Alan Clay's - Angels can Fly - Blog

US Libraries and Fiction Preview

2006-02-14T14:37:00.000+11:00

Angels Can Fly has begun to break into the American library market, with the first ten copies now in US Public Libraries. Check out your library to see if they have a copy, and if they don't, tell them they can get a copy from the US wholesale distributor, Ingram Library Supplies.

"Clown is a fascinating, diverse, complex and exciting art form, which has existed around the planet for thousands of years. Like any art form it has to evolve to stay relevant to the culture nurturing it, and at the same time, and by its very nature, clown teases and turns upside down the cultural patterns and boundaries around us."

This month we continue a series of excerpts from the book, with a preview of part of the fictional section from chapter one:

Easy's Pride and Joy

Easy arrived down at the street-theatre pitch early, his four year old son, Jasper, running at his heels. Sugar had already started a show however, so he took off his back-pack and sat down on the grass, to consider the options.

Jasper sat in his lap, his eyes on the show.

Sugar had a large crowd and, from where they were sitting, Easy and Jasper were just getting glimpses of her through gaps in the audience. Then a large group walked away, right in front of them, and they got a window into the show.

Sugar wiped the back of her hand across her mouth in a vulgar way, adjusted her trademark bustle which enlarged her backside, then smiled warmly at a man who stood in front of her in the audience.

"Hi, what's your name?" she asked him.

He made no reaction, fearful of where any response might lead, and immobilised by the attention of the crowd.

"The questions get harder," she teased him.

Easy saw the realisation dawn on him that it was easier to play along, than to resist.

"Mike," he admitted.

"Right answer!" she encouraged him.

He grinned.

"Now I want you to do exactly as I do," she told him.

"Okay Mike?"

He nodded. Even a nod was a daring move, and she turned to face the same direction as him, and imitated his reluctant stance, and the audience laughed.

Then she took a step forward, and waited in anticipation that he should do the same. After a moment, lush with humour from his indecision, he followed her lead, which brought him out of the crowd and onto the stage.

"She's good today," Jasper said.

Easy nodded, and cuddled the boy.

Sugar led Mike step by step, until they reached the centre of the circle, and with every step his reluctance was confronted and released. And a broad smile broke out on his face as she teased the courage from him.

Easy could see that she was going to do a long show, which was slowly gathering a bigger and bigger crowd.

"We'll have to go to the park and try a show," he told Jasper.

"Daddy, I want to watch her show," Jasper said.

"I've got to make some money."

"Do one here afterwards."

Easy looked over to the back of the pitch, where he could see Ginger was already waiting to go next. This meant he would be second in line, which would probably still be okay, he thought, and anyway he wanted to catch up with Ginger.

"Okay, you go and watch the show then," he told Jasper, "and I'll be at the back, with the others, okay?"

Jasper nodded, and scampered happily off, pushing through to the front of Sugar's crowd, to sit down on the pavement.

Easy took his gear over to the back of the pitch, and Ginger smiled as he approached.

"Hi," he greeted her.

They kissed one another on the cheek. Her green hair gave her an alien sort of feel, very beautiful in the sunlight, he thought...

Angels can Fly includes a mix of fiction which follows the adventures of ten clown characters, some personal clown anecdotes from clowns from around the world, a total of 50 practical clown exercises, and some theory on the nature of modern clown. The book is available on order through bookshops and online stores in Australia, America and England. Order your copy today. Find it on Amazon by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/9nrwj

Book Awards

2006-01-19T10:56:00.000+11:00

Angels Can Fly has been nominated for both an Australian and a New Zealand writing Award, because of its distinctive blend of fiction, autobiography, biography, theory and exercises.

The book is a contestant in the Innovation in Writing category of the Festival Awards For Literature in South Australia, which is a national award recognising innovation in writing.

The award is open to published books which depart from conventional use of genre by borrowing elements from a number of genres such as fiction, non-fiction, biography, autobiography, poetry or cultural criticism.

Angels Can Fly has also been nominated for the Reference and Anthology section of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

"The purpose of this award is to reward excellence in reference of anthology books. Included in this category are books by a single author which bring together writings in more than one genre, and anthologies of work by two or more authors in any genre. Judges will look for a well written book with sound documentary research and/or creative insight."

The winners of the South Australian Award will be announced in March, and of the NZ Book Awards in July 2006.

Happy New Year

2006-01-07T07:43:00.000+11:00

Happy new year and best wishes to all the readers and subscribers to this blog, and my apologies for the six months that have elapsed since my last post... I have been busy promoting Angels Can Fly in Australia and New Zealand, at launches, readings, and libraries.

Angels can Fly includes a mix of fiction which follows the adventures of ten clown characters, some personal clown anecdotes from clowns from around the world, a total of 50 practical clown exercises, and some theory on the nature of modern clown.

I have been very happy with the response to the book over the past six months. It has already sold better than any of my other books, and sold in markets like England, which I have not previously reached.

Now Stocked in Libraries in Australia and New Zealand

Around 70 copies of Angels Can Fly are now in libraries in Australia and New Zealand, including 16 copies in West Australian libraries, my first books to make it into Western Australia. Check with your library to see if they have a copy. Some libraries also have copies of the Angels Can Fly DVD.

There will also be copies of the book on display at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference later this month, so there may well be copies in American libraries soon. Check with your library in the US to see if they are sending someone to the conference and, if they are, tell them to check out Angels Can Fly on the Combined Book stand.

Reviews of the book

Angels Can Fly!, October 31, 2005
Reviewer:
Michael C. Getlan "caring clown" (New Rochelle, NY) - This is a terrific book, and should be read and used frequently. The stories about the real clowns are inspiring and the exercises are practical and important, especially if you are serious about exploring the clown in you.

Angels Can Fly, August 2, 2005
Reviewer:
Julie A. Wright "Jewls" - This unusual book has a lot of good character development, audience interaction exercises. It is also a novel about street performers and includes several entertainers biographies all mixed together. For a vary enjoyable educational read.

Excerpts

Last month we commenced publishing a series of excerpts from the book in the Artmedia Physical Theatre Newsletter, and I intend to also post these on this blog as they are published in the newsletter.

We started last month with one of the 50 exercises included in the book, the Play with Objects exercise, which was published on this blog in September 2004. You can find this exercise here.

"Clown is a fascinating, diverse, complex and exciting art form, which has existed around the planet for thousands of years. Like any art form it has to evolve to stay relevant to the culture nurturing it, and at the same time, and by its very nature, clown teases and turns upside down the cultural patterns and boundaries around us."

The book is available on order through bookshops and online stores in New Zealand, Australia, America and England. Order your copy today. Find it on Amazon by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/9nrwj

You can also still get a free e-Book version to read on your computer.

Brisbane Writers Festival

2005-07-29T09:58:00.000+10:00

Initial feedback on Angels Can Fly is good and I have been invited to launch the book at the Brisbane Writers Festival at the beginning October.

"Have been getting totally inspired by your book. Just dipped for a while but started to read through from the beginning and am really enjoying how it jumps between all the different elements. The structure really works and makes for an interesting read!"

"The book is fantastic - I am just loving it. Well done - it really is an amazing effort to tie everything in together."

Sales have also been good in America and England in the last few weeks.

And we can now announce the:

Angels Can Fly DVD.

Also available in this series is the Angels Can Fly DVD, which includes two hours of documentary footage of the work of some of the clowns in the book. DVD ISBN: 0957884435.

The Angels Can Fly DVD is available free when you purchase the Australian Edition of the paperback, which costs Aus$49.95 plus Aus$22 international postage or $10 in Australia. The Australian edition includes colour pictures.

To get the paperback and a free Angels Can Fly DVD, simply send a bank cheque in Australian dollars to: Artmedia, PO Box 152, Newtown NSW 2042, Australia.

And we can also announce the:

Angels Can Fly Workshop Tour

Sydney Clown Masterclass
(3 day) September 14 to 16 ( Wed - Fri ) 10am - 4pm
Aus$400 earlybird (before August 29) Aus$500 (full)
Enrollments: clown@artmedia.com.au

Brisbane Clown Masterclass
(3 day) September 21 to 23 ( Wed - Fri ) 10am - 4pm
Aus$400 earlybird (before August 29) Aus$500 (full)
Enrollments: clown@artmedia.com.au

And finally the:

Brisbane Writers Festival

Alan has been invited to launch Angels Can Fly at the Brisbane Writers Festival on Sunday, October 2nd, at 1pm.

"The 2005 festival program is shaping up to be one of the best yet. Over two hundred writers from across Australia and overseas will join us for over 160 events jam packed into 4 days."

Information on buying this book is on the Angels Can Fly page, and you can also still get a free e-Book copy of the book in the Microsoft Reader format to read on your computer.

