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 style of creative exploration and/or performance training, drawing on three traditions: American circus clown, European clowning and North American Aboriginal mask work. 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

July 3 - 18, 2010
$1,130.00 (incl. $130 HST)

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

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.

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 the regular Boot Camps. Please state if this is your desire.

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

Boot Camp Dates & Fees

July 24 - 30, 2010
$565.00 (incl. $65 HST)

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.

There is homework, and participants will be asked to prepare very short, very simple pieces prior to commencement. No bouffon or clown experience is necessary, but a CV or resume and a brief telephone interview are required prior to acceptance. Applications are accepted immediately by email, but you may not receive a response until mid March or as late as mid April. Upon acceptance into the class you will also receive more detailed information regarding accommodation etc.

Neo-Bouffon Dates & Fees

Dates & Fees: TBA

This class fills quickly! 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, photo (photo copy is fine) and a brief discussion of your reasons for applying for this course by email to jackturns@gmail.com

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

Students are selected according to application information, date of application and possibly a telephone interview.

To apply for Bouffon
Contact Karen Hines at kh369@earthlink.net 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 for telephone interview.