THE TAO OF CLOWN

A poetic journey of Awareness through laughter

The Tao of Clown is back to Aoetearoa-New Zealand ! This new edition will be offered as residential retreat, on the beautiful WAIHEKE ISLAND, in the Hauraki Gulf, 40 mins ferry from Auckland. Welcome !

A POETIC JOURNEY INTO CRAZY WISDOM

Welcome to a unique adventure, in which poetry meets healing and your personal clown will reveal some aspects of your own crazy wisdom.
A human being, alone in front of the audience, a Red Nose, the smallest mask in the world. No costume, no text, no devised actions, nothing: the emptiness, the simple silent presence… Suddenly a gesture appears: a spontaneous movement, an emotion, a sound… The audience recognizes something profoundly human and the miracle of laughter is there: the mysterious gift of all clowns.

The Clown is a very personal comic state. It exists in the fullness of the present moment: in this state of being without doing, the person touches the richness of the “here and now” and becomes aware of their way of being in contact with the world.
In this letting go of all intentions they touch the magical “poetry of the ridiculous”: to play with one’s uniqueness, to laugh at oneself, to laugh with oneself, transforming fragility, imperfections, wounds and contradictions into comic poetry and personal power.

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Artistically, the Clown has a profound poetic potential because it allows the person to explore and play with the naiveté of the child and the rigor of the adult.

The clown state is raw, direct, personal, unique, challenging, empowering, revealing, extremely rewarding. It is a fully embodied poetic form, a state of playing where everyone has access to this key question: what is so funny about myself? And the red nose as mask has the sublime power of transforming any emotion into comic presence.

The unfolding of a clown form is an exhilarating somatic process, based on the observation and amplification of the physical and emotional world of each person, as revealed by their body in space.
In terms of movement, no-body is neutral: every-body carries patterns that are profoundly expressive, em-bodied in everyday movement. There is a web and physical and emotional “background noises” within each person’s movement and physical presence. This web appears like painting/markings on a white sheet. They are “dramatic” in the etymological sense. They contain a drama: an action. This work of analysis leads to the discovery of a unique clown, with a specific body, tempo, voice, attitudes, emotions, and poetic world.

The search of one’s own clown is an intense and fascinating emotional journey. It’s a quest of self knowledge, that brings each person in contact with their unique way of being in the body and in space: to inhabit and play with one’s own unique physical and emotional world, to amplify it and transform it into a universal comic form.

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THE APPROACH

The pedagogical approach integrates Physical Theatre with Gestalt Therapy, Bioenergetics, Taoist Principles and Process Work. The result is a deep artistic and emotional work, involving the body in a dynamic of play, humor and awareness.
In the core of the work there is the combination of three fundamental principles. The first two principles come from the body-oriented psychotherapy tradition, first expressed in the West by Wilhelm Reich and then explored in many different approaches:

What is not expressed by the body remains impressed in the body.

The expression of all emotions brings fluidity (flow) to the body and this fluidity brings physical pleasure.

The third comes from the ancient tradition of theatre as a ritual of connection with the powers of the human soul.

The parts of ourselves that we don’t play, will play us.

Combining these principles, playing in the clown state becomes a form of knowledge, reconnection and empowerment. Through the unfolding of the impressed energies of the body a clown will appear, and through playing this form a unique freedom and pleasure will rise.
The Way (Tao) of clown brings powerful insights, witnessed by the audience, and generates the ecstatic joy of being who we are, in an amazing experience of letting go of all intention (Wu-Wei).

This workshop addresses to every person wishing to experience a journey of self-discovery through the healing power of laughter. It is open to any person interested in exploring themselves with humor and depth; to anyone involved in the arts, education, social work, health care (educators, social workers, therapists…).
Theatre artists and practicing clowns will discover a way to work with very personal raw emotional states and turn them into great physical comedy and poetic power.

The emotional work will be intense and ecstatic: the body will reveal what it needs to experience and express, in a dynamic of amplification, play, letting go and awareness. Shadows, angels, demons, archetypes, physical symptoms, dreambody processes will appear and will be welcomed in the alchemical power of the group.

A strong and playful desire of diving in one’s own folly is required as well as the availability to engage in a process of personal development through theater play.

Come and walk off the cliff and discover that we don’t fall. Actually, we are falling upward.

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PRACTICALITIES

SCHEDULE
Wednesday January 4th: 2:00pm to 8:00pm.
Thursday January 5th: 9:30am, to 6:00pm.
Friday 6th: 9:30am to 6:00pm.
Saturday February 7th: 9:30am to 5:00pm.

LOCATION
104 Margaret Reeve Lane
Okoka Bay
Waiheke Island

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ENROLLMENT

TUITION
Early Bird Discount: NZ $720. If full payment is made by December 1st, 2022
Full Price: NZ $850. If full payment is made after December 1st, 2022

THE TUITION INCLUDES ACCOMMODATION IN A COMMUNAL ROOM in MARAE STYLE AND ALL MEALS (from Wednesday Dinner to Saturday Lunch). Participants will share some of the tasks involved in the running of the logistics of the workshop and the preparation of the meals. Please let us know if you have any special food requirements.
It is also possible to camp on the property.
For those who prefer to find an autonomous accommodation in the area, the tuition will be NZ $600 – NZ $730, including meals and coffee breaks.

To apply to the workshop please e-mail a letter of motivation to Giovanni, sharing the essence of your story, vision, dream, desire, fear or un-explicable intuition that leads you to this workshop. Once the application is accepted, applicants can confirm their enrollment by sending a NZ $300 non-refundable deposit.
Once selected, places will be given in order of arrival.

Please note that in case of cancellation the deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE. The remaining part of the paid tuition will be refunded only if the place in the workshop is replaced. In any case no tuition will be refunded for cancellations occurred less than a week before the beginning of the workshop.

The workshop is confirmed once the minimum number of 8 PARTICIPANTS is reached.
The maximum number of participants is 10.
Once the 10 places will be assigned, a waiting list will be set up, in case someone will abandon.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 10th 2022.

As of December 3rd, the workshop is confirmed and fully booked. A waiting list is in place.

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For further information about the content of the workshop and for application and practical enquiries please contact Giovanni Fusetti at

giovanni.fusetti@helikos.com

COVID PROTOCOL

The training will happen in the rigorous respect of the National and Regional anti-Covid regulations.
All participants will have to agree in engaging with these rules. On the first day of the class, all participants will have to present a COVID negative test (RAT), taken in the 24 hours before the start.

PHOTO CREDITS
Picture n.1: Henri Matisse: Icarus (1947)
Picture n.2: Red Nose Intensive Training 2018, Melbourne
Picture n.3: Joan Miro: The Smile of the Flamboyant Wings Sun (1953)
Picture n.4: Red Nose Intensive, Boulder, USA, 2015
Picture n. 5: Quint Bucholz: Giacomond, 1984
Picture n.6: Advanced Clown Training, Boulder,USA, 2018