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Feature: Angels Can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide, by Alan Clay

Angels Can Fly is now in over 120 Public Libraries in America, Australia and New Zealand, and we are steadily supplying requests for the free e-Book version. Yes this is still available at: www.alanclay.com (but includes none of the over 70 photographs which the paperback contains). Or find the paperback on Amazon by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/9nrwj .

This month we continue a series of excerpts, with another of the anecdotes:

40. Anecdote: Basque Flowers
Johnny Melville, Scotland/Holland

It was October 1982. I was pursuing my solo career all over Europe but also working together on a project for theatre with a Swedish company Jord Circus. The show was inspired by the book, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Our idea was to rehearse on the road at various festivals where we could play our own shows, but still meet to develop the ideas for the new show which was to be premiered at the World Festival of Theatre in Nancy, 1983.
The group and I met in San Sebastian in the Basque Country. Spain had transformed from a fascist dictatorship to party-land after the death of Franco in 1975. The situation in the Basque Country however, was still critical with separatists and government forces committing acts of violence against each other in the name of freedom. But as always in places of political tension there were the enlightened, who tried what they could to bring love, light and laughter to the people.
One day after being warned by the local separatist movement not to play, since we would interfere with an 'important' demonstration against the policies of Madrid, we were told that we would be allowed to play at a festival in Fuentarabia, a small but beautiful village near San Sebastian.
The group, Jord Circus, was to play its street show - a poetic and stunning piece inspired by Living Theatre and Eugenio Barba - and afterwards further down the street it was to be my turn with my show, which I suppose was inspired more by Max Wall and Groucho Marx.
As they performed up the street I waited round my 'pitch' in costume to welcome the crowd which would soon descend from the Jord Circus show, the last one before the comida. I hate being in costume and be 'off-duty' so to speak… and as there were some pensioners and kids hanging round who were not attracted to the other show, I played and impro-ed my way round the area. It served me well also as a warm-up for the slightly more formal performance to come. I was making them smile, then giggle, then laugh, as gradually they relaxed with this weird-looking foreigner. I realised then as I still believe now, that the Spanish village audience is perhaps the best to play to.
My impro was showing no limits and I played with some withered flowers which I found on the street, and then proceeded to mime a flower seller. It was at this point I noticed the Jord Circus show had just finished and also that Juan, the brilliant Spanish actor from the group in his powerfully dominant character, the Beast, was thundering toward me limping high in the air on his one stilt. There was something in his approach that made me think I had not zipped my fly... He was charging directly at me. Strange - an actor shunning the acclaim of his audience?
As he got nearer I began to react as my clown would, but the look on his face told me something was desperately wrong. I let him approach and still 'clowning', watched the reactions of my audience which had grown considerably since the flower seller-impro had begun. His eyes were wide and I detected a surge of fear in me which I couldn't quite reason with. I faced my audience so he could reach my ear. "Johnny!" he hissed, "zose flowers hiz ha homage to two young people shot last week by ze policia…"
My clown character disintegrated inside me but the shell didn't crack… My heart raced as I carried the flowers back to the wall where I found them, clowned my stupidity with innocence and shrugged forgiveness with Chaplinesque coyness.
I played my show that day unsure what revenge the hardliners might take on me either during the act or later. The show was fantastic but I had a lump in my throat as I packed up. We made our way to the taverna. 'Those flowers against the wall' was the topic of the conversation for the whole comida. I couldn't eat, especially as the jokes about it started to become a bit too personal.
Suddenly the doors swung open ushering the village elders and the organisers of the festival. Like a posse they surrounded the table. I found myself sliding downward until they laughed and commiserated with me, even thanked me for my innocence as the clown foreigner who didn't know...
I had apparently shown the village and its inhabitants how to see something with different eyes. Due to my innocence, even such a symbol of sacredness far too touchy and sensitive to mess with, could be transformed and used to show people there is another way apart from revenge and hate.
To this day I still play and entertain the people of the Basques but play with flowers from the stalls not the streets…

