CLASSES
2023 FALL
CLOWN WEEKEND
September 16 & 17
Saturday & Sunday
10am - 5pm (lunch break 1-2pm)
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Tuition: $240
Deposit due with registration: $50
(Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Balance due before start of class.)
In Clown, we embark on the wondrous journey to rediscover innocence and uncover the
pleasure of play. It is a daring adventure, in which we open our fragile hearts in search of fun.
The little red nose (the smallest mask) is a great liberator. It requires generosity and summons
transparency, revealing our wonderful and complicated simplicity.
A riotous inquiry . . . a playful encounter . . . a look at our laughable & lovable selves.
We love clowns because they make us laugh while revealing the range of mythical and
emotional archetypes within each one of us.
To find your clown is to tap into your own, personal source of spontaneous
expressiveness and to experience the pleasure of play.
The honesty and openness we find in clown will follow us everywhere we go.
Open to all levels. Click to register for Clown Weekend!
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ART OF COLLABORATION
October 9 - November 13
6 weeks
Mondays
7pm - 10pm
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Tuition: $360
Deposit due with registration: $75
(Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Balance due before start of class.)
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Starting from the roots of classical pantomime, we progress to a fast-paced style of physical theater using gestural language. Working in ensemble to build micro and macro images that essentialize storytelling, this form of shared creation gets to grips with raw components of expression through the primacy of movement and action.
It all happens on a small playing area, or trestle. First introduced in the early 1900’s by Jacques Copeau, the trèteau nu or naked stage was used to develop simplicity and vital physicality. Reducing the space promotes clarity and cultivates imagination.
This is strong ensemble training and a lot of fun. The possibilities are limitless!
Open to all levels. Click to register for Art of Collaboration
CLOWN WEEKEND
this class has been canceled
next clown weekend will be in 2024
November 4 & 5
Saturday & Sunday
10am - 5pm (lunch break 1-2pm)
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Tuition: $240
Deposit due with registration: $50
(Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Balance due before start of class.)
In Clown, we embark on the wondrous journey to rediscover innocence and uncover the
pleasure of play. It is a daring adventure, in which we open our fragile hearts in search of fun.
The little red nose (the smallest mask) is a great liberator. It requires generosity and summons
transparency, revealing our wonderful and complicated simplicity.
A riotous inquiry . . . a playful encounter . . . a look at our laughable & lovable selves.
We love clowns because they make us laugh while revealing the range of mythical and
emotional archetypes within each one of us.
To find your clown is to tap into your own, personal source of spontaneous
expressiveness and to experience the pleasure of play.
The honesty and openness we find in clown will follow us everywhere we go.
Open to all levels.
​
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2024 CALENDAR
3-day BOUFFON LAB
January 13, 14 & 15 (MLK Weekend)
Saturday, Sunday & Monday
10am - 5pm (lunch break 1-2pm)
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Tuition: $360
Deposit due with registration: $75
(Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Balance due before start of class.)
what is bouffon?
Bouffon is a rich dramatic territory evolved by Jacques Lecoq in his enduring pursuit to train the
actor-creator. During the social upheaval in the 60’s, he sensed the collective need to translate
the cruelty of human sociality. Reaching back to Medieval times when people were exiled for
being ‘different’, Lecoq asked his students to deform their bodies, join in clans and mock the
ways of normalized culture and society through the folly of games, lunacy, madness,
distraction, dementia. A bouffon is a creature of mystery, the grotesque and the fantastic.
how does it relate to clown?
A clown is alone, while the bouffon is part of a group.
We make fun of clowns, while the bouffons make fun of us.
what is it about?
Buffoons come from somewhere else.
They belong to the folly necessary for rescuing the truth.
Bouffons are connected to the verticality of mystery. They are part of the relationship between
heaven and earth and live in a perfect society without conflict, where each person finds their
exact place. They exhibit before us, in an anomalous manner, close to a parade, our proper
folly. They play our society – the themes of power, science, religion, politics – all organized
according to precise rules, where the most feeble may be in charge of everyone. The buffoons
denounce and at the same time propose a tragic space.
what will we do?
Bouffon comes from the Latin “buffare” to puff or to swell to provoke laughter.
Bouffon work involves developing enlarged forms/bodies (using foam, fiberfill, etc.) that are
resonant with the mysterious, the grotesque and the fantastic. The workshop will include
revisiting the stages of childhood, producing games and rituals out of normalcy, endless
ensemble play, and making mockery.
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Open to all levels. Click to register for Bouffon Lab.
NEUTRAL MASK (Comprehensive 1 Program)
January 22 - April 8
12 weeks
Mondays
7pm - 10pm
Tuition: $720
Deposit due with registration $100
(Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. Balance due before start of class.)
Generating energy, size and presence, mask work guides us to eliminate habitual patterns,
encouraging clarity of movement and a greater command of stillness.
In neutral mask we learn to play the rhythms of life, to silence the excess noise, to become an
environment upon which we reflect the poetics of the natural world.
The neutral mask is an educational tool tapping the inherent dynamic wisdom of the body as a
vehicle to find freedom, awareness, and expression.
It is a foundation and point of reference for building all character.
A full-face mask that you wear through a series of exercises, the mask engages a large space
and beckons you to expand your presence.
Grappling with the properties of spatial awareness, the mask is used to eliminate superfluous
action and to distill movement down to essential rhythms.
It encourages clarity of movement, a greater command of stillness, and provides a clear slate
upon which we inscribe character. Neutral means ready urging you to:
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broaden your play
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heighten your spatial awareness
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free your body to respond without the control of the mind
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support and develop your physical abilities
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Pushing us to our growing edge, the mask guides us into a dialogue with our habits arriving at
the truth through essential gesture.
There are 3 masks:
the one we think we are,
the one we really are,
and the one we hold in common.
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Open to all levels. Click to register for Neutral Mask.