My favorite Oscar moment was watching Kathryn Bigelow on stage when The Hurt Locker won Best Picture. She held her two Oscar statuettes in her hands like a pair free weights and kept wandering away from the microphone and out of camera range to the point that screenwriter Mark Boal grabbed her arm and held her there. After Barbra Streisand announced the name of the winner in the Best Director category, Kathryn Bigelow climbed the stairs, made a gracious speech and walked off stage. In the dark wing, people who heard the announcement she hadn’t, turned her around and sent her back out into the spotlight. She was a woman in shock. I really enjoyed the opportunity watch the physical manifestations of a person in shock, when the woman in question was in shock for a happy reason.
This month as my mind wanders while I do laundry, and dishes and go to the gym and shuttle My Kid to Girl Scouts, soccer, and ballet and write my little mom blogs, I will imagine what it would be like to be clowning in Barcelona:
The 2nd one month “Clown Master Class and Comic Formulas” course will begin Monday, March 1st and conclude Sunday, March 28th. Registration is Sunday Feb. 28th at 16:00 at the Nouveau Clown Institute. Classes will be held 5 days each week from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday thru Friday, totaling 120 hours. On Saturdays students will be in the media rooms to attend special viewing assignments of films and videos. In addition, each student will receive a one on one session with a master teacher. At the end of each week, both Saturday and Sunday evenings, there will be performances presented by the students, faculty and invited guest artists. These performances will be open to the general public.
If you are interested in attending the Nouveau Clown institutes “Clown Master Class and Comic Formulas” March, 2010 session then visit our web site at www.clownfish.es/nci.htm . Here you will find detailed information and the official form to apply for acceptance to the N.C. I. Registration closes January 31st, 2010,
The master class instructors confirmed at the moment are as follows:
John Towsen, Pepa Plana, Alex Navarro, Pat Cashin, Greg de Santo, Mag Lari, Giovanna Bellina, Eric de Bont, Rick Parets, Jorge Pico, Loco Brusca, Grada Peskens, Jef Johnson, Jango Edwards, Monti, Tortell Poltrona, Christian Atanasiu, Jordi Purti…and more. The additional faculty members for the March session will be announced in the near future.
Also we suggest you do a little research about the artist who will be your instructors during the March session so you have a basic knowledge of their approach to the clown art. Those of you who have clown or comedy routines, stage acts or numbers that you would like to perform in the weekly “Cabaret Cabron” productions please bring those items required to present your act including music, props and costumes. A maximum of no more than 3 acts from your repertory is advised. We also recommend that you bring any audio/ video material of your work which can be viewed by us to assist us in directing you. In addition to the in class sessions you will receive selected data based materials .It is a mandatory request that you bring with you a pen drive or memory stick in which this data can be stored. This information will be a useful reference in the future once you have successfully completed the master class and graduated from “The Nouveau Clown Institute”…that is if you graduate!!!
Finally and most important of all it is the wish of the N.C.I. staff to make your visit as creative, productive and inspiring as possible. To achieve this we remind you that the “Nouveau Clown Institute” is an educational institution of the highest standards and if you come with open mind and open heart then we will open the door for you to a new future. The concept of this school is that it is a school for all professional clowns to learn, teach and exchange among each other and second that new actors who are interested can come and the opportunity to have direct contact with master instructors besides each day an exposure to assorted production, skills, technique and an understanding of the comic formulas that make comedy and clowning function in all environments. This school belongs to all members of the Nouveau Clown community. It is the desire of N.C.I. to function as a launching pad for actors to become familiar with the variety of clown artists and schools that specialize in comedy and the art of clown.
If you need additional help of have specific questions please contact us by: email at nouveauclown@gmail.com telephone: 00 34 699341100
To view the facilities of the “Nouveau Clown Institute” located in the Roca Umbert Fabrica de les Arts in Granollers, Spain www.rocaumbert.cat/ie6/home.php#
On behalf of the N.C.I.
Sincerely yours,
Jango Edwards
We were talking about Broadway shows we’d like to see. I think My Kid should see The Miracle Worker or Billy Elliot. In the family evening vs couples date equation where we may as well bring My Kid since a babysitter costs more than a ticket, I could stand to see the old classics; South Pacific or West Side Story.
However,
I was talking with another clown recently and we were thinking that when Banana Shpeel opens this month we might do well to try to see it early in the run because it didn’t get good reviews in Chicago. (But, maybe, hopefully, changes will have been made and it will be a great show!)
So anyway,
I looked up online a review of the Chicago production and found one by Chris Jones who wrote, of the Chicago production, on December 3, 2009
“There is a great deal to fix before this show opens in New York early next year. But here’s a modest proposal: Hire a female clown. Or two.”
Just sayin’…
It’s 10 am and I’ve gotten my kid off to school, I’ve shined my sink the way FLYLADY says to and I’ve handwritten my Morning Pages the way Julia Cameron suggests, I’ve researched, composed and sent e-mails regarding potential solo performance options and now I’m sorting laundry. Why am I so productive during my alone time in this manner on this day. Because anything is easier than getting ready for this evenings meeting with the tax preparer.
