Meet Clown! | 28 March - 2 April

A  clown workshop, open to artists and non-artists of all levels.

When 6 days, 40 hours total: March 28 - April 2, 2023 Tuesday 10:00-15:30 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 10:00 - 17:00 Saturday, Sunday 11:00 - 18:00

How much This workshop uses a sliding scale between 600 and 850 CAD. There will be a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 students. Once 8 students have registered, the workshop will be confirmed.

Language

The workshop will be bilingual, in French and English, with translation fluidly according to individual needs.

Where

White Wall Studio, 4532 Laval Ave, Montreal, Metro Mont-Royal

Details

In  this 6 day workshop you will learn the fundamentals of theatrical  clowning and explore what it is about you that moves people to laughter.  Through games and collective play we will enter a naive state of  discovery. You will practice sharing your honest, spontaneous reactions  with the audience through the theatrical form of your individual clown.  This is a brave and playful act of comic poetry. It opens the door to  true presence on stage and a freedom to play with everything that  happens to you.

Each  of us has an individual way of moving that expresses something  essential about who we are. Through close observation of the body moving  in theatrical space we can learn to recognise our own somatic patterns  and amplify them with the help of what Jacques Lecoq called “the  smallest mask in the world”: the red nose. This process reveals the  unique clown of each person, with its own physicality, voice, costume  and comedic timing.

You  don’t need any special experience before you arrive, just the desire to  live fully and share what you are with your audience. This work is as  ridiculous and fun as it is challenging. Performers of all levels, as  well as non-performers, can learn about themselves and the craft of  clowning from this rich field of work.

Peter’s  approach to clown combines the madness of play with the rigour of  technique. He teaches the most effective tools that he has has used in  his 20+ years of performing and directing clown, physical theatre, and  circus. Peter frist discovered clown in a workshop with Avner "The  Eccentric" Eisenberg in 2003 and has developed his practice of clowning  and clown pedagogy through his long mentorship with Giovanni Fusetti,  founding director of the Helikos International School of Theater  Creation. Peter’s unique approach has been further enriched by his  experience as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, Wutao breath-work,  and a wide range of somatic and martial arts.

Skills Covered:

• Play!
• Discovering your clown
• Entering and exiting the “clown state”
• Finding your clown’s voice
• How to develop your clown’s costume
• Playing with space
• Making actions clear through articulation
• Techniques for sharing your clown’s experience with the audience
• Status
• The ecstacy of failure (aka “the bid”)
• Working with objects
• Duos, trios and scenes with other clowns

About the teacher:

Peter  Sweet has been working as a performer, teacher and director of physical  theater and contemporary circus since 2000. His solo and duo shows:  Meet Pete Sweet (Clown developed with Avner "The Eccentric" Eisenberg),  Swinging High (directed by Giovanni Fusetti), and BOOM! (directed by  Matteo Destro) have toured in over 20 countries. Peter served as the  director of performance in the circus department at Die Etage Berlin for  4 years. He is a thesis advisor and coach at Fonty’s Netherlands  masters program in choreography and has been a guest teacher at the  Stockholm University of Dance and Circus, Zurich University of the Arts  and the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich.

Peter  studied physical theatre at the Helikos International School of Theatre  Creation in Florence, contemporary and classical dance at the Salzburg  Experimental Academy of Dance in Salzburg and circus at Ecole du Cirque  Zofy in Sion (CH). He is a certified teacher of both the Alexander  Technique and Wutao, a French movement art based on breath and  undulation.

Peter is currently based in Berlin (DE), where he directs  professional companies, teaches workshops and creates new works of  inspired madness. In his free time he reads, flies kites, dances in the  kitchen, and watches Muppet show re-runs.

Register Here: https://forms.gle/GqVPQuDZTA17PKsw7

If you have questions please send an email to Peter Sweet: info@petersweet.com