Paperback Now Available Worldwide

2005-06-22T18:23:00.000+10:00

Angels Can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide, is now available in paperback, ( ISBN: 0957884419 ) on order from bookshops in Australia, New Zealand, America and England, and also available online.

Amazon.com is currently offering a special 34% launch discount, and selling the paperback for an amazing US$16.47.

Those who have signed up for the eBook will be receiving them this week. The eBook is released under the Creative Commons License, that allows the unlimited, noncommercial redistribution.

"Clown is a fascinating, diverse, complex and exciting art form, which has existed around the planet for thousands of years. Like any art form it has to evolve to stay relevant to the culture nurturing it, and at the same time, and by its very nature clown teases and turns upside down the cultural patterns and boundaries around us."

Angels can Fly includes a mix of fiction, following the adventures of ten clowns, some personal clown anecdotes from 19 clowns from around the world, a total of 50 practical clown exercises for use both individually and in workshop groups, and some theory on the nature of modern clown.

For those interested, I am posting the contents page of the book below, so you can browse the chapter headings, the exercises, and the contributors. Some of the exercises and the anecdotes have also been posted in full over the past few months, and you can find them in the archival section of this blog.

Contents

1. Go Your Own Path: 7
Exercise: Ball Circle: 15
Anecdote: Classic Clown, Martin Ewen & Alan Clay, NZ: 16

2. When to Start: 21
Exercise: Slapping Balance: 28
Anecdote: Not My First Book, Alan Clay, NZ: 30

3. Bliss: 33
Exercise: Accepting Attention: 41
Anecdote: Amelia in Bliss, Amelia Cadwallader, Australia: 43

4. Breath: 47
Exercise: Breathing - Voice: 51
Anecdote: Asthma Blessing, Alan Clay, New Zealand: 53

5. Play: 55
Exercise: Regression Play: 60
Anecdote: Weird People, Playspace Theatre, NZ: 62

6. Explore: 65
Exercise: Play with Objects: 70
Anecdote: Female Clown, Sue Broadway, Australia: 71

7. Observe: 79
Exercise: Atmospheres: 84
Anecdote: Avignon Festival, Alan Clay, New Zealand: 85

8. Interact: 89
Exercise: Normal Question: 94
Anecdote: The Untouchables, Amanda Burgess & Alan Clay, Aust: 95

9. Learning: 101
Exercise: Juggling: 106
Anecdote: Realisation of my Clowning Kirk Marsh, USA: 108

10. Trust: 111
Exercise: Running Blind: 116
Anecdote: Imperial Trunk Fools Co, Jonathon Acorn, NZ: 118

11. Growth: 123
Exercise: Mimicry: 128
Anecdote: Snap and Crackle, Alan & Michael Clay, Aust: 130

12. Laughter: 133
Exercise: Ha Ha: 138
Anecdote: Rumpel's Foolosophy, Kangaroo Jester of Oz: 139

13. Emotions: 143
Exercise: Hand / Emotions: 148
Anecdote: Warmth of India, Shobhana Schwebke, USA: 150

14. Body: 155
Exercise: Pair Statues: 159
Anecdote: My Yoga Practice, Alan Clay, Australia: 162

15. Mind: 165
Exercise: Mime Isolation: 170
Anecdote: Mime & Madness, Alan & Kerstin Clay, Sweden/NZ: 172

16. Mistakes: 175
Exercise: Dropping the Ball: 180
Anecdote: Lady Margo, Claire Coleman, England: 181

17. Games: 185
Exercise: Finding a Game: 190
Anecdote: David MacMurray Smith, Training My Clown, Canada: 192

18. Fool: 197
Exercise: Death in a Minute: 202
Anecdote: The Imperial Trunk Fools, Alan Clay, New Zealand: 202

19. Self: 207
Exercise: Wave Characters: 211
Anecdote: Like Herself, Hilary Chaplain, USA: 213

20. Others: 217
Exercise: Mimicry Street: 222
Anecdote: I Don't Juggle, I Stalk Plates, Bill Coleman, USA: 224

21. Expression: 229
Exercise: Emotion Speech: 233
Anecdote: Undercover Clown, Alan and Teresa Clay, New Zealand: 234

22. Communication: 237
Exercise: Comfortable Chair: 243
Anecdote: Philosophy, David MacMurray Smith, Canada: 245

23. Audience: 249
Exercise: Attracting a Crowd: 253
Anecdote: Love and Chaos, Alan Clay, NZ/Australia: 254

24. Rapport: 259
Exercise: Excite the Baby: 264
Anecdote: Fijian Resort, Alan & Kerstin Clay, NZ/Sweden: 265

25. Vulnerability: 269
Exercise: Body / Emotions: 274
Anecdote: Lurkue du Soleil - Part 1, Martin Ewen, NZ/USA: 275

26. Spontaneity: 281
Exercise: Role-play: 285
Anecdote: Celebrate Abandonment, Andrew Cory, Australia: 287

27. Process: 291
Exercise: Swapping Emotions: 296
Anecdote: Seizing the Moment, Shobhana Schwebke, USA: 297

28. Practice: 301
Exercise: Yoga: 304
Anecdote: Playspace Studio, Alan Clay, NZ/Australia: 306

29. Teaching: 311
Exercise: Feedback Session: 316
Anecdote: Clown Classes, Alan Clay, NZ/Aust/Europe/USA: 319

30. Theatre: 323
Exercise: Invisible Theatre: 328
Anecdote: Lurkue du Soleil - Part 2, Martin Ewen, NZ/USA: 330

31. Story: 335
Exercise: Role / Situation Impro: 341
Anecdote: The Weird People Tour, Alan Clay, NZ: 343

32. Character: 345
Exercise: Mimicry Character: 351
Anecdote: Personal Journey, Alan Clay, NZ/Australia: 353

33. Structure: 355
Exercise: Red Nose Entrance: 360
Anecdote: Aussie Clown Tradition, Alan Clay, Australia: 361

34. Tension: 363
Exercise: Nonviolence: 367
Anecdote: Dancing in the Moonlight, Alan Clay, NZ: 368

35. Patterns: 371
Exercise: Expert Double Figures: 375
Anecdote: Take Another Look, Alan Clay, Sweden/NZ: 377

36. Expectations: 381
Exercise: Waiting Impro: 386
Anecdote: Casino Gig, Alan Clay & Amanda Burgess, Aust: 387

37. Risk: 391
Exercise: Games Street: 394
Anecdote: One Foolish Idea, Drew Richardson, USA: 397

38. Release: 399
Exercise: Falling Circle: 402
Anecdote: Clown is the Greatest Actor, Jango Edwards, Holland: 403

39. Failure: 409
Exercise: Slow-motion: 414
Anecdote: Rumpel's Nose, Jolly Goodfellow, Australia: 417

40. Perception: 419
Exercise: Observing Silence: 424
Anecdote: Basque Flowers, Johnny Melville, Scotland/Holland: 425

41. Normal: 429
Exercise: Character Development: 436
Anecdote: Clown Bluey, John Brattle, United Kingdom: 437

42. Taboos: 441
Exercise: Moreno's Chairs: 446
Anecdote: Hey Clown, Daniel Oldaker, Australia: 447

43. Freedom: 451
Exercise: Comfortable Couch Impro: 455
Anecdote: Auckland Fringe Festival, Alan & Teresa Clay, NZ: 456

44. Acceptance: 459
Exercise: Endowments Impro: 463
Anecdote: Rumpel - Jester Of Oz, Jolly Goodfellow, Aust: 465

45. Change: 469
Exercise: Meanwhile Impro: 473
Anecdote: MotionFest, the Finale Alan Clay, NZ/Aust/USA: 474

46. Creativity: 477
Exercise: Devising: 482
Anecdote: Centaurs & Chiron Return, Alan Clay, Planet Earth: 483

47. Art: 487
Exercise: Video Feedback: 491
Anecdote: State Library Collection, Alan Clay, Australia: 492

48. Love: 495
Exercise: Accepting Applause: 501
Anecdote: I Love You Wollie, Jackie Garner, USA: 502

49. Spirit: 507
Exercise: Guided Relaxation: 511
Anecdote: Audience with Dalai Lama, Richard Hughson, USA: 512

50. Faith: 517
Exercise: Two-person Relaxation: 523
Anecdote: Believers in Love, Alan Clay, Australia: 524

Angels Can Fly - Now Published in Australia

2005-06-11T15:37:00.000+10:00

Angels Can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide, (ISBN 0957884419) has now been published in Australia and New Zealand, and the book was well received at the recent Australian Circus and Physical Theatre Conference, and at library events in New Zealand.

"Clown is a fascinating, diverse, complex and exciting art form, which has existed around the planet for thousands of years. Like any art form it has to evolve to stay relevant to the culture nurturing it, and at the same time, and by its very nature, clown teases and turns upside down the cultural patterns and boundaries around us. This book is an attempt to chart the growth of modern clown, and to promote that process by providing, not only practical exercises for individuals and groups, but also reference points for thinking. Angels can Fly includes a mix of fiction, following the adventures of ten clowns, some personal clown anecdotes from clowns from around the world, a total of 50 practical clown exercises, and some theory on the nature of modern clown."