Johnny Melville
Since 1973 Johnny Melville has entertained audiences in over 30 countries: for (amongst others), her Royal Highness the Queen of Denmark, for her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of Holland, Olympic athletes, Russian spies, German riot-police, African bushmen, American soldiers, Mexican Indians, Paris debutantes, surgeons, film stars, politicians, rock-festival crowds, peace activists, prisoners, pensioners and kids. He has directed special theatre projects with groups both professional and amateur, appeared in TV programs across the globe, including the UK and Europe, Japan and the States, and starred in various international feature films and won the Best Actor award at the Brooklyn International Film Festival in 2001 for the Danish film No Mans Land. He is now making his own films, having completed the short Backtracker, and the 1-hour feature It's a Woman's World. Melville's forte lies in his ability to communicate with his audiences. With his skills in mime and mimicry, satire and social comment, his natural bias to comedy, his quick-fire improvisation and his grasp of languages, he is the complete international performer. Johnny Melville also teaches workshops, which are fun, rewarding and designed to unleash the energy potential of every student. Teaching in various disciplines, Johnny improvises and guides his alumni with spontaneous, direct and committed involvement.

Find more information on Johnny's work at: http://johnny-melville.com

Angels can Fly includes a mix of fiction which follows the adventures of ten clown characters, some personal clown anecdotes from clowns from around the world, a total of 50 practical clown exercises, and some theory on the nature of modern clown. The book is available on order through bookshops and online stores in New Zealand, Australia, America and England. Order your copy today. Find it on Amazon by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/9nrwj

"Clown is a fascinating, diverse, complex and exciting art form, which has existed around the planet for thousands of years. Like any art form it has to evolve to stay relevant to the culture nurturing it, and at the same time, and by its very nature, clown teases and turns upside down the cultural patterns and boundaries around us."

Playspace: New February Clown Retreat with Alan Clay in Sandy Bay, New Zealand

Due to the sell out success of the January Clown Retreat to be held at Sandy Bay, at the top of the beautiful Coromandel Peninsular in New Zealand, I have now scheduled a new Clown Retreat at the beginning of February... and after two weeks this new workshop is already half full! Please pass this information on to friends who may be interested, and let me know if you would like me to hold you a place on this workshop.

February Clown Retreat - Tuesday 6th to Saturday 10th February 2007 (5 days), 10am to 4pm each day.

The Clown Retreat will be held in a secluded studio by the beach at Sandy Bay, at the top of the Coromandel Peninsular, about four hours drive from Auckland, New Zealand. The fees include six nights accommodation with kitchen facilities. The Clown Retreat is timed to be held just after the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch for those coming for the summer season in New Zealand. The Retreat will provide an opportunity to reconnect with that playful, inquisitive, cheeky, clown spirit in a beautiful outdoor setting.

Price Buster deal, NZ$520 (by 5th Dec), Earlybird NZ$620 (by 8th Jan 2007), NZ$720 (full) - A NZ$100 deposit is payable to hold a place on this workshop. These fees include 6 nights accommodation.

"In the best clown tradition Alan held up a window-mirror for us to step through and reflect on the patterns, habits and rituals of our days... It was funny, moving and excellent theatre." NZ Herald.

More information at: www.artmedia.com.au/playspac.htm Enrolments and enquiries e-mail clown@artmedia.com.au

Special Feature: CircoArts, Circus Training in Christchurch, New Zealand

Greetings from CircoArts to all you faithful readers of Artmedia

This time of the year "down under" and "across the ditch" is incredibly colourful. Christchurch’s spring season reflects in the work students are producing. It’s fresh, colourfully spectacular, and at times very dramatic. A good laugh and a few gasps are definitely responses our audiences had to the recent show "The Waiting Room" which was staged in our Institute’s large glass Atrium, the Rakaia Centre. Rigging in a space designed without true perpendicular and horizontal members began the interesting journey of putting a show into a space which is essentially the traffic hub of a sizeable tertiary institution. The spectacle of watching circus students strip down and rehearse was probably just as entertaining as coming to the show!

Then in early November "Circus Under the Stars" provided an opportunity for all students to perform work on an outdoor rig and stage. The three night programme attracted good crowds who picnicked and enjoyed warmish weather whilst engaging with roving characters and playing spectators to the huge variety of acts that CircoArts students generate. The CPIT Centenary weekend coincided with the shows and CircoArts students contributed some strong images and spectacle performances in two of the events.

