and wasn't able to get her up coherently. I realized something bad was happening, and after a brief call to her hospital nurse to ensure this wasn't normal, I called 911.

It turned out she had a pneumonia that may have been masked by a steroid she had been taking to help her breathe better. They certainly hadn't seen it in the hospital the day before.

She had to be put on a respirator to help her breathe, and they gave her antibiotics for the pneumonia. Over the next 10 days, the pneumonia was beaten down by the antibiotics, but that affected her kidney's operations. They tried to dialysize her, but when they did her blood pressure dropped precipitously low, and they had to stop. After several attempts,
the doctor's decided that they would not be able to dialysize her kidneys.

My mom had left very strict instructions that she did not want to be kept artificially alive, so knowing that, and having exhausted our medical options, we took her off the respirator, and she died about 8 hours later, on 12/29 at around 2:15 am, in her sleep and without pain. She was buried one day later on December 30.

It was pretty difficult, but I continued to work on New Year's Eve, because
a) I don't know how to do anything else. My training is, like most performers, to go on at any circumstance.
b) I am very clear that if somehow I didn't go on and make sure that Bright Night happened, that my mom would rise from her newly formed grave and smite me down.

Thankfully, my family and friends and Bright Night staff all kicked in, and helped make it possible, as I was fairly numb during the night. I'm not sure how I got through the radio and television interviews (one radio interview was at 7:10 am the morning she passed away.) but I managed to get to the other side of it.

And here I am now. My mom was very proud of bright night and my work as a performer and director (she often liked to shock people with the line "My son the clown") Other than occasionally complaining that I should either become a fulltime teacher, or at the very least, make more money, my mom was one of my biggest fans.

Hey, thank you for reading this if you have. And I promise, 2008 will have more clown stuff on these pages.

Discount Tickets for 500 Clown at PS-122

Tip of the hat to Kendall Cornell for the tip of the day! Enjoy the show!

Enjoy $15 tickets* when you buy 2 or more tickets to 500 Clown with code APPLE

Special offer applies to ALL performances of BOTH 500 Clown Frankenstein AND 500 Clown Christmas

Enter code APPLE online during checkout via www.ps122.org

Mention code APPLE by phone at 212-352 3101

Or print and present this email at the box office.

Performance Space 122 is located at 150 First Avenue at East 9^th Street

*special offer based on limited availability; may not be combined with other offers or applied to past sales; service charges apply; offer may be discontinued at any time.

500 Clown Frankenstein – NY premiere DEC 12-19 ONLY – see details and full schedule http://www.ps122.org/performances/500_clown_frankenstein.html

500 Clown Christmas – NY premiere DEC 21-30 ONLY – see details and full schedule http://www.ps122.org/performances/500_clown_christmas.html

Emotion Masks

Cleaning up old papers, found this photo of masks.

We used these in Arne Zaslove's commedia class at Dell'arte in the summer of 1995.

Arne, Carlo Mazzone-Clemente, and Joan Schirle team taught the class. Not sure who made the masks, but they are stunning, easy to use, and oh so much fun.

Six emotions, can you guess them?

Bellobration at the United Center

I was in Chicago for the weekend for a family function, and thought I'd check out the Bello-bration. It's the Red Show-- and I hadn't seen it when it was on the East Coast, so I was glad I got the opportunity. I saw it today (last day of the stand in Chicago-- we went to the 1 pm performance.

The pre-show "All-Access Pre-Show" was hosted by clown Leo Acton. Leo is a graduate of Clown College from 1996. I was mostly astonished, because this is the first time that I've seen a Ringling Clown with his own facial hair. Granted the show had a 1970's feel, but I was pretty amazed. This would not have been allowed when I was at Clown College.

Looking around, a lot of the clowns had their own hair--less wigs than I remember. I wondered if maybe it's because a lot of the clowns are no longer Clown College grads. (But it turns out Leo Acton is-- I guess there's been a change of policy) A couple of the costumes wouldn't have passed muster back in the day.

In general the pre-show was pretty good-- the clowns did a variation on Dead and Alive with a lot of knockabout, there was a painting elephant, some hula-hooping, a great trampolining bit by a Russian clown named Alex, and a lot of clowns doing Meet and Greet. The Meet and Greet was a little lame-- standing in back of someone and making fun of them behind their back. I know that 13 shows a week gets a little hard to be original, but I thought it could have gone better. (I did get made fun of, but didn't introduce myself-- I played with the guy, and once he saw I was alive, he seemed to lose interest.)


The pre-show clown bit (with a nice little clown car used by Leo Acton again) was a Campfire Marshmallows advertisement basically-- and not very funny. Something else that didn't quite fly from a clown perspective was the group piece "Dancing with the Clowns." It started off okay, but didn't go anywhere relatively slowly. The ending blowoff (an acrobatic dancer who is much better than the bad dancers) wasn't particularly strong. Good bendover routine with one clown playing a couple as a bendover.

