Clowndance Syllabus
Warm Up: Walking
Take a walk in the space.
Try to vary your pathways, don’t walk in a circle, keep changing directions.
Walk with enough energy that you can feel the air moving over your skin.
Keep your face and your eyes engaged, don’t fall into a 1000-yard zombie stare.
Anatomical development
Bring your awareness to your feet: feel the heel strike the floor, the weight roll through, and the toes spread and push off. Don’t be afraid to make a noise as you walk, own your gravity.
Bring your awareness sequentially through the rest of the body: ankles, knees, hips, the bowl of the pelvis, spine, shoulder girdle, elbows, wrists, hands, neck, skull, face.
Bring your awareness to the other people in the space: greet people as you pass with a nod, a smile, or something sillier- a wink, a grimace, the stink-eye.
Laban development
Bring your awareness to the verticality in your body, feel a two-way pull between your heels sinking down into the floor and your head reaching up, pulling upwards. Imagine with every step your feet are putting down roots and they're travelling through the studio floor, through the foundations of the building and into the earth. And imagine those roots flowing up through your body and becoming branches that spring from the top of your head, pushing through the ceiling of the studio, out through the roof of the building and up into space. You are perfectly balanced in the centre of that two-way pull up and down.
Now bring your awareness to the sides of your body, feel a spreading sensation across your shoulders, your pelvis, the breadth of your body. Now imagine you have enormous wings or you're wearing a huge Rio carnival headdress and it's so wide it's spreading right out, bursting through the walls of the studio and out to the horizon in each direction. You are perfectly balanced in the centre of that side-to-side pull.
Now bring your awareness to the front and back surfaces of the body, feel the air rushing over you as you move forward through space. Imagine the front surface of your body is covered in lights and they are reaching out ahead of you like the headlights on a car. And behind you have either red tail lights streaming out behind you, or if you prefer, long kite tails blowing out behind you. You are perfectly balanced in the centre of that front-and-back pull.
Now bring all of those together; up, down, right, left, front, back, and think of yourself perfectly balanced in the centre of that equal pull, like a dewdrop balanced in the centre of a spider web.
Environmental development
As you're walking bring your awareness to the whole space, not just the centre of the studio floor but the whole room we're in. Look up- notice what's above you. What's around the walls? Look down- notice the floor. What does it feel like? What does it sound like? Feel free to explore the corners, the hidden spaces. Notice anything hazardous in the room, any dangers. Notice anything interesting in the room, anything you want to explore. Go and explore it. Make sure you have been everywhere. We are peeing on the space, making it ours.
Try to vary your pathways, don’t walk in a circle, keep changing directions.
Walk with enough energy that you can feel the air moving over your skin.
Keep your face and your eyes engaged, don’t fall into a 1000-yard zombie stare.
Anatomical development
Bring your awareness to your feet: feel the heel strike the floor, the weight roll through, and the toes spread and push off. Don’t be afraid to make a noise as you walk, own your gravity.
Bring your awareness sequentially through the rest of the body: ankles, knees, hips, the bowl of the pelvis, spine, shoulder girdle, elbows, wrists, hands, neck, skull, face.
Bring your awareness to the other people in the space: greet people as you pass with a nod, a smile, or something sillier- a wink, a grimace, the stink-eye.
Laban development
Bring your awareness to the verticality in your body, feel a two-way pull between your heels sinking down into the floor and your head reaching up, pulling upwards. Imagine with every step your feet are putting down roots and they're travelling through the studio floor, through the foundations of the building and into the earth. And imagine those roots flowing up through your body and becoming branches that spring from the top of your head, pushing through the ceiling of the studio, out through the roof of the building and up into space. You are perfectly balanced in the centre of that two-way pull up and down.
Now bring your awareness to the sides of your body, feel a spreading sensation across your shoulders, your pelvis, the breadth of your body. Now imagine you have enormous wings or you're wearing a huge Rio carnival headdress and it's so wide it's spreading right out, bursting through the walls of the studio and out to the horizon in each direction. You are perfectly balanced in the centre of that side-to-side pull.
Now bring your awareness to the front and back surfaces of the body, feel the air rushing over you as you move forward through space. Imagine the front surface of your body is covered in lights and they are reaching out ahead of you like the headlights on a car. And behind you have either red tail lights streaming out behind you, or if you prefer, long kite tails blowing out behind you. You are perfectly balanced in the centre of that front-and-back pull.
Now bring all of those together; up, down, right, left, front, back, and think of yourself perfectly balanced in the centre of that equal pull, like a dewdrop balanced in the centre of a spider web.
Environmental development
As you're walking bring your awareness to the whole space, not just the centre of the studio floor but the whole room we're in. Look up- notice what's above you. What's around the walls? Look down- notice the floor. What does it feel like? What does it sound like? Feel free to explore the corners, the hidden spaces. Notice anything hazardous in the room, any dangers. Notice anything interesting in the room, anything you want to explore. Go and explore it. Make sure you have been everywhere. We are peeing on the space, making it ours.