Stemming out of CircoArts, the Contemporary Circus Trust provides performance opportunities for students and graduates as well as community circus education. The Trust has had an active year both in Christchurch and around the South Island. Following the successful "Circus Proms" collaboration with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra earlier in the year it was invited to take circus into the Christchurch Cathedral, our city’s central and premier architectural and cultural icon.

For two amazing performances circus artists were expressing the joy of life in the stunningly grand cathedral. In late September a small troupe took to the road with a 10 meter rig; opened the Dunedin Arts Festival and then drove into the mountains to perform at the famous Alexandra Blossom Festival in Central Otago. Other partnerships are growing with festivals and organisations around New Zealand expanding and enhancing the vocational learning opportunities for students that would not normally be possible.

Applications for the 2007 full time programme are still coming in. We are able to consider late applications and encourage Australians to consider the conditions under which you are able to be students at CircoArts CPIT in New Zealand. These are that you only pay NZ domestic fees and are eligible for Government Student Loans scheme.

For more information, please contact Godfrey Sim at CircoArts. Phone: 00 64 3940 8061. Email: info@cpit.ac.nz www.cpit.ac.nz/circoarts

Special Feature: Dell'Arte Abroad Intensive, Bali, Indonesia

Explore the traditional arts of Bali with Dell’Arte Abroad program
An intensive which offers a chance to study Balinese dance, mask making and shadow puppetry

Since 1996, Dell’Arte International has invited students, teachers, designers, directors, and artists to immerse themselves in the traditional arts of Bali and encounter the profound spirit of the Balinese people. In this unique and wonderfully successful program participants study traditional Balinese performing arts and crafts with village masters, as well as Dell'Arte mask and movement techniques led by Dell'Arte's Founding Artistic Director Joan Schirle.

Bali is an extraordinary country where creativity is ordinary. In Bali, art serves the community, the religious practices, the economy and everyday living. The trip introduces students to Balinese performing arts in a way that allows them to experience how the Balinese live and create, and how family life and religious customs are woven into the creation of art.

The program begins with three days of orientation to the language, customs, and ceremonies of Bali, as well as informal meetings with Balinese teachers to observe their work. Introductory work will include a symposium on masks with local carver I. B. Anom, visits to the studios of several mask carvers and puppet makers, and attendance at a shadow play (wayang kulit) and dance performances.

During the next four weeks of formal study, classes meet five days a week. All students will study kecak, a rhythmic vocal chant, as well as participate in regular Yoga/Alexander Technique sessions, block printing, and symposiums on the links between Balinese and western mask performance traditions.

Sometimes our study will take place in a classroom setting, sometimes outdoors, and often in its traditional setting at village and temple ceremonies. The core of the program is designed so that each student spends a large percentage of their class time on one area of interest most important to them. Students will choose between:

            •           Mask Carving
            •           Balinese Dance (masked topeng and legong)
            •           Shadow puppetry (wayang kulit)

Academics may apply for a shortened version of the program (10 to 14 days). Address inquiries to the Bali program director.

For more information, visit www.dellarte.com, call 707-668-5663 or contact the Program Director at joans707@aol.com.

Networking

"Hi Alan, The 15th NZ International Comedy Festival will once again be held in Auckland and Wellington from the 4 - 27 May 2007. We have now launched the Performers website, which contains all the venue, application and general information for the 2007 Festival. Deadlines for the Festival are as follows: - Auckland Applications are due on Friday 15 December. As Wellington is a open Festival, performers and shows will simply need to register their show with the Festival Office. The deadline for registrations is Wednesday 24 January 2007. But make sure you check out the performers website for full details on both the Auckland and Wellington Festivals. If you would like to discuss your show with us, or the Festival in general, please contact Kylie at the Festival Office." Kind regards, Kylie Aitchison, Festival Producer. Find a link to the NZ International Comedy Festival under Festivals at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"G'day, The Kirk Gallery in Sydney has been the temporary home of the Aerial Lab since we got removed from Eveleigh Rail yards last year. Some of you may know our patron Madam Lash! Things have been going well we have produced 4 major Burlesque Circus shows there with no other assistance apart from the support of the performers, audience and community of Surry Hills. It's been a fantastic success and we have work which we are looking for act's and performers to work Australia wide and the Asia Pacific. If you are interested please take a look at our web site and get in touch! Help is desperately needed to run this baby, if you are able to network with us, or have computing/admin skills, live in Sydney or are visiting, we'd love you to talk to us!" Gavin Wild. Find a link to the Aerial Lab under Resources at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"Hi All, Lunar Circus presents the 2007 WA Circus Festival : 8th - 18th March, Karridale. The biggest showcase of Circus that WA has ever seen. There will be a public meeting for anyone who wants to be involved: This Friday 17th November - 5pm in the main meeting room of The Margaret River Community Resource Centre, Tunbridge Street. Look forward to seeing you there." Matt, Lunar Circus. fatso@lunarcircus.com

