Schedule 2012

Teacher Bios

Mask and Clown Intensive "Baby Clown"

This 16 day workshop is the foundation course of the Pochinko technique of clown training.

Richard Pochinko was a Canadian visionary who developed a unique style of creative exploration and/or performance training, drawing on several different clown traditions, a lifetime of theatrical experimentation, and personal inspiration. John Turner studied with Richard for the last two years of his life and has continued to develop the work through 22 years of creating and performing professional clown shows (Mump & Smoot) and 20 years of directing and teaching across North America.

The workshop begins with a strong focus on the art of listening. Games and exercises are used to awaken and encourage a sense of pleasure, to heighten awareness of one's immediate environment, and to develop an honest response to internal impulses and external events. Individual creativity is explored with colour work and body work and eventually the students begin the making and wearing of six masks. These masks mark out the playground for the clown (creative self), guiding the participants through their innocence and experience, extremities and normalcies, culminating in the "birth" of their individual clown.

This workshop is an intense blast and furnishes the student with a malleable structure for continued creative exploration, with limitless applications. It is not necessary to be a perfomer to take this course. All are welcome, from all walks of life.

Baby Clown Dates & Fees

June 30 - July 15, 2012 (arrive June 29, depart July 16)
$1,100 + $143 hst = $1243.00
See below to apply.

Clown Boot Camps

These intensive workshops are designed to be a catalyst for a more expansive concept of what clown is and how it can be used.

BOOT CAMP 1 "FROM BABY TO STAGE"

This workshop is the next stage of exploration after Baby Clown. Using various writing and development techniques and exercises to evoke both left and right brain involvement, the participants explore their own unique approach to the creation of material and performance. The mask and colour work is expanded upon to deepen the student’s relationship with them as both a source for material and as character for performance.

This workshop is perfect for those coming fresh out of The Mask and Clown Intensive (Baby Clown) or for those who seek to reacquaint themselves with the foundations of this style. The 5 days will begin with an emphasis on exploration and creation but will move towards the development of pieces for performance.

Students should be aware they will be extremely challenged and while it is not necessary to bring a prepared piece they will be welcome to do so.

Prerequisite: Pochinko style Baby Clown (or From Mask to Clown or Clown Through Mask)

Maximum: 16 students

Boot Camp 1 Dates & Fees

July 21 - July 25, 2012 (arrive July 20, depart July 26)
$500 + $65 hst = $565.00
See below to apply.

ADVANCED BOOT CAMP

This workshop will continue with the work begun in Boot Camp 1 with a stronger emphasis on the development and execution of professional work. There will be some emphasis on the Bouffon perspective as well as the exploration of a clown/bouffon synthesis. Each day will consist of a minimum of 3 hours focused on creation, and 3 hours focused on performance. There will be many additional hours for exercises, discussions, and the exploration of themes that arise out of the classes.

Students should be aware they will be extremely challenged and are to bring 2 short prepared pieces in addition to other work to be discussed after registration.

Although a Joey/Auguste (duos) workshop is not offered, duos wishing to work together can be accommodated within this Advanced Boot Camp. Please state if this is your desire.

Prerequisite: Pochinko style Baby Clown (or From Mask to Clown or Clown Through Mask). Students must have a deep and extensive knowledge of their masks and colours including the gesture work. A professional-level commitment to theatre (and/or music, visual art, dance... etc.) is expected of any applicants.

Maximum: 12 students

Advanced Boot Camp Dates & Fees

August 4 - August 9, 2012 (arrive August 3, depart August 10)
$600 + $78 hst = $678.00
See below to apply.

Body Wilderness with Fiona Griffiths

Spend 4 relaxing and rejuvenating days listening, sensing and moving, surrounded by nature.

“…By becoming aware of our body we give ourselves access to our entire being – of body and spirit, mental and physical and ever strength and weakness, representing not our duality but our unity.” Therese Bertherat

Explore your body, mind and emotions as instruments of expressive skills. This work is open to people who are active in all aspects of body performance: acting, dance, singing, clown and bouffon and have a basic level of physical  skills.

