Victory Song - A Reader Writes

Aspire to be 3

'In a workshop I took last week, the leader, a talented clown and movement artist Christopher Bayes, mentioned something that resonated deeply with me.

He said that when you are three years old, the emotions of despair and joy are close to each other on the spectrum. You can quickly move from sadness to laughter - one extreme to another.  Nothing in the middle, two wild, near the surface, intense experiences.  This is why three year olds experience life so fully - they embrace the emotion at the time, and then discard it based on a new stimulus.  They are completely present in the moment.  Every moment counts.

Over time of course, as we age, we insert a whole bunch of other, less intense emotions in that spectrum. So it takes us a long time to both traverse between despair and joy, and also to reach the extremes at all. We "get stuck" in the modules we've inserted along the way - stops in the spectrum like mild disgust and acceptance, irony, sarcasm and the all important "knowing nod."

In clowning, you want to be in the moment and preferably on the edges of the spectrum. These are emotions that are powerful and easy to understand and accept by the audience. You also have to be in the moment, crisply aware of all the existing moods and anticipations in the audience.

I have long said that I aspire to be three.  I love a three year old's approach to life, to love, to finding joy and lingering in wonder.  Three year olds get it.  As I aspire to do. 

Maybe this is why studying clowning is so good for me - it appeals to my natural wish to be three.

America's Got Clowns

On Saturday evening, I got the very very very last seat for the last performance of America's Got Clowns, put on by New York Goofs co-founder Dick Monday, along with several professional clowns and his clown school faculty.

No surprise, the show was wonderful.  Very high spirited, incredibly diverse and very silly in places.  There were some wonderful gags - a Southern belle and fatty named Esther lectured us on the decline of manners in society today (she's right) and then sang a song about the dangers of mocking a large woman (she might clock you). 

One guy did a very cool act with bubbles - like the ones made of soap that we blow. He made a wind chime out of a collection of bubbles all clinging to each other.  And he blew a bubble dome over a bouquet and then actually removed and replaced one of the flowers. Now that is some control.

At one point, there were eight jugglers on stage - all trying to toss across.  Which didn't work out so well, but was quite dramatic regardless.

My favorite was the guy who did this wonderfully clever and very funny skit about sucking stones.  Yes, pebbles he would suck on.   He moved them from pocket to pocket (and into his mouth, of course, to suck on them) and talked about how sucking stones was not always a wholly satisfying experience.  I can't possibly do justice to this skit by describing it, but trust me, it was wonderful!

A very cool gent named Mark Gindick, who taught one of the workshops I did this year, is a very talented clown with a very impressive resume, did a fun skit by invitng a random woman from the audience where he takes her to an amusement park and they ride the roller coaster. He's acting all his out, and she's sort of, kind of following along. She wants to be supportive, but of course he's creating hilarity out of every move - his own, and hers, and her reactions, and her reactions to his reactions... amazing. I think this is among the hardest performing to do - trying to lead someone else while keeping the flow and the fun going.  Mark is brilliant at it.

I left with a bounce in my step! And you can too - if you want to join me in supporting Dick Monday's foundation for "bringing the healing powers of laughter and joy" to everyone!

Just visit Slappy and Monday's Foundation for Laughter to make a donation.

Romanian Cirkus

My dear clown friend Golan invited me to help one of his troops, Dzeici, with a fundraiser, centered around a Romanian Gypsy Cirkus theme.  Don't get the wrong idea - I was not actually clowning. I was making popcorn and selling penny candy and generally doing what everyone else told me to do.  But I did get into the "act" by dressing as a gypsy and speaking in broken English with my best Eastern European accent.  Frankly, everyone else was so good at it, I have no idea what the other clowns' real names are!  I even read a few palms for the visitors... isn't that what gypsy's do?  The real clowns were very generous and gracious - and talented!  The show was very fun, and the arcade that was set up to entertain the peeps while they gathered was truly inspired.  Very very clever.

They all said to me, "You are a good worker!"  (Notice the word "clown" is not in the compliment!)  So I suppose that has some value, even if I didn't add any clown groove to the program ;)

Despite my lack of experience, I have to say, these clowning adventures are so motivating and inspiring.  I walked out of the event with very sore feet, an aching back and a bit of a headache, but feeing so high that I walked all the way home accross Central Park and didn't even realize I was home until I was stopped by the light on Broadway.    Clowning of any sort - even being near clowns - makes me happy.  I pity my friend Toni who I met for dinner that night - I was delirious with a combo of delight and exhaustion. Luckily, she's a pro at navigating my high emotional states!