"Hi there Alan, We are building an Australian circus performer page , with retired greats and current performers off my Gala Entertainment Management page, and so any Aussie performers that would like to go up, please let me know. I will need a short blurb about the person, their history, where they travelled and their act, also a couple of photos. It is all free, I am just trying to get some more stuff on the net about us Aussies." Much love, Jasmine George. Find a link to Gala Entertainment Management under Resources at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"Hi, this is Pricilla Mooseburger! We are getting ready for the Mooseburger Clown Arts Caravan in Oklahoma City, Nov. 17-19th this month. This could be a great early Christmas present to yourself or a clown friend! Three days of fabulous education and a chance to perform on Sunday. Day Passes are now available, too! This year has required us to make some changes to our schedule. In OKC we will be joined by local favourite Joseph Hodges! Most of you probably don't know that Joseph and I went to Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Clown College together in 1982! It is a small world. Joseph is still clowning and so am I. We hope to take a stroll down memory lane and tell a few tails about our 10 weeks together in Venice, Florida. We will also be joined by the Marvellous Make-up miracle worker Mark Renfro. His make-up lab is not to be missed. His "Gentle Art of Doing Nothing" class gets rave reviews at Moose Camp in Minnesota. Fred Baisch, award winning clown and magician, is full of practical clowning knowledge. What do you expect from a clown who created his own "pie in the face" box! We would love to have you join us for three days full of fun and education at the Sheraton in downtown Oklahoma City!" Pricilla Mooseburger, Mooseburger Clown Arts Education. Find a link to the Mooseburger Caravan under Training at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"Professional Track Circus Training, Nimble Arts Trapeze & Circus School in Brattleboro, VT, USA. Nimble Arts is creating a new professional training track for committed students wanting to focus on their core strength and technique as well as create an act that is ready to perform. Training will focus on stretching, tumbling, handstands, partner acrobatics, trapeze, and fabric plus tight wire, juggling, pole, mini-tramp, duo trapeze, lyra & requested apparatus. Instructors will be Elsie Smith, Serenity Smith Forchion and Mark Harding as well as guest experts in specific training areas. Fee: $1500 19 week, Monday, January 15 - Saturday, June 16, Mid-Winter Vacation February 19 - February 23, Spring Vacation April 16 - April 22. Minimum 9 hours per week: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 9 - 12 pm. Plus free time to train independently." Elsie and Serenity. Find a link to Nimble Arts under Training at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"Bassline Circus, seeking breakers, acrobats, street dancers for 2007. Bassline are looking for up to 3 acrobats / breakers to help us develop and tour our 2007 tented circus show. We want street dancers / acrobats / breakers who have an interest in or have had experience of working in the air: abseil / harness work, bungee and Chinese pole specifically. Bassline creates and tours Hip hop / electro and breaks based, new-skool circus shows in our phat bigtop, and have a great summer 2007 tour lining up... If you are a breaker and / or acrobat and want to expand you skills and ideas into the air we want you! The work will involve auditions in early December, then in January a week or so of lessons or training and then some intense creation time working with bungees and other aerial skills. Exact dates are still to be confirmed. The job will run from mid March to the end of August, pending confirmation of tour dates. Drop us a line for more information, or check the website. Email your details, CV, expressions of interest, pictures, utubes, myspace and/or questions." Robin Collings, Production Manager. Find a link to Bassline Circus under Circus at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"DV8 Physical Theatre - Senior Administration/Operations Manager, London, Salary c.26-29000. Permanent contract beginning early 2007. The Senior Administrator is in charge of the day-to-day running of the organisation, supporting the Executive Producer and Artistic Director. We are seeking someone with excellent organisational, administrative, marketing and personnel skills, who is adept at multi-tasking and remaining calm under pressure. For an application pack visit our website. Closing date for completed applications: 17th November 2006. Find a link to DV8 under Physical Theatre at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"From December 11 to 15, 2006, Thérèse ' N Thérèse is offering a new training course in administration of live spectacle . The course will be held in Tournefeuille, close to Toulouse, France. This session is addressed to the independent companies and to the programmers of the live spectacles. The first three days will be centered on management, the two last on the detail of the finances, the reimbursement of expenses and taxation. Priority is given to the practical and concrete aspect, starting from the daily problems of the sector, the questions of the participants, with exercises and real cases for support. Participants will be better informed of the delicate key points in the social and tax management of a company and acquire or improve their working methods." thereses@free.fr

