dance – a field of crowns

introducing ‘the toolkit’

The spring not only brings with it the desire for me to sit upright, but also the promise of a variety of new endeavors, projects and hopes. This one came to me by the multi-talented Morgan Joy. As therapeutic clowns and artists working with community, we are very aware that we also need to grow. Internal trainings are great but wouldn’t it be greater if we were able to open these up to others working in similar fields but without the structural or organizational support that we have?

So we decided to make the toolkit.

“the toolkit” is a workshop series facilitated by Andrew Gaboury & Morgan Joy with support from Red Nose Remedy designed to bring together a community of like-minded artists who use their practices to serve the greater good.

This series is geared towards professionals who use different arts-based techniques to serve and support people and communities facing barriers, accessing healthcare, community care, social services and other supports.

We recognize that sometimes our work can get very siloed so with this initiative we can rally together to learn from industry professionals and to learn from one another, regardless of artistic discipline.

This practice of continued professional development will create a community of support for those who, like us, are eager to learn and find ways to refresh our approaches and to enhance the work we are already doing.

SESSION ONE – IMRPOV w/ SHANDA BEZIC

Join us for our first meeting where Shanda Bezic will guide the group to work on our improvisational skills. Improv is key to effective communication, between you and a client, you and your partner and generally you and the present moment. Accessible to all levels of improvisers, from beginners to those with years of experience!

CLICK HERE to learn more about your teacher and to REGISTER

Our second session is currently scheduled for May 31st, so save that date!

Start the new year by finding your clown

All the way back in the fall of 2012, I finally succumbed to the pressure of my friend’s unsolicited encouragement that I should pursue theatrical clown training. It just so happened that her teacher, Helen Donnelly, was offering an affordable entry-level weekly clown one course at a time that I was craving a new approach to performance. I needed to redefine what performance meant to me.

Twelve years later, clown has become my main performance style and part of my day-to-day existence. There’s a certain kind of humanity that comes with clown training. It’s hard not to fall in love with everyone who puts themselves out there with such a level of joy and humility. It’s hard not to feel connected with one another when we play games to the best of our ability, when we revel in the win and equally in the loss. It’s not hard to celebrate those flops when they happen (and oh boy do they happen).

This February I’m planning an intro clown weekend intensive – perfect for those who have a tricky time committing to a weekly class and equally as perfect for those who want a more focused experience. During these 3 days we’ll have plenty of time to explore presence, to play and to find the beginnings of our clowns (or to deepen our understanding of them if you have already met your clown).

The intensive will happen in Mississauga @ AN1 Studios. It is off the beaten path, as it were, so a car is definitely advised if you’re coming from out of town (heck, even if you’re coming from in-town – Mississauga is a beast). I’m happy to help facilitate carpooling for the weekend (via https://caroster.io/ or some other means).

Check below for more information. And if you’re interested in joining, fill out the form at the bottom of the post to secure your spot!

Pre-Registration is required as class spots are limited!

WEEKEND CLOWN INTENSIVE – PRESENCE & PLAY

3 days of presence work and le jeu. Before we put on the clown nose we start with ourselves. Specifically, ourselves in front of others. Together, we’ll uncover and explore the beginnings of your clown persona – and learn what that even means – through witnessing one another and finding those things that naturally make us funny or endearing to an audience. By the end of this intensive, students will walk away with an understanding of the 5 tenets of the clown and the soft skills used in clown performance. You will also have experience taking ‘turns’ on stage.

No experience required! This intensive is good for those new to the practice, those who are currently practicing and also for those who want to jump back into the fundamentals of theatrical red nose clown. Really, it’s good for everyone.

Feb 7th – 9th
Friday will be from 6:30 – 9:30pm
Sat & Sun will be from 10am – 5pm (with a lunch break @ 1pm – 2pm)
15 hours of clown training in total

$300 registration / $250 early bird (if registered before Jan. 15th) – HST incl.

@ AN1 Studios (2465 Cawthra Rd., Unit 132, Mississauga, ON)

Registration Form:

Go back

Your message has been sent

Workshop: Physical Approach to Character

In this 3-hour workshop we will explore movement tools to help you give external and internal shapes to your characters.