This workshop will give you physical awareness, movement skills and new sources for the creation of work. The mornings will focus on  body literacy, exploring presence and action from impulse. Featuring experiential anatomy, Kinetic Awareness (ball work), Authentic Movement and impulse work. The afternoons will feature creating movement that embodies feeling, texture and narrative. SourceWork may include Viewpoints, River Work: Four Basic Bodies (open, bound, grotesque and beautiful), Emotional Wheels and body part & creature Rivers. Fiona will adjust the curriculum to meet the needs of the group.

July 28 - July 31, Saturday to Tuesday (arrive Friday, leave Wednesday)
$300 + $39 hst = $339.00

For more information about Fiona, see our Teacher Bios page, or visit www.fionagriffiths.com

To register or for more information:filogriff@yahoo.ca

Neo-Bouffon Study with Karen Hines

This popular workshop is inspired by Karen Hines' brilliant and provocative approach to Bouffon. For more about Karen, visit Teacher Bios.

In Paris and London and around the world, master teacher Philippe Gaulier teaches a style of performance known as "bouffon," characterized by the use of physical affliction (humps, etc.) in combination with parody to achieve a highly theatrical effect. This performance style finds its roots in medieval Europe, though the lore stretches into timeless and universal territory.

"NEO-BOUFFON" is Karen Hines's Canadian response to the work: firmly rooted in the lessons of Parisian master Gaulier, but focused on finding new ways to apply the essential elements of bouffon within the context of contemporary North American culture.

Through the exploration of the basic foundations of bouffon, plus in-class creation, the work encourages a comedically-oriented dissection of societal maladies and afflictions. This course aims to wring laughter from unsettling aspects of contemporary culture, in the name of timely, responsible, thoughtful approaches to parody, high performance, great entertainment and killer content.

This course is designed for writers, designers and directors as much as it is for performers: much of the course is geared toward strategies for creation and development of material. Course content and exercises are challenging, often involving the realms of religion, sex and politics, and are not for the faint of heart. The work entails an unflinching look at the darker side of the human potential.

Prerequisite: No bouffon experience is necessary. Applicants, however, must have attended at least one clown workshop at the The Clown Farm prior to applying to this course and a professional-level commitment to theatre (and/or music, visual art, dance...) is expected of any applicants. A CV or resume and a brief telephone interview are required prior to acceptance. Upon acceptance into the class you will also receive more detailed information regarding directions, accommodation and facilities.

Neo-Bouffon Dates

August 11 - August 15, 2012 (arrive August 10, depart August 16)
$500 + $65 hst = $565.00
See below to apply.

Accommodation
Accommodation, transportation and food are NOT included. For the hearty adventure seeker there is plenty of room to set up a tent for free. Bathing is done with outdoor, sun heated shower bags. Very nice, high end port-a-potties are provided for toilet facilities. Barbecues are supplied for cooking and a freezer is supplied for food storage. All camping gear, cooking utensils, bedding etc. must be brought by the students.

For those requiring indoor sleeping facilities there are very reasonably priced cabins and B & B's nearby. Once each session's class list is set the group will be put in touch with each other for the co-ordination of transportation and supplies. Further details and recommendations will be provided at this time as well.

The luxuries that ARE offered are fresh air, room to go off on your own for peace and quiet, and a pastoral setting ideal for a creative adventure. There is also swimming nearby in Lake Huron, the North Channel, or in small inland lakes. Classes will be held in the studio, in the fields, in the forest, in the swamp and at the beach.

If you're coming from Toronto it's a full day journey. From Sudbury it's two and a half to three hours.

How to Apply

To apply for Clown courses
Please send a resume or cv, photo and a brief discussion of your reasons for applying for this course by email to jackturns@gmail.com

Students are selected according to application information and date of application. As well, a brief telephone interview and/or letter of reference from a previous teacher, director, or other professional associated may be required prior to acceptance.

Address, telephone number and email address (if available) should be included with application.

To apply for Body Wilderness
Contact Fiona at filogriff@yahoo.ca

To apply for Bouffon
Contact Karen Hines at khines@pochsy.org and cc all communications to jackturns@gmail.com. Please send resume and/or CV with telephone contact information by email. You will be contacted back with more information and to arrange a telephone interview.