"European Woman's Theatre Festival in Torino and Haparanda, 7 to 10th June 2007. The cities of Tornio and Haaparanta form a very special partnership at the far end of Gulf of Bothnia, on the border of Finland and Sweden. Four earlier international theatre festivals for women have been a great success and next European women´s theatre festival will be in June 2007. There will be two classes of performance: The official invitation class and open stage class. The invitation class is also the competition class for the prize awarded to the performance of the best acting ability. The amount of the first prize is 2 000 €. The selection criterion for the both class will be compactness; the group should consist of 1-5 women on stage. Participation and registration for the competition shall be made by a free-form written announcement until 31st of December 2006." Kerensa Dewantoro, European women's theatre festival, Tornion Teatteri-Asema, Tornio, Finland. Find a link to the European Woman's Theatre Festival under Festivals at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

"Dear friends of Bond Street Theatre , We have exciting news! In October 2006, Bond Street theatre starts another International project -- this time in India -- and a new collaboration with Exile Theatre of Kabul! For the next two years, we will be working with our Afghan partners to bring performances and workshops to Muslim youth in India, and collaborating with local theatre artists. The new project will reach children in some of the most poverty-stricken regions of India, and provide arts-based training for teachers, and programs for students in the Universities. When we last checked in, Bond Street was planning a project to introduce theatre as a teaching tool for educators in Afghanistan. The situation has become too dangerous there to travel freely and we have been asked to re-envision the project for India. We see exciting advantages of working in India where there are already many social theatre programs in action. India has thriving theatre traditions and strong community support for the performing arts. In addition, the arts are widely used in education and community development, practices that are still very new for Afghanistan. We are deeply saddened by the re-emergence of violence in Afghanistan over the last year and remain very dedicated to the region. Bond Street Theatre and Exile Theatre’s long-term goal remains the introduction of culturally sensitive theatre programs into Afghan schools, especially aimed for girls who have few opportunities for physical or creative expression. A bit of background: Bond Street and Exile Theatre have been working in Afghanistan since 2002 and have reached more than 25,000 children and adults in Kabul and in rural villages where live performance is quite a novelty. People told us “My face hurts from laughing because we never laugh.” That truly touched us. Besides all the practical applications for theatre, sometimes you just want to give people a good laugh. We thank you for your support for our work in Afghanistan (five years already) and our recent US tour of Beyond the Mirror. Created with Exile Theatre about life in Afghanistan during wartime, the play received a tremendous response from audiences and press. We are looking forward to our new project in India, a first-time destination for both companies! A US-Afghan team is seen as quite unique, and a tri-country collaboration will be a great experience for each country involved. We will try our hardest to keep an up-to-date blog of our India adventures and you are welcome to check it out at http://bondstreetblog.blogspot.com/ . And of course, donations are always welcome at Network for Good." Warmest regards, Joanna Sherman, Bond Street Theatre, New York, USA. Find a link too Bond Street Theatre under Physical Theatre at: www.artmedia.com.au/links.htm

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Explore the traditional arts of Bali with Dell’Arte Abroad program An intensive which offers a chance to study Balinese dance, mask making and shadow puppetry

Explore the traditional arts of Bali with Dell’Arte Abroad program
An intensive which offers a chance to study Balinese dance, mask making and shadow puppetry