The Australian Edition is now available in paperback, on order from bookshops in Australia and New Zealand. This edition sells for Aus$49.95 and includes colour pictures.

The US and UK editions will be published later this month, when they can be ordered online, and through bookshops, in the USA and England.

The American and UK editions will include only black and white pictures, but will be cheaper as a result. The US edition will sell for US$24.95 and the UK edition for 18.95 pounds. These are the editions you will get through Amazon and online stores later this month.

Because I want to co-ordinate the release of the free eBook with the availability of the paperback, I will be e-mailing the eBook to those on the eBook list later this month. The eBook will include no photos, to keep the file size small enough to email.

The eBook will be released under the Creative Commons license, which, like open source software, means that you are free to copy and forward the eBook to your friends, to post it on newsgroups, and to give it away to as many people as you wish.

I hope that you, and all your friends, will like the eBook so much, (and find reading 540 pages on your computer too limiting), so you will want to buy the paperback. That way you can also support the work I have done in producing the book.

Those in Sydney can also purchase the Australian edition at a discount at a Launch Event at the new Customs House Library, 31 Alfred Street, Sydney, on Tues 21 June, at 12.30pm.

Look out for more launch events in Australia in September, and in USA and Canada in October/November.

The Great Clown Debate, ACAPTA Conference

2005-05-10T09:29:00.000+10:00

The following is a transcript of Alan Clay's presentation on the Clown Training Panel at the Australian Circus and Physical Theatre Conference in Geelong last month.

It’s great to be here today, to talk about clown training. I’m a Kiwi who went to a clown school in Sweden in 1977, then worked through Europe, New Zealand and Australia, and for the past 12 years I have been based in Sydney, where I have been running Playspace Studio.

I’ve adopted a strategy in the past few years of promoting discussion on clown, because I don’t think here in Australia we really appreciate the art form and the central place that the art form has in our culture.

One of the strategies I have adopted is publishing Angels Can Fly, a 536 page book, with colour pictures, and stories from 20 clowns from around the world, including some here in the room an on the panel.

As well as a whole lot of practical exercises that we can use in workshops and individually, because this is often one of the hard things about clown, how do we learn it?

I wanted to start off by reading one of the anecdotes that I’ve written in the book:

“As I write this anecdote this book is about to go to the printer, so that I can have some prerelease copies at the Australian Circus and Physical Theatre Conference in April 2005, where I am speaking on a panel on the Pedagogy of Clown.

“This panel has arisen because Australia’s first BA in Circus, the fledgling National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in Melbourne, steadfastly refuses to give clown enough space in the curriculum for the training. In this context I think it is important to put on record the historical place of clown in Australian circus.

“Tradition, like structure, is something I tend to react against, and this has informed the experimental nature of my work, however, we have to acknowledge that any artistic exploration grows out of a tradition, which is composed of the pursuit of countless artistic careers, year, after year, after year.

“For some years I have been talking with Mark St Leon about writing a history of clown in Australia. Mark comes from an old Australian circus family and he has documented many oral histories from circus families in Australia, and these manuscripts can be researched in most of the state reference libraries in Australia.

“Without much success, in terms of finding funding for the history project, and shocked at the lack of documentation of this early Australian work, I publish this book so current exploration is not lost, and I include the following historical footnote to this work.

“The following is an excerpt from Mark St Leon's book, The Circus in Australia, and notes the early Commedia Dell'arte and the Shakespearian influences on Australian clown.

"The art of clowning was introduced into the Australian circus with the first amphitheatre in 1851. Far from playing a secondary role by entertaining the audience during program changes, as is the case today (in the traditional circus), old-time circus clowns actively took part to 'dress' the performances of other members of the troupe.”

So clown is central in Australian circus tradition, and this tradition has carried through to today, with groups like Circus Oz, whose latest show is filled with a wonderful range of clown, from traditional clown through to modern clown.

As a result of this central role of clown however, we take it for granted. It’s always there so is overlooked. We are a larrikin culture, we are all clowns.

The talent scouts for Cirque du Soleil write to me and ask, “What is it about the vibrancy of Australian clown?” But we don’t know this.

Clown has been going through a sort of emancipation in recent years, which has come about because clown escaped from the circus and found theatres and the street.

It is worth mentioning that clown is an art form, a very old art form which far pre-dates circus, and occurs as far as I have been able to tell in every culture on the planet throughout history.

Why did it need to escape from the circus? Physical circus performers are often afraid of clown… It’s too emotional, too chaotic, too out of control, and certainly not real work like handstands. So it gets pigeon holed and taken for granted.

Throughout history clown has been learnt largely through a mixture of apprenticeship and self exploration. You learnt from your betters and you tried stuff out.

If clown has been taught at all, it has been taught through routines. Which is a bit like the way we teach dance… do like me and in time you will learn and understand.

Now days we are more encouraging the students exploration of the tools – the body, emotions, spontaneity, the unknown, rapport, games and taboos etc.

It is worth pointing out that clown is an art form, and as such it needs advocates, trainers and resources, just like any art form, and we need to push the boundaries.

Some of us will argue today that the ad hoc apprenticeship system is still the best for today, that clown is too individual an art form, with so many facets, that it shouldn’t be institutionalised in a training institution. But schools like the Moscow Circus School, Lecoq and Dell’Arte have surely shown the value of resourcing clown training.

It will be interesting to see if the views of the panelists on this is related to weather they were trained, or apprenticed, themselves. I was trained and I teach clown, so it never occurs to me that you can’t teach it. And yet this is the view that is often put by clowns who have learnt largely though self exploration.

Clowns will always learn through self exploration, training will not restrict this, it will give it more resources and a supportive structure, so that the art form can flourish.

All around the world clown is experiencing a renascence, it is an art form for the times, we need it, and it would be a shame if Australia, with such a strong leadership role in Circus Theatre, and such a strong tradition of clown in circus, did not play a leading role in evolving the training required to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Personally I would like to see some sort of push come from this panel to lobby the government, just like we did to get NICA, a push to set up a tertiary level clown training, or to develop the courses that are already there and resource them appropriately.

Launch Events and Publishing Strategy

2005-03-07T21:26:00.000+11:00

In May I will launch my new book, Angels can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide , which promises a mix of fiction following the adventures of ten clown characters, some personal clown anecdotes, a total of 50 practical clown exercises, and some theory on the nature of m odern clown.

Look out for launch events in New Zealand in May, in England and Switzerland in July, in Australia in August/September, and in USA and Canada in October/November.

New Zealand Launch Events:

Hutt City Library - Thursday 12th May
Hamilton Central Library , Garden Place - Sunday May 15, 1.30pm
Auckland Central Library , Lorne Street - Saturday the 21st May, 1.30pm

Publishing Strategy

I am going to try a new publishing strategy with launch of this book, whereby I give away the eBook, sell the paperback (ISBN 0-9578844-1-9 ) for Aus$49.95, and sell a DVD, with video footage illustrating the anecdotal sections of the book, for Aus$69.95. The paperback will be available on order through bookshops and online stores, in May, but you can sign up now to get a free eBook copy of Angels Can Fly at: http://www.alanclay.com/ebook_list.htm

American author, Cory Doctorow, tested the free eBook approach with his first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and reported that three hundred thousand copies were downloaded and ten thousand or so were sold. In a paper for the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference in February, 2004, he pointed out that "one of the truisms of retail theory is that purchasers need to come into contact with a good several times, before they buy -- seven contacts is tossed around as the magic number. That means that my readers have to hear the title, see the cover, pick up the book, read a review,and so forth, seven times, on average, before they're ready to buy."

"There's a temptation to view downloading an eBook as comparable to bringing it home from the store," he continued, "but that's the wrong metaphor. Some of the time, maybe most of the time, downloading the text of the eBook is like taking it off the shelf at the store and looking at the cover and reading the blurbs."

"Some writers are horrified at the idea that three hundred thousand copies of my first novel were downloaded and only ten thousand or so were sold, and if it were the case that for ever copy sold, thirty were taken home from the store, that would be a horrifying outcome, for sure. But look at it another way: if one out of every thirty people who glanced at the cover of my book bought it, I'd be a happy author. And I am. Those downloads cost me no more than glances at the cover in a bookstore, and the sales are healthy."

Doctorow licences his eBooks under the Creative Commons system, which is built within current copyright law, and allows you to share your creations with others and use music, movies, images, and text online that's been marked with a Creative Commons license. Too often the debate over creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control; a world in which every last use of a work is regulated and in which "all rights reserved" is the norm. At the other end is a vision of anarchy; a world in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation.