After my Pilates mat class I had extra time at the Y thanks to the other mom who took the girls to their ballet at Mark Morris. I took extra long in the steam room and thought about some clown stuff. I was going to swim laps but forgot my goggles so I walked down 6th Avenue into Greenwich Village. I bought a latte at Joe’s on Waverly but there weren’t any open seats so I kept walking and ended up at Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargan Books on Carmine Street where I bought essays by Virginia Woolfe and books about Tracy Ullman and Spike Mulligan with the intention of learning more about the creative processes of others. Tracy Takes On was interesting to me because I am doing a costume based character at the next Downtown Clown and I picked up The Unpublished Spike Milligan Box 18 because of all the photographs of all the scraps of ideas that the British comedian kept in his own unique filing system that he used to develop material:
Box 18 - Ideas. This contained Spikes notes. He would scribble a poem and put it in this file. Sometimes it would be incomplete and he would work on it perhaps a week or a month later, or it would be ‘chucked’. The file contained ideas for speeches, stories or sketches for one of his television programmes… When he decided to work on any one of his ideas he would sit at the typewriter and the writing simply flowed. –Norma Farnes
I would have enjoyed going to Clownlab this weekend but it got cancelled like everything else because of the snow.
It’s hard to believe Friday was a snow day today was so sunny and bright. Spring is definitely here! …unless it snows again.
Thursday evening
NEW YORK, NY February 25, 2010 —Because of the snowstorm, the city has decided to postpone parent teacher conferences for junior high and intermediate schools, but Mayor Bloomberg says otherwise, it’s business as usual in the classroom.
“Our main objective is to keep our kids in school,” Bloomberg says. “That’s why we have an education system. And right now we expect that snowfall tomorrow will be manageable enough that we can keep all schools open.”
The mayor says the city will let parents know if they decide to close schools as soon as possible, but no decision has been made.
The mayor says the sanitation department also has 365 salt spreaders that can disperse 170,000 tons of salt and 1,600 snow plows can begin clearing city streets once 2 inches of snow accumulate on the ground.
But, because temperatures are in the mid-30s, the mayor says much of the snow that has fallen is melting on city streets.
Friday Morning
NEW YORK (AP) – Mayor Michael Bloomberg says safety was the reason for the rare decision to close New York City’s public schools.
In Albany, the sun was shining Friday and schools were open. But hundreds of schools – from Rochester to the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island – were closed. It was the week’s second snow day for many upstate districts.
New York City officials originally had hoped that the snowfall would be manageable. But Bloomberg says his top advisers spoke on Thursday night and decided keeping schools open “may not be safe.”
There are 1.1 million pupils in the nation’s largest school system. During a Feb. 10 storm, they enjoyed their third snow day in only six years.
Said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein: “Everybody better do their homework this weekend.”
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It’s Monday morning. The Husband has taken My Kid to school and I have a couple of hours on my own in the apartment before I have to leave for a class. Because I’m using my laptop to get organized for my day I somehow ended up on facebook where friends were complementing Chris Bayes on his new website. So I had to check it out. The text invites one to classes that may be inspiring and I think, that sounds fun. Then I remember I already have a connection to Jef Johnson’s Clownlab. He’s getting inspired teaching children in Sudan at the moment and may have a lab in New York this weekend. I wasn’t able to attend the workshop a couple of weeks ago. I would like to go this Saturday, but I will have to get a babysitter because The Husband will be out of town and wether or not I can go also depends on the time of My Kid’s soccer game and we have tickets for the Brooklyn Children’s Film festival… Jango Edwards is spearheading a monthlong Nouveau Clown Institute course in Barcelona next month. Some people I know are going (mostly single performers not that long out of college). I would very much like to go but of course I can’t for innumerable reasons. But, there is always that little question why can’t I go? It’s not like I have a corporate job. Theoretically I could decide to go and take out my credit card… buy a plane ticket… find a babysitter… Does it mean I’m not sufficiently committed to my home and family if I daydream of clowning in Spain?
I spent most of the day in Manhattan with my kid because there is no school this week and it was a good day to have a midtown lunch date with The Daddy-Husband who works at Rockefeller Center. We ate noodles at the Sapporo Japanese restaurant on 49th Street (We used to eat at Sapporo East all the time when The Kid took Japanese language classes at the 14th Street Y in the East Village. Then there were virtually inevitable side trips to Toys R Us Times Square (www.toysrustimessquare.com) and FAO Schwarz® on 5th Avenue. My Kid did an art project, bought some bedding for her doll and added “Cookie Monster” to her menagerie because last night we watched the “Cake Boss” episode where they made a replica of the Sesame Street set out of cake and fondant.
So after I, being a cultural Catholic, “got my ashes” at Saint Patrick Cathedral and My reluctant Kid got a blessing, we had dinner at The Brooklyn Diner (ironic right?!)
On the C train riding home we found ourselves in the same car as Dick Monday and Tiffany Riley and their kids, in town for the New York Goofs classes and on their way to the hosting home of yet another New York Clown Family.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“Do you like my hat?”
Actually that is not how we greeted each other– that’s some Dr. Seuss text…
So anyway…
It was fun to run into another clown family out and about in New York City.
We’re everywhere.
You’d be surprised!
Via facebook I learn of the death of an elementary school classmate.
Five days older than me, she will never be the age I am now.
The Husband, My Kid and I took the train to Union Square and bought books at Strand.
We ate guacamole and drank margaritas at the Mexican restaurant where the plastic men dive from the wall.
They went back to Brooklyn and I went to the Krane Theatre to see the New York Downtown Clown Revue.
Afterwards Phoebe’s Bar was the place to be.
One will go to Las Vegas to work for Cirque du Soleil. Another will teach a class. A third has his arm in a sling.
There is only one more Downtown Clown Revue left.
Last week I read an interview with Ariel Gore in hip Mama the parenting zine. Yesterday afternoon I bought her new book bluebird, women and the new psychology of happiness and inhaled it.
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