Since 2018 the tools I’ve gravitated towards to create characters, or to approach performance in general, have become consistent. I keep revisiting my understanding of certain approaches, trying to form them to my own usage, be that for clown, puppetry or the character-driven dance pieces I often dramaturg for Frog in Hand. I’ve been curious about how these approaches can talk with one another, to build on our own understanding of our bodies and the way we move our instrument through space and time. I have taught some of the elements separately, and as I’ve done so have really noticed how each one complements the others. Which brings us to today, where I’m attempting to bring these elements together into a single workshop. This workshop will be part class, part solo exploration and part workshop with analytical prompts. And if that sounds too thinky, I assure you my approach is one of embodiment so expect to MOVE.

PHYSICAL APPROACH TO CHARACTER

November 2nd, 2024
2-5pm @ the Art Shelter

There are many approaches to character and most of them are intellectual and text-based. These approaches are wonderful for understanding your character’s story and empathizing with them, but often they don’t touch on a character’s physicality.

In this workshop we will explore character from the outside in, inspecting the body and defining its architecture while taking time to relax into our choices to allow the actor to live.

Together we will build a physical vocabulary inspired by Laban, Bogart & Landau and a variety of contemporary clown, puppetry and mask teachers.

The majority of this workshop will have you up on your feet, exploring through a series of exercises and prompts. The workshop will begin with a warm-up and will have breaks throughout.

Things to know:

Bring comfortable clothes and layers as the dome is warm on sunny days but cooler when it’s been overcast for longer periods of time.

The Art Shelter is an off-grid dance studio run by solar power. It is not heated nor does it have air conditioning. We have batteries onsite and it is quite comfortable but we are also in the middle of a field so plan accordingly (especially if it rains). We have water and a small kitchenette with some coolers to store foodstuffs and the ability to make coffee/tea and a microwave to reheat food.

World Building for Choreographers

Your boots scuff across gravel as you begin to see lights coming from a compound behind a metal fence. The gate is open. There is a shipping container with tables full of science equipment emerging from it. In one corner of the compound, you see what you assume was the kitchenette although the dishes are rusty and whatever food was here has long since been removed. By people? Animals? As you explore the main container you understand it used to be a Climate Research Station but has since been abandoned — seemingly in a rush: papers, tools, vials and beakers filled with liquids and questionable materials, even pictures of those who used to work here still populate the station but are covered with spiderwebs and the dust of time.

You can almost imagine the life that was here long ago; their voices seem loud in your ears as you rifle through their work, trying to piece together any evidence you can that would shed light on their evident demise. As the night falls and the winds pick up, you hear footsteps against the gravel and the clanging of pots and pans. A new source of light makes its way into the compound and a hooded figure enters the site, a large pack on his back. It’s almost as if he doesn’t see you as he begins to search through the contents of this mysterious site. What is he searching for?

These were the opening moments of Frog in Hand’s 2021 performance Stories in the Woods, a site-specific, promenade dance-theatre piece set in a mysterious post-post-apocalyptic reality. The world we created helped us channel our thoughts about the themes of climate anxiety, the uncertainty of the future and the resilience of both nature and humanity into a container (quite literally) to house the piece’s dances.

Stories in the Woods, 2021

World Building can be an integral tool to elevate your show.

It can be a method for you to collect your thoughts into a cohesive whole.

It can be a way for you to make sense of those themes you want to approach and display to your audience.

And it can be a way to entice your audience to want to meaningfully engage with your piece.

World Building for Choreographers, a 4-week online class

I’m happy to be joining Colleen Snell to co-lead a 4-week online class about worldbuilding in performance. In it, we’ll talk about character design, setting, story vs. world and think about crafting immersive experiences and rich worlds for our audiences to inhabit, explore and experience.

Worldbuilding for Choreographers is a mix of lecture-style presentations with activities sprinkled throughout to help reinforce our approach and to get you to immediately apply the theory. You can join us live the night-of or catch up on your own time by watching that week’s recording.

We start tomorrow night, Oct. 20th and run to Nov 10th, but there’s still time to sign up! Just click the link and you’ll be taken to Eventbrite.

I hope to see you there!