Workshop Posting:
Touch the Moon
A Workshop for Clowns and Creative Artists
Jef Johnson returns to New York City for this special workshop.
The most difficult challenge facing all of us is overcoming the programming of our upbringing. Growing up you were constantly told to DO things that should occur spontaneously.
“Relax.” “Smile.” “Sleep.” “Eat.” “Love.”
This idea of “doing” has polluted almost every field of creative expression. It has polluted almost every school.
* Reconnect with your creative consciousness.
* Rediscover the wonder in the amazing, the simple, the absurd.
* Unlock your heart and discover what is really possible.
Today was the first day of Jef Johnson’s Touch the Moon workshop at Theatrelab. There were about 10 of us there, some clowns, some dancers, some people from other countries, the usual suspects.
Jef has been away for quite a while. He’s been busy with Jango Edwards Nouveau Clown Institute in Barcelona and mask work in Mexico and now he’s back in NYC, but not for long. He’s teaching the same workshop in LA at the end of the week.
So anyway, there we were, and there he was and I can’t write much about it because what happens in clownlab stays in clownlab. But, it’s a positive experience and an exploration of what is unique and funny about each performer. Patrick de Vallette said something similar this weekend when he was in the studio with the clown women of Clowns Ex Machina for some exploration.
I think that the more tethered to our laptops and cellphones and other technology, the more important clowning is going to become as an art form of human connection.