Offering your work under a Creative Commons license does not mean giving up your copyright. It means offering some of your rights to any taker, and only on certain conditions. What conditions? The Creative Commons site lets you mix and match conditions from a list of options. There are a total of eleven Creative Commons licenses to choose from. One lets others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work, and derivative works based upon it, but only if they give you credit. Another lets others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work, and derivative works based upon it, but for noncommercial purposes only, etc.

Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school's Center for Internet and Society. For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/ Since March last year, Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, has led the effort to translate the Creative Commons licenses literally and legally for use in Australia. The Australia license has now been integrated into the Creative Commons licensing process, so you are able to license your works under Australia's law.

Cover Image Revealed

2005-02-25T21:20:00.000+11:00

The cover of Angels Can Fly has been designed by cartoonist Kerry Millard, and it was previewed recently for some of the launch tour event managers, and some of the clowns who have submitted anecdotes for the book.

The book will be available in May as a paperback, on order through bookshops and on line stores, and you can still get a free eBook copy of Angels Can Fly by putting your email address in here.

Large Range of Clown Anecdotes

2005-01-26T10:17:00.000+11:00

Over the past few days I have posted five of the 50 anecdotal sections from Angels can Fly here on this blog. Over the past six months I have invited clowns from all walks of life to submit anecdotes for the book, and I have received a wide range of submissions. Please enjoy this selection, I hope they wet your appetite for more when the book is published in May.

Remember you can get a free ebook copy of Angels can Fly simply by putting you email address in the box on this page. And find information on training in clown on the Playspace page, and information on my other books on the home page of this site at www.alanclay.com

Kirk Marsh - Realization of my Clowning

So I get a job at a Las Vegas casino as a juggler/stiltwalker to do a pre-show for a floor show. At this point I could juggle, but couldn't do anything fancy while down the strip the best juggler in the world is performing. For the first month of my contract I got no response at all. Nothing. A slight applause now and then, but nothing more.

Then I was lucky enough to start working with Jason McPherson, a truly inspirational man. He took one look at me and said, "Well, you are a clown, right?" "Well, yes..." "Then why aren't you clowning?"

The next set I went out and started clowning with my juggling and it was one of the best times of my life. I went on to perform another 200 shows at that casino and enjoyed most every set as I grew and grew more and more into my clowning. It was a life changing event to have someone encourage me to clown.

Jason McPherson also me this wonderful quote one time when I was saying I was afraid of how much it hurt to try something new onstage. He said, "Kirk, I bet the first plane the Wright Brothers made hurt too, but they made another one and kept on trying." Best wishes to all of you with your clowning. Kirk Marsh

Kirk Marsh CV

Kirk Marsh has been described as Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Dick Van Dyke rolled into one. Infuse that with vaudevilles rich traditions of magic, juggling, eccentric dance and audience participation and you have a one-man comedy variety show that will leave you in stitches. Part klutz, part consummate entertainer, Kirks acts have delighted and amazed audiences around the world, from Las Vegas casinos to some of the worlds largest cruise ships.

Specializing in parody, Kirks magic act and interpretive dance parodies were said to steal the critic sessions at Motionfest 2004. His performances generally portray a man at odds with his props and life in general. Kirk has trained at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baileys Clown College and Motionfest as well as spending some time working out with the NY Goofs. His work has taken him across the United States and on several journeys overseas.

kirkmarsh@yahoo.com

Johnny Melvile - Basque Clown Anecdote

2005-01-25T13:06:00.000+11:00

It was October 1982. I was pursuing my solo career all over Europe but also working together on a project for theatre with a Swedish company JORD CIRCUS. The show was inspired by the book 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez .

Our idea was to rehearse on the road at various festivals where we could play our own shows but still meet to develop the ideas for the new show which was to be premiered at the World Festival of Theatre in Nancy 1983. The group and I met in San Sebastian in the Basque country.

Spain had transformed from a Fascist dictatorship to party-land after the death of Franco in 1975. The situation in the Basque country however was still critical with separatists and government-forces committing acts of violence against each other in the name of freedom.

But as always in places of political tension there were the enlightened who tried what they could to bring love, light and laughter to the people. One day after being warned by the local separatist movement not to play since we would interfere with an 'important' demonstration against the policies of Madrid, we were told that we would be allowed to play at a festival in Fuentarabia, a small but beautiful village near San Sebastian.

The group Jord Circus was to play its street show - a poetic and stunning piece inspired by Living Theatre and Eugenio Barba, and afterwards further down the street it was to be my turn with my show, which I suppose was inspired more by Max Wall and Graucho Marx. As they performed up the street I waited round my 'pitch' in costume to welcome the crowd which would soon descend from the Jord Circus show, the last one before the 'comida'.

I hate being in costume and be 'off-duty' so to speak….and as there were some pensioners and kids hanging round who were not attracted to the other show, I played and impro-ed my way round the area. It served me well also as a warm-up for the slightly more formal performance to come. I was making them smile, then giggle, then laugh, as gradually they relaxed with this weird looking foreigner.

I realized then as I still believe now that the Spanish village audience is perhaps the best to play to. My impro was showing no limits and I played with some withered flowers which I found on the street; and then proceeding to mime a flower seller.

It was at this point I noticed the Jord Circus show had just finished and also that Juan, the brilliant Spanish actor from the group - in his powerfully dominant character: the BEAST was thundering toward me limping high in the air on his one stilt - there was something in his approach that made me think I had not zipped my fly.….yes he was charging directly at me.

Strange - an actor shunning the acclaim of his audience? As he got nearer I began to react as my clown would, but the look on his face told me something was desperately wrong. I let him approach and still 'clowning' watched the reactions to my audience which had grown considerably since the flower seller impro had begun.

His eyes were wide and I detected a surge of fear in me which I couldn't quite reason with. I faced my audience so he could reach my ear. "Johnny!" he hissed - " zose flowers hiz ha homage to two young people shot last week by ze policia…." My clown character disintegrated inside me but the shell didn't crack…..my heart raced as I carried the flowers back to the wall where I found them, clowned my stupidity with innocence and shrugged forgiveness with Chaplinesque coyness.

I played my show that day unsure what revenge the hard liners might take on me either during the act or later. The show was fantastic but I had a lump in my throat as I packed up. We made our way to the taverna. 'Those flowers-against-the-wall' was the topic of the conversation for the whole comida. I couldn't eat, especially as the jokes about it started to become a bit too personal.

Suddenly the doors swung open ushering the village elders and the organizers of the festival. Like a posse they surrounded the table. I found myself sliding downwards until they laughed and commiserated with me, even thanked me for my innocence as the clown foreigner who didn't know……….. I had apparently shown the village and its inhabitants how to see something with different eyes.

Due to my innocence even such a symbol of sacredness far too touchy and sensitive to mess with could be transformed and used to show people there is another way apart from revenge and hate. To this day I still play and entertain the people of the Basques but play with flowers from the stalls not the streets……

Johnny Melvile CV

Since 1973 JM has entertained audiences in over 30 countries: for (amongst others) her Royal Highness the Queen of Denmark, for her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of Holland, Olympic athletes, Russian spies, German riot-police, African bushmen, American soldiers, Mexican Indians, Paris debutantes, surgeons, film-stars, politicians, rock festival crowds, peace-activists, prisoners, pensioners and kids.

He has directed special theatre projects with groups both professional and amateur, appeared in TV programs across the globe, including the UK and Europe ,Japan and the States, and starred in various international feature films and won the BEST ACTOR award at Brooklyn Film Festival in 2001 for the Danish film NO MANS LAND.

He is now making his own films, having completed the short BACKTRACKER, and the 1 hour feature IT'S A WOMANS WORLD. In 2006 he will be shooting a road movie starring together with his son CYRON.

"Melville’s forte lies in his ability to communicate with his audiences. With his skills in mime and mimicry, satire and social comment, his natural bias to comedy, his quick-fire improvisation and his grasp of languages, he is the complete international performer"

Johnny Melville workshops are an experience, fun, rewarding and designed to unleash the energy potential of every student. Taking in various disciplines, Johnny improvises and guides his alumni with spontaneous, direct and committed involvement.

http://www.johnny-melville.com/

Amelia in Bliss - Clown School in Ibiza

2005-01-24T11:29:00.000+11:00

The first time I heard about a clown school in Ibiza, Spain, was as I walked down a darkened wet street in Hobart, Tasmania.

At the time the idea of clown school on a Balearic Island seemed foreign and I put it to the back of my mind. The idea never sat still, and one year later was bought to life as I stepped off a plane and onto the island of Ibiza. As I walked along the tarmac I realised I had no idea of what was to come from my decision to complete the three month Summer academy at Bont’s International Clown School.

Summer Academy consisted of 19 students, from nine countries, and 11 occupations, the love for clown bringing us together to meet, create and share on this Mediterranean Island. I approached the first days with an excited energy, dreaming and wondering what journeys this group of individuals would be making in the classroom at Es Cubelles. A tiny village, overlooking the ocean and Formenterra.