Once the show started, Bello is really the star. He falls in love with the aerialist, and spends the show going from act to act trying to get her to notice him. It's a good idea, and it's done well. The highlight was when Bello and the aerialist are up on twin sway poles, and he gets a kiss from her-- the whole spec turns into a Bello-bration, along with everybody including elephants, dogs, and the circus band, sporting Bello's blonde hair. It was Being John Malkovich for Bello, and very funny.

The second act was less strong, and the pretense of his love for the aerialist went away. Bello did a great act with the Wheel of Danger (it split into two side-by-side at one point-- I had never seen that!) And the show ended with the Human Cannonball-- very impressive, but oh so fleeting.

There were a bunch of good video gags in the beginning of the show-- Bello stuck in the humoungous television monitor and trying to get out. It was so clearly not live, and done a little too fast-- as if they were saying-- I know you are used to speeded up cartoons-- here you go! I enjoyed them, nevertheless

Overall it was a lot of entertainment, although once we added the "Convenience Charge" It was $30 a ticket.) It was a great night out though.

Find out more about the Ringling Red Show and the clowns mentioned by visiting their websites listed below.

RINGLING RED SHOW: http://ringling.com/

BELLO NOCK: http://www.bellonock.com

LEO ACTON: Leo Acton's Myspace Page

School of Physical Theatre, London England

The School of Physical Theatre is a full-time professional school based in London, UK, devoted to the training of physical theatre artists - writers, directors, and actors. The School offers a focused program - a voyage from the complex everyday world to its created reflection in the theatrical space.

The School was founded in 1978 in Toronto, Canada under the guidance of director and principal instructor, Ron East. It was originally constituted as a summer program, associated with Mr. East’s theatre production company. The curriculum engendered such an enthusiastic response that in 1979 the first full-time programme was instituted.

By 1984 the School was sufficiently established to become a separate organisation, and has run successfully ever since. In 1999 the school was moved to London England.

The founder and principal instructor Ron East has over 20 years of experience as an actor, director, producer, and performer. He has written 18 original plays, and worked as a television series director, taught at many colleges, universities, and conservatories, and performed at the Stratford Festival, where he was awarded the Tyrone Guthrie award for his work. He is also the author of Moving Images (currently out of stock at Amazon)

During its history the school graduated over 600 actors, dancers, writers, choreographers, directors, puppeteers and producers. Over 80% of their graduates make their living in whole or in part in the performing arts. Students have come from all over the world to study.

The school offers an intensive one year program, a summer intensive, a post-graduate program for graduates (including a pedagogical internship), and 3 weekend classes open to the public. Studies are based on the work of Lecoq (of whom Mr. East was a student) and include movement analysis, acrobatics, vocal technique, juggling, stage combat, improvisation, maskwork, commedia'dell'arte, clown, and bouffon. Students are expected to create and perform weekly in-house, and there are 3 public presentations of the work during the year.

To find out more about the school, visit their website listed below:
http://www.physicaltheatre.com

Donimo the Silent Clown

International stage and television performer Donimo (born Jonathan Baker) has an extensive background in physical and movement theatre, and has performed around the world for the past 25 years. Jonathan created Donimo by combining the ancient art of clowning with the world of silent screen comedy and the contemporary theatre techniques of Jacques Lecoq, Philippe Gaulier and Pierre Byland.

Donimo first appeared on British T.V screens with an award winning performance on Central Television's talent show New Faces, where he received the largest public vote in the history of the series. He has since appeared on a number of shows in England on the BBC and other networks, as well as on TV shows all over Europe and South America.

Donimo has appeared with a number of circuses and stage shows in Branson Missouri, Reno Nevada, Edinburgh Scotland, Atlantic City, Holland, Japan, and on the Cirque Dream Tour in North and South America. He has also been a regular on a number of cruise ship lines, and at festivals and corporate shows throughout England and Europe.

Donimo has performed at a number of celebrity party and gala's, including Prince Charles' 40th birthday party, the Birthday Party Gala of the Sultan of Brunei, and for King Hassan of Morocco and his family. He also performed at the "Sons of the Desert Anniversary Celebration" where he was praised by no less a persona than Hal Roach. He has also worked with Phil Collins, Rick Wakeman, Sir Cliff Richard, David Essex, Stevie Wonder, Freddie Star, Ken Dodd, and Cannon & Ball.

Donimo has been awarded the Gold Clown Award at the Comedy Arts Festival in Tianjin, China and is a Silver Medalist of the prestigious Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris.

Jonathan has taught circus and performing arts classes for the Prince of Whales Trust and was awarded a grant from the Queen's Silver Jubilee Trust for his extraordinary acting and teaching abilities.

To find out more about his work, please visit his website listed below:
http://www.silentclown.com