Clown Through Mask Intensive 2017

Clown students in Cianciana, Sicily, 2015. 

Clown students in Cianciana, Sicily, 2015. 

 Clown through Mask

a.k.a. Pochinko Method

a.k.a. Baby Clown

with Sara Tilley

1-5 pm daily, August 15th to 31st, 2017 (Sundays off)

Neal Building, 50 Harbour Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. 

$600 for 60 hours of instruction ($10/hour). Maximum 10 participants. 

Sliding scale and trade options are available on a case-by-case basis for people who may face financial barriers to accessing this work. 

TO REGISTER, PLEASE EMAIL sara@saratilley.ca. $60 deposit required to complete registration, refundable if the class is full.

 

Clown through Mask is for all types of people – you don’t need to be an actor or performer to participate. The work uses games, improvisation, mask-making, painting, writing and a variety of physical exercises to open up hidden creative possibilities, to bring us back to an experience of play, impulse, wonder, a full range of emotions and limitless potential for expression.

This is a journey toward discovering your own inner clown – transitioning from working with a full face mask that you create yourself into wearing the red clown nose. The focus is on personal exploration and adventure, not on performance as an end goal. 

This training is not intended to prepare you for the circus. There are no tricks, no juggling and no stilts involved. Rather, we seek to expose human vulnerability, innocence, and expression through the exploration of red nose clown. This work is a powerful tool for any artist, opening up new avenues of exploration which can be pursued in any medium. Participants do not need to be performers – all that is required is the willingness to experiment, to face yourself honestly, and to move beyond your comfort zone.

 

Sara Tilley trained with Ian Wallace and Sue Morrison in Clown Through Mask (Pochinko) technique. In 2008, she mentored with Ian Wallace to teach Clown through Mask and Neutral Mask, and has been offering this training ever since. Sara uses the Pochinko work as inspiration not just for clown, but for acting, directing, writing and design. She’s taught clown and Neutral Mask in St. John’s, Vancouver, Dawson City, Winnipeg, Calgary, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Sackville New Brunswick, and Cianciana, Sicily, so far.

 

What previous students have said:

“Sara Tilley’s clown through mask workshop was truly one of the most rewarding experiences I have had. It pushed me to places that were initially uncomfortable, but within the intimate group experience Sara facilitates it is easy to let ones’ guard down and embrace the zany, wacky, weird, and unusual.” -Stephen Quinlan

“The freedom I felt allowed me to do anything and everything! It’s almost like there was a part of me that came to life for the first time.  In my own writing, acting and dancing, these workshops have helped unlock ideas and a creative energy.  On a personal level, I think it’s opened my eyes to the beauty of everything that surrounds me. Sara is a fantastic teacher and guide. Her encouragement and spirit are so welcoming and freeing, she really makes you excited about the work.” -Mark White

“Thank you for generously sharing this work which is so sacred and close to your heart. You created a magical space and a place safe enough to experiment. The clown workshop has changed the way I experience a moment, the way I imagine the shape and texture of world, what my body is and how I inhabit it.” - Bryhanna Greenough

“This work is excellent training for the expression of true voice.” -Ryan Davis

“After the first class I realized that this course would have a profound effect on my life. I felt like parts of me were breaking out of cement; deep cement that encased many emotions that were difficult to access. I was both physically and mentally exhausted. It was the best I felt in ages. This course requires commitment to face uncomfortable emotions and to celebrate good ones. It is a roller coaster of crying and laughing and truly feeling alive. This translated to renewed fresh motivation in my visual art practice and in my life in general. I highly recommend it to everyone in the world.” -Annette Manning

For more information about Sara, visit saratilley.ca

 

Thanks to Business and Arts NL and Common Ground for the workshop space. 

Marceau, Jorodowsky, and...me

I made a weird thing today and put it on Youtube. This is the very first time I have ever put a thing on Youtube. 

It's a little collaboration with a couple of artists you may have heard of. 

#metaclown#awfulcinematography #clowntherapy #healthyself#weirdowithacameraandaninternetconnection #laughuntilyoucry #dunno#haha #mwah #andmanymoresoundeffects #nowzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

She Said So Long

To make things official, here’s the post I’ve been procrastinating about for 2016. She Said Yes! is no more. It’s been a wonderful almost-fifteen years of theatre-making and feminist exploration, but this little company that could is simply not feasible any more, and this artist needs to find ways to make a more sustainable future for herself. I simply cannot put in the volunteer hours to run this company like I was once able to, and neither can the company expand to access better funding in order to grow without the sacrifice of a creative life to one that would, in effect, be mainly administrative. As this company started as a way to create new work, I need to refocus on that goal. The machine itself has taken up so much energy and time that the creation part has been consumed, and I want desperately to get back to a place where making is the focus of my time. Thank you, sincerely, to every artist who has worked with She Said Yes! over the years, you have all taught me so much. Thank you to everyone who has come to see our shows, or taken a workshop through the company. Thank you to those playwrights who sent in work from all over the world for dramaturgical support. Onwards to new adventures in theatre, life, and creativity. If you are looking for a collaborator, I might be available!

Love, Sara

 

 

Image from stop-motion animation created by Jason Ross Sellars for Fruithead, 2013.