The classroom provided an experimental playground that allowed us to explore ourselves, each other and the clown. I have always found the journey of clown to be a unique experience, and being surrounded by a class full time for three months made this particular journey extra special.

Tears, Laughter, Anger, Frustration, Love, Grief, Stupidity, Affection, Irritation, Sadness. Through improvisations and devised pieces, emotions were launched into the classroom, with hope. Hope of having meaning, hope of touching and most importantly the hope of receiving laughter.

At times the sweet sound of laughter filled my ears and swelled my heart, but other times 19 indifferent faces would be staring straight at me, as I prepared for Eric de Bont’s voice to announce ‘Okay, comments please’.

Suddenly I found myself in a school where I was commended for being stupid and an idiot. I was constantly listening to instructions of ‘think less, just do’, ‘it’s too clever’, ‘find more failures’ and ‘You need failures’.

The journey between Es Cubelles and my house was 12 kilometres of hilly pine tree forests, spring flowers and Ibizan women in traditional black, grazing goats by the road. The backdrop the ocean. Hitchhiking was the most common form of clown student transportation, and was made easier by wearing our noses on our thumbs. Identifying us as Bont students, the locals weremore that happy to help out a clown.

Living in the fantastic ‘Casa de Campo’, with 11 of the students intensified my life of clown exploration. Clowns cleaning, eating, devising, shopping, discovering, showering, sleeping, training, arguing and socailising together. Living is such close proximity with each other and without any history except Ibiza, allowed the sole focus of the group to be clown. Not only were we a school group, but a social and support group.

We watched sunsets together, explored beaches together and had parties together. We listened and talked with one another about our fears, insecurities and ideas about the clown. Receiving and giving advice, clarity and inspiration every day. It was impossible to have a conversation and clown not enter it within 10 minutes.

The final week in Ibiza bought a sudden shift in the energy of the group, as the lifestyle that we had been living drew towards its end. A lifestyle very different from one we had ever known and far away from one we could ever hope to encounter in the future. We had been in Bliss.

Amelia Cadwallader

Amelia has worked and trained with various companies in three countries including Is theatre ltd., Te Pooka, Circus Arts and independently as a deviser, performer and costume designer/maker. Her exploration in the world of clown begun in 2000 after a one day workshop, and since has introduced her to countless people and places, including Eric de Bont, whom she studied under for 3 months in 2004. Amelia is currently working on her new show, to be presented in Australia, Spain and Mexico during 2005.

David MacMurray Smith - Basic Training for My Clown

2005-01-23T11:03:00.000+11:00

I grew up in a small town in New England. As a boy, and up until graduation from High School, I spent a major amount of my time working on my best friend’s family dairy farm. At that time I had no plans to become a performer at all, let alone a Clown. I was going to be a doctor. I was sure of it and that was the image that I held of myself. Most of my perspective on the world and of myself were framed by that image. In the meantime I was, by circumstance, in the company of what I now consider to be some extraordinary individuals. The boys of Fieldstone Farm. My best friend and his two older brothers.

Whether we were young boys or not, we were expected to manage a full-grown man’s workload on the farm. I learned how to work hard while there. And, in the company of the boys of Fieldstone Farm, I also learned how to play hard. These boys were very intelligent people and it was because of that, I think, that they were constantly inventing games to play while we were working to keep themselves stimulated intellectually. The main premise of most of these games revolved around self images and the behaviors that went with them.

We would create characters and perform them for each other to make comment on ourselves, our situation, on other people we knew, and of the world around us. We were constantly in observation of human behavior and the way that behavior related to the images that people held of themselves. No one was exempt from being "played" with. No subject was taboo. We were equal opportunity employers for any and all things human and for any way we may wish to comment on them.

There were some very strange "characters" who came to work as farm hands over the years who inadvertently became case studies for our self entertaining games. We would name the behaviors and perform them in extreme dimensions. Many of them were named in a sarcastic way like, Mr. Friendly, for someone who is not, or after aspects of behavior we wanted to comment on like, Lover boy or Mr. Macho. And many were named after the people who inspired them. So, behaviors could be described as, doing a "Geoffrey" or doing a "Paul".

An interesting thing about this "entertainment" was that it was actually much more than that. It was an amazing form of education as well. We were educating ourselves to be students of human behavior and we were also educating ourselves in a quality of honesty that required us to discern the difference between performing an image of ourselves or simply being our "real" self. I am using the term "real" to mean an edition of our self that is open, inclusive, and honest.

We were merciless with each other if we saw that any of us were getting caught up in a self image and being dishonest about who we really were. We were certainly allowed to play images of ourselves and had great fun doing it, but the game was not to confuse our "real" selves for the image of our self we were playing. The people we viewed as the most sad cases were the people who were playing a perfect image of themselves and did not realize they were doing so. Both those who were trapped in an illusion of inflated self significance and those trapped in an illusion of self insignificance.

These were genuinely tragic cases reminiscent of Shakespeare’s KING LEAR who had given his kingdom and kingship away and still thought himself to be king and to be treated such. He was tortured by the conflict he found himself in. He could not see the reality of his situation for the illusionary image he still held of himself as being king and deserving of the love and respect of his daughters and the service of his subjects. I now consider this time on the farm to be my primary introduction to what I now think is an important aspect of the Clown Mind.

That aspect being the ability of the Clown to take delight in playing with the dynamics of the psychological argument between the image we hold of ourselves and the present, "real", self in the moment. I like to call this Clown Consciousness. Perhaps this basic argument remains the same in both tragedy and comedy. The main difference being whether the protagonist realizes their situation or does not and presents it accordingly.

I think that the skilled Clown can walk the tightrope between Image and Reality with impunity. They consciously play with the confusion between the two for the value to be gained by becoming aware of the trap that our own images of ourselves can become if we mistake them for our "real" self. They are willing to be brutally honest with themselves and to disillusion themselves with the understanding that, by doing so, they will be able to present more responsible illusions. They then can pretend with the purpose of being a responsible and entertaining guide through the maze of image management concerns we may fall victim to.

In doing so I think they present an opportunity to perceive a more enriching reality through their playful provocation towards an increased honesty within ourselves and among one another. That said, my education on the farm compels me to remember that all I have just described is an image. An image of how a Clown Mind seems to work. I do find it fun to play with.

David MacMurray Smith - Philosophical Statement

Over the years that I have worked and taught in various mediums of the performing arts, I have been amazed at the challenges we face in communicating with each other as human beings. My curiosity has led me to explore the phenomenon from different perspectives which have included the physiology of behavior, the psychology of communication, the linguistics of structure, and various theories about the nature of memory and perception.

My impetus for this investigation is rooted in my sense that there is great need today for more personal and interpersonal transmythic avenues for present event perception and communication among ourselves. This basically means that I perceive the need for increased ways for people to more directly experience themselves and each other across boundaries of age, race, sex, and culture etc. I view each individual's interpretation of an experience as the creation of a small myth of the event, a way that we describe an event to ourselves. We each create our own interpretation of what we experience by associating what we are presently experiencing with what we already hold in our memory.

I consider this process of associative interpretation as a form of self narrative and a foundation of myth making. The sharing of myths among ourselves is a primary way that we attempt to communicate and relate our experiences among one another. Although it is a marvelous process, it is also inaccurate by nature because it will always be a subjective interpretation. It also has an inherent danger because the subjective interpretation is full of assumptions.

Our memory of an event is only a vicarious representation of the event itself. A distant relative that becomes more distant as time goes by. The more distant it becomes the more full assumptions it may be. This process is unavoidable, yet our awareness of its inherent shortcoming's might allow us to be more watchful for our assumptions and more consciously present to receive new, and perhaps more accurate information.

I believe that we have come to a time in human development where we have more awareness and knowledge than ever before in history. And yet our abilities to converse among ourselves within that awareness and knowledge is hamstringed by the lack of appreciation we have of the myth making process we use to discuss our experience of life together. I am of the opinion that our neurological structure is wired to create myths. So, it is natural that the myth making process expands from there to the trans personal, cultural, and inter-cultural dimensions.

It is especially in these extended dimensions that we begin to mistake that this process of myth making we use to discuss our experience of life together is actually the life experience itself. In this way we confuse the description of an event for the event itself. This lack of discernment is a very natural outcome of the phenomenon of how our systems of memory appear to work. Is also very dangerous for we can then easily fall victim to allowing our assumptions of what we see and experience, or what we want to see and experience, blind us from receiving new information from our present perception and inhibit our ability to see new opportunities and avoid old pitfalls.

For effective and progressive communication to take place in the fast-paced cross-cultural dynamics that exist in our society today, there is need for the emotional and psychological mobility to converse across the apparent boundaries of personal and group identity concerns and the willingness to adjust to new perceptual frameworks at a quicker and quicker pace. My interest lies firmly in developing an awareness about the challenges that are presented by the very skill we have as human beings to communicate symbolically with one another and to develop our ability to do so with increased clarity. This is a challenging process that demands discernment, diligence, patience, and determination.

As we lean our way into the 21st century I think is essential that we increase our ability to directly experience one other by lifting the veils of assumption and seeing beyond the myths we have created of ourselves. By doing so we may begin to expand the number of perspectives and possibilities for increased human understanding and communication, and also open the door for new hypotheses toward solutions regarding the challenging circumstances we face today concerning our continuation as a species on this planet.

David MacMurray Smith - CV

Over the last 30 years of his professional career David has worked professionally in the areas of Theater, Ballet, Opera, Mime, and Clown, as a Creator, a Performer, a Director, a Choreographer, and an Educator. He is a Movement Specialist, Body worker, Creative and Performance Consultant, and an Experienced Counselor who has taught at several universities, was Head Instructor at the Vancouver Playhouse Theater School, and for eight years was the Movement Director for the Music Theater and Opera Programs at the Banff Center for the Arts, and has also been a guest resource artist at The People's Light & Theatre Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since 1987.

David is now an independent educator who founded Fantastic Space Enterprises studio, in 1995 where the focus of the work is on self liberation and self realization through creative expression. His special-interest is in how memory moves and patterns itself in our bodies and in how this affects our perceptions, behavior, and communication. As a movement specialist David has drawn on his broad range of experience and sources to develop his own body centered, humanist approach to personal and professional development. His expertise lies in his ability to facilitate learning environments that promote principle centered self-education and provide strong foundations for continued personal and professional growth.

http://www.fantasticspace.com/

Hilary Chaplain Clown Anecdote

2005-01-22T22:17:00.000+11:00

I was teaching a course in clowning in New York open to amateurs and professionals with any amount of experience. I had a wonderfully varied array of students - from party clowns to serious theatre professionals.

Out of 10 students, 5 were women over 60, 4 of whom had come to clowning later in life as something fun to do do. I was rather anxious when they walked in recognizing them all from a Clown Alley in New Jersey where I had given a talk.

I knew these women had never been in a class anything like what I planned to teach and was afraid that they would be resistant to just being themselves, no make-up, no floppy shoes, no wigs to hide behind.

I was so wonderfully surprised to learn that they had chosen to come to my class precisely because they knew they would be getting something very different from what they had experienced before at the Clown Camps they had attended.

They were so open to me, a woman a little more than half their age, asking them to bare themselves before the group, to me playing the authority figure with them, to me asking them to just be themselves as honestly as they could and to shed their clown tricks.

I did a very simple exercise one day that was an incredible break through for one of these women. I had each person enter the room, see the audience, take a breath, and present themselves to us. Very simple, very difficult.

We're so used to trying to be a certain way and so uncomfortable just seeing and being seen for who we are. One of these women had an extraordinary experience with this exercise. She felt that for the first time in her life, show was JUST her.

Not a twin (she had a twin sister) not a wife, not a mother. It was a profound moment for her. The next class she told us that the feeling had carried over the week and that she had never felt so much like herself.

CV

Hilary Chaplain’s award winning solo physical comedyshow A Life In Her Day, will be presented at Carcajada 2005 in Buenos Aires this April and has been performed at the Faust Festival in Hong Kong, The NY International Fringe Festival where it won a "Best of the Fest Solo Show Award", the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, the East Coast Funny Women's’ Festival, and the Prague and Melbourne Fringe Festivals.

As a solo performer she has also appeared at PSNBC in NYC, the FILO Festival in Londrina, Brazil, The Atlanta Fool’s Festival, The Funny Women Festival, Chicago, The Crazy Women Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia, Caroline’s Comedy Club, Surf Reality and more.

A founding member of the New York Goofs, Hilary has appeared with them in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Wolf Trap Family Farm. Patients at NYC hospitals know her as "Nurse Nice" of the renowned Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit®.

She was an original cast member in Bill Irwin's Largely/New York, and appeared on Broadway in the NYSF production of The Tempest, directed by George C. Wolfe. She played a featured role named Hilary in the film Forrest Gump.

More Clown Exercises

2004-12-07T20:55:00.000+11:00

Here are a couple of new clown exercises from Angels can Fly, which have been recently revised following feedback after their presentation at MotionFest. The major change has been the inclusion of the Coaching Tips section in each exercise.

On this blog, you can also check out the Play with Objects exercise, which was posted a couple of months ago, and in that post you will also find an explanation of the Individual/Pair/Workshop coding of the exercises.

You can subscribe to an RSS feed for this blog by clicking the Syndicate this Site link on the left, and you can also get a free promotional eBook copy of Angels can Fly when it is released, simply by adding your e-mail address to the list.

Chapter 8: Interact

NORMAL QUESTION - INDIVIDUAL/PAIR/WORKSHOP

This is a street exercise, and is best set at an outdoor cafe exposed to a good flow of pedestrians. Participants sit at a table with a good view of the street.

It is good to start this exercise with a period of observation of the people walking past, observing their body postures and emotional states.

To help us around our fears, we need to place our interactions as much as possible within the comfort zone of participants.

So, working individually, participants hop up, one, two, or three at a time, engage with people walking past, and ask them a perfectly normal question, such as 'what is the time?',

This places the interaction firmly in known territory. The rest of the group observe the reactions, and can discuss these as the exercise progresses.

The exercise should be explored with a range of people, one after the other, and if the contact feels a little strained after the normal question (which is often indicated by people walking away), participants just say thank you, and move on to the next person.

Non-normal Question

If the contact feels good however, after the normal question, participants can develop this exercise by asking a non-normal question, to take the interaction into a more playful release.

It is good to ask something personal, or bizare, at this point, and this is now okay for many people, because there is a rapport between the participants, an agreement to interact.

Coaching Tips

As clowns, we often have fears about interactions with people, and even more often, the audience has fears about their interactions with us.

So we need a 'safe' mechanism to introduce participants to these interactions, one which places the interaction within the comfort zone of the audience, and one such mechanism is the normal question.

One of the big challenges of this exercise is engaging with people, for we do not, as a rule, engage with strangers on the street.

Body posture is a good start here, because we unconsciously mirror those we relate to, so by assuming a similar posture to someone, we are saying, 'I am like you, we can relate'.

Even then, many people will not stop to be asked a question, and for many it is okay then to walk with them, again easing the contact by being like them.

We should also mention that some people on the street are agressive, and these people should not be played with. See the exercise on non-violence in chapter 34.

As performers, we can also sometimes get trapped in some interactions, and so as clowns we must be aware of who is in control of the game.

If we are in crazy territory, and the other person is in control of the interaction, it is very likely that they are crazy, and so we should say 'thank you', and just move on.

At any stage, in any interaction, participants can always say, 'thank you' and move on.

Chapter 40: Perception

OBSERVING SILENCE - INDIVIDUAL

This exercise requires us to undertake three days of silence, during which we go about our normal daily lives, but without any talking. This gives us an opportunity to observe others, and our surroundings, from a new perspective.

It is quite good to put others more at ease by indicating the challenge we are undertaking by wearing a badge, or carrying a written note, stating that: 'I am observing silence'.

The exercise demands the development of non-verbal communication skills, to deal with the demands of negotiating our everyday world without words.

We can also write notes in response to questions or specific communication needs if we need to, but as much as possible we want to try and converse physically with gestures and physical expression.

Coaching Tips

This is one of the strongest exercises that I recall from the Fools School, that I attended in Stockholm in 1977, taught by Michael Linch.

As much as possible we should maintain our normal daily routine, and pretty soon we start to see things from a different perspective.

The best part is that after the initial interest in our exercise, others often allow our participation in any situation without expecting a response from us.

This means that we get to be there, like a fly on the wall, without the demands of normal interaction, which gives a wonderful opportunity to observe our lives from a new perspective.

MotionFest, the Finale - Personal Report

2004-11-25T13:54:00.000+11:00

My view of the MotionFest was coloured by taking two hours to get out of New York City, in a car with Martin Ewen and Robert Nelson, the Butterfly Man, after visiting Master Lee, on our way to Baltimore , with Robert expounding on the historic nature of the occasion.

We arrived in Baltimore at two in the morning, and I had time for 4 hours sleep, and a yoga practice, before diving into the the four days of morning and afternoon classes, with evening performance sessions.

Over 100 performers at all levels of their career's attended MotionFest in Baltimore earlier this month. Many said it was the best of the 7 festivals held to date, and even though it was billed as the last in the series, there were rumors of something, sometime, to follow on from this.

The public show on Saturday, which played to a sold out theatre, demonstrated the range and caliber of the teachers present. I kicked the event off with an experimental and slightly provocative number on the seven clown commandments, as decreed by the World Clown Association, which seemed to go down well.

And I was followed by a range of clown and physical theatre numbers from Dick Monday and Tiffany Riley, directors of the New York Goofs, a classic clown number from Steve Smith, a past Ringling Clown School Director, mime from Karen Hurll Montanaro, who performed one of the much loved numbers from her late husband Tony Montanaro and a couple of her own pieces, and this was complimented by an equally classic Commedia piece from Geoff Hoyle, and finished with some wonderful new clown numbers from festival organizer, Micheal Rosman.

The organisation of the event by Michael, Todd, and Phill was impeccable, and I was overwhelmed by the thanks and hugs from students after the classes. Kirk Marsh stole the show in the critic sessions with a new clown-dance piece which took a standing ovation, and Drew the Dramatic Fool took the award for having attended all seven MotionFests, and taught at two.

I presented my new Angels can Fly book to a couple of panels of clowns, including some of the best in the business, and received some valuable feedback, and some commitments to put anecdotes in the book. Some 15 clowns - including teachers from DellArte, San Francisco Clown Conservatorium, Ringling Clown school, and Fantastic Space in Vancouver, plus many well known clowns from Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand - are now putting anecdotes in the book, and it is still possible to put your story in this book on Modern Clown, simply e-mail me at: anecdote@artmedia.com.au

The icing on the cake for me was the sauna on the ground floor of the hotel and conference centre, and I had one every day. I discovered on the last day, that Michael Rosman loves saunas, but in all the MotionFests that he has run at the BestWestern Hotel, he didn't even know there was a sauna in the place... Go figure.

Photos of Alan Clay by Cynthia Aviance, http://www.cynramedia.com/

MotionFest, Physicality and Performing Arts Festival

2004-11-10T03:19:00.000+11:00

I am currently in America, to present a sneak preview of Angels can Fly at MotionFest, the Physicality and Performing Arts Festival in Baltimore. MotionFest is a gathering, celebration, exchange of ideas and opportunity for performers to further their knowledge within the manipulative, movement, and variety arts.

Below is a list of the instructors and lecturers teaching at MotionFest 2004. "MotionFest strives to bring together the most incredible collection of available teachers. These are working professionals of our industry."

Karl Baumann - Star Cirque du Soleil character acrobat
Tom Casciero - Movement Artist
Alan Clay - Author, Performer, Director, Physical Comedy and Actor Instructor from New Zealand
Bob Fitch - Broadway Actor/Magician. Consultant to numerous stars
Geoff Hoyle - Broadway, Cirque du Soleil, Pickle Family Circus, he's done everything! including teaching at Dell 'Arte School of Physical Theatre
Dominique Jando - Director of S.F. School of the Circus Arts, Founded numerous Circus Schools and competitions in France.
The Jokesters - Performers and professors of makeup application
Dick Monday - Former RBBB Circus Clown College Director, Founder of NYGoofs, hilarious!
Karen Hurll Montanaro - Mime and movement specialists
Robert Nelson -aka The Butterfly Man, street performer emeritus
Michael Rock - Second City Theatre staff improv instructor
Steve Smith - 10 yr director of Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Clown College
Joanie Spina - Performer/Dancer and Choreographer for Magicians including David Copperfield

I will be presenting the following workshops at MotionFest:

Exploring Modern Clown. Modern clown is irreverent, it is informed by the inter-activity of the street, and it is vulnerable, rather than hidden by character, make up, or costume. Clown is an art form which has existed for thousands of years, and undergone a revolution in recent times, as it made the leap back from circus into theatre, giving birth to 'new clown' and physical theatre. This workshop takes a broad view of clown, which allows participants room to develop their own unique style. The workshop starts with a yoga warm up, followed by exercises to develop physical and emotional expression, and improvisational exercises to develop comic timing and audience rapport. Instructor: Alan Clay

Sneak Preview: Angels can Fly, A Modern Clown User Guide. This workshop will provide a sneak preview into Alan Clay's latest book on clown, Angels can Fly, which will be published in May 2005. Clown is not an easy topic to learn from a book, or from a lecture, because it requires hands on experience. Alan is overcoming this limitation through a mix of theory on the art form, plus a fictional tale following the experiences of ten clown characters, and some anecdotes from personal experience. Like any good user guide, it also includes 50 practical clown exercises, some of which will be explored in this lecture workshop. Instructor: Alan Clay

Remember, if you are interested in receiving a free eBook copy of Angels can Fly, go to www.alanclay.com/ebook_list.htm and simply sign up with your email address.

Play with Objects - Clown Exercise

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Alan Clay's book on clown, Angels can Fly, which will be published in May 2005, promises a mix of fiction, following the adventures of ten clown characters, some personal clown anecdotes, a total of 50 practical clown exercises, and some theory on the nature of modern clown.

The clown exercises in Angels can Fly are in the order which Alan has found best facilitates their implementation in a workshop situation, and the prerequisites to any exercise are detailed in each chapter.

The warm-up and introductory exercises are in the early chapters, the mid-session or mid-course exercises are in the middle chapters, and the more performance oriented exercises and the relaxation exercises, are in the final chapters.

So for any workshop session, it is possible to take an exercise from the start, one from the middle and one from the end, and produce a well rounded workshop structure. It is assumed that a physical warm up, of some description, would also be included at the start of any session.

The exercises have been coded for INDIVIDUAL exploration, for work in PAIRs, for WORKSHOP use, or for use in PERFORMANCE.

The following exercise is from chapter six, of fifty.

6. Explore

Play with Objects – INDIVIDUAL / PAIR / WORKSHOP / PERFORMANCE

This exercise has been one of the corner-stones of my teaching practice over the past 25 years, and it may be varied and repeated endlessly, as well as explored solo in a studio, or in a performance setting, in front of an audience.

In a workshop setting, following a physical, emotional, and vocal warm-up, participants sit on the floor in a semi-circle, and an every-day object is placed in the center.

Participants are instructed that they do not know what the object is, and one at a time they must enter the semi-circle in a non-normal physical way, making constant noises, but no words, as they go, and then explore the object physically with their body and noises.

The non-normal physicality is very important to the success of this exercise, and this means no walking, crawling, sitting, and preferably not using the hands to explore the object, because all of these lead us into normal patters of interaction, which are not interesting.

The constant vocal flow of noises helps the emotional flow, and also helps overcome the inner-critic in the mind. They must keep physical contact with the object, and once in the flow, the participant follows the emotional and physical impulses provided by their interaction with the object.

In the initial work with this exercise it is nice to present each participant with a new object, but on repeated practice it is also useful to have the whole group work with the same object, one after the other. It is good to use objects with different textures. I love newspapers, toilet rolls, onions, bananas, marshmallows, matches, chairs, boxes, cotton wool, etc.

Surprisingly, although each person imagines everything possible has already been done with the object by the previous participants, each interaction always has a totally unique quality.

Play possibilities are endless, and the world is full of objects for us to play with, which is the root of the freedom and richness of the clown art form. It is good to end this session, once everyone has had a go, with a feedback session (see chapter 29 in the finished book).

Check out the rest of the www.alanclay.com site, or sign up to get a free ebook copy of Angels can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide.

Anecdote Submission - 'Stretch' the 9 ft Clown

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Stretch- the nine foot clown - submitted the following item for inclusion in the anecdote section of Alan Clay's new book Angels can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide.

Submission of anecdotes is open until November 2004, and no decisions on inclusion in the book will be taken until the deadline, however I thought I might oil the wheels of the submission process by starting to post some of the submissions here. If you work as a clown and would like to include an anecdote on your work in the book, simply e-mail alan@artmedia.com.au or post something directly onto this blog.

"Bill 'Stretch' Coleman has over a dozen costumes; close up interactive Street Theater and atmosphere entertainment for every occasion. That crazy clown: Ear Cleaning with his 4 foot long Q Tip! Weed Wacker HAIRCUTS! Sky Painting: You supply the music and I'll paint the sky with my 20' pole and 50' ribbon! Let's boogie!" Bill "Stretch" Coleman

Do you juggle plates?
No, I prefer to stalk them!

As a nine foot tall, non juggling clown, I have struggled to create material for strolling at festivals and corporate events. I have found that food offers me a great opportunity to interact with my audience. Here is a dramatic recreation of that play.

Like a giant jungle cat, or your tabby, I am always wary, alert to opportunities. Searching, seeking, observing. On the look out. The ebb, the flow of the jungle's - er, festival's- occupants. The trails to and from the watering hole, the buffet line, where my prey congregates. Places of concealment, possible distractions, dangers, impediments to my quest.

For I am hungry. Deeply, urgently, hungry - for the chase! For the best tasting hot dog, desert, ice cream cone, funnel cake, pop corn or brisket, any where, any time, is the one you track down and stalk yourself!

Ah, look! Over there: FOOD! a funnel cake on a plate! An ice cream cone, and a burrito! Observe: Quick, which opportunity is the best: the prey borne by the
darting child, the athletic looking youth, or the lumbering, distracted adult?

Choices matter. If I pick the wrong one, the chase will be too soon over. Ah, the child spots my cleverly here to fore concealed out sized telescopic fork. I put my finger to my lips, make eye contact, and gesture, ever so slightly to her brother's funnel cake. She understands. She consents to play along. The drama begins!

Crouching like an invisible nine foot tall house cat, silently- surly, only I can hear the bells tinkling on my feet- I begin the stalk. Deftly keeping in his shadow, out of his peripheral vision, I pursue, hovering, dodging, twisting, even skipping as needed, I remain concealed. My near two foot long feet do me no favors, but I am adept. Occasionally bringing my fore finger to my lips, I signal my audience for cooperation. For we are all part of this drama of life and death!

I close in. My stomach is hungry. I rub, my hand circling. My mouth involuntarily is opening and closing, as if taking bites of the funnel cake. My senses real: the sweet, greasy, aromatic funnel cake calls to me. My self discipline crumbles, I moan. I am discovered! Graciously he offers me some cake. A piece, perhaps is all he has in mind. Perhaps even a generous piece.

Instead I deftly take the entire plate from him. I smile. I thank him profusely, over and over again for his generosity, his understanding. Breaking off a small bite of cake, I offer it to him. He takes it, swallows, perhaps in confusion and realization: The trickster clown has taken advantage of his generosity and trusting nature!

I explain the culinary facts of life to him: The best tasting treat is the one you stalk yourself! He smiles. Laughs even. I return his funnel cake to him, after perhaps reserving a bit for myself. For even the clown deserves a reward for a job well done!

I look about. Ah, over there . . .

Well, that is it. Hope you enjoyed it.

Bill

Bill "Stretch" Coleman
http://www.stiltwalker.com

If you found this interesting why not check out the anecdote page on this site, and why not also post a response or comment here on the blog?

Angels can Fly 2005 Launch Tour

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"A powerfully creative work, with prose that sings like poetry. Beautifully told and evocatively rendered, Alan's third novel comes very highly recommended." Amazon Top 50 Reviewer

This week saw the first steps in the promotional campaign for Angels can Fly, with a mailout to literary and book festivals in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the USA and England.

I am including the text of this invite below, and am open to all suggestions for launch events which may be suitable to promote the book, so please contact me: readings@artmedia.com.au at any time through until the end of 2005, to see if we can fit your event into my tour schedual.

From early responses, it looks like I will be in New Zealand and Australia in May and June 2005, then in England in July, back in Australia in August and early September, and then in Canada and America for the rest of September and October 2005.

Stay tuned to this blog for the full schedual of launch events as these are confirmed.

**********

Angels can Fly

Alan Clay's new book, Angels can Fly , will be launched in New Zealand in May 2005, and Alan will then embark on a tour to promote the book.

Readings

Suitable for any spoken word event, Angels can Fly is a book which charts the big changes that have occurred in the clown art form in recent years, and to promote that process by providing a context for thinking on the subject, and also to provoke discussion, so a lively experience is guaranteed at readings. e-mail readings@artmedia.com.au to suggest a possible reading from the book.

7 Clown Commandments Show

In October 2003 Alan presented a new 20 minute clown piece at the Ottawa Writers Festival, in conjunction with a reading from his third novel, Believers in Love. The 7 Clown Commandments show plays with balloons, marshmallows, microphones, and with the 'Ethics of Clown', as decreed by the World Clown Association. This performance, in conjunction with a reading from Angels can Fly, provides added insight on clown, and a unique experience for the audience.

Alan Clay

Born in 1954, Alan Clay grew up in Auckland, New Zealand. He studied clown in Sweden in 1977 and has taught and performed extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. For the past ten years Alan has lived in Sydney, where he has run Playspace Studio, Sydney's Physical Theatre Studio.

Alan's first novel, Moontan, is the story of a couple of clowns, set against the occupation of a theatre by a collective of artists in Auckland. It was well received at its launch at the Wellington Fringe Festival in New Zealand, and in Australia at the Warrana Writers Festival in Brisbane, in 1994.

His second book, Dance Sisters , is set in Sydney, and tells the story of a female song and dance trio which threatens to self-destruct on the brink of fame, when its leader becomes involved with a manipulative cult, touting sex, astrology and virtual dreaming. Dance Sisters was launched at the Melbourne Writers Festival in 1997. It gained particular attention when it was released in May 2000 as an eBook in a format which was packaged to enhance the reading experience on a computer with sound and visuals.

The State Library of NSW purchased the manuscripts and associated papers to both Dance Sisters and Moontan in 2002, to be held in the Mitchell Reference Library, together with a set of 12 archive videos from Alan's clown teaching work at Playspace Studio.

Published in 2001, Believers in Love , Alan's third novel, was acclaimed by both Australian and American reviewers, leading to North American sales of the book, together with claims of the pirating of the book in Print on Demand, and Alan's subsequent tour of Canadian and US Literary and Book Festivals in 2003.

"In the best clown tradition, Alan held up a window-mirror for us to step through and reflect on the patterns, habits and rituals of our days. It was funny, moving and excellent theatre."

Reviews of Believers in Love

"A book about love, laughter and life. Not just a story, this is an exploration of emotion and philosophy. A novel of journey and self-discovery." Aussiereviews

"Light and yet profound, this novel is a most unusual find which all will enjoy and savor, long after the last page is turned. Art and living may be treasured repeatedly, but must yield to the next magical moment!" RightLifestyle

Sign up to receive a free eBook copy of Angels can Fly, in the MS Reader format.

What is the Angels can Fly blog?

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Welcome to my new blog, which over the next ten months will tell the story of the pre-publication of my new book, Angels can Fly, which I have dubbed a Modern Clown User Guide.

In May 2005, Angels can Fly will be launched in Auckland, New Zealand, and I will then embark on a world tour to promote the book, which I intend to doccument here, including reviews, and inviting your reactions.. because this is an interactive experience, and you are welcome to post comments in response to any post.

Along the way I intend to post some of the 50 clown exercises in book, to give a taste of the more practical side of the work, and also some the anecdotal sections from my personal clown experience, and also that of other contemporary clowns. You can already check out some of these on my anecdotes page.

I already have three novels under my belt, so most of Angels can Fly is a story following the adventures of ten clown characters, five men and five women... My other books are Moontan, Dance Sisters, and Believers in Love.

I am also into electronic publishing, as well as traditional print format, and I hope that the Angels can Fly blog will also provide a practical insight into the process of electronic publishing. If you are interested you can already sign up to receive a free eBook copy of Angels can Fly, in the MS Reader format.

Blogs are one of the frontiers in electronic publishing, and this is syndicated in RSS and atom formats, so that you can read it from the comfort of your newsreader, if you would rather. Click here for RSS and click here for atom.

Angels can Fly stands at 90,000 words today, and so it is substantially complete, but there is still much work to be done, and my posts here will tell the inside story of that experience. Who knows, perhaps the Angels can Fly blog may be published some day in print format, and it could even be more widely read than the book itself... we'll find out.

To kick us off today, I am going to leave you with the first few paragraphs of the book... enjoy;

Go Your Own Path
Welcome to Angels can Fly. This book has been a long time in evolution in my life, because it brings together a number of threads from my clown work, my fiction writing, my theatre teaching, and my spiritual growth.
Yet, as I set out on the journey of writing this story, I know there are many ways of doing it, and no one right way, and so I have to cast myself into the unknown of each blank page, to achieve any progress what so ever.
Similarly I encourage you to surrender yourself to the book, and to read through it in any order you choose. You may wish to read from start to finish, or dip into the chapters in a random order.
You may see it as a novel on the human condition, a clown textbook, a philosophical treatise, or a memoir. Please go your own path with this work and make it your own.
Similarly with modern clown, we have have to go our own way with the art. Pierre Byland, a clown teacher from Switzerland, surveyed the students coming to his clown school over a number of years and asked them why they wanted to work with clown.
He reported at a forum on teaching clown in Amsterdam in 1999, that no two answers to this question were ever the same, and deduced from this that 'clown is a different thing to each person'.
By extension, with so many people doing it, it must be a pretty big thing to encompass so many different facets, so more than any other art form, there is no 'right' way to do it.
This however is a modern view of the art form, for we tend to associate clown with a few classic characters that have come down to us through the recent circus tradition.
Clown is an art form which far pre-dates the circus however, and is in fact thousands of years old, existing, as far as I have been able to tell, in every culture on the planet through the ages, so it obviously also serves an important social function.
Like any art form it has to evolve to stay relevant to the culture nurturing it, and with the huge changes in society over recent years, there has been a corresponding growth in the clown art form.
This book is an attempt to chart that change, and promote that process by providing a context or reference points for thinking on the subject, and also to provoke discussion.