Wanna explore your silly side? Check out this clowning course
Photograph: Yang Xiaozhe
We know after the 'Killer Clowns' epidemic in the US and the horror conjured up by the 2017 movie adaptation of Stephen King's It, clowns have had a pretty bad rap of late (honestly, they've always been pretty divisive). However, Shanghai-based Swedish clown Björn Dahlman is looking to remind us how fun clowns are with his series of professional clowning workshops.
Dahlman performs with charity organisation Clowns Without Borders and travels around China putting on shows for orphans and the children of migrant workers. He has also performed in youth prisons and to the children of sex workers in India, as well as refugees in Sweden. 'These kids have been through a lot,' he tells us. 'We try to make them feel strong and smart. They need to feel that the show is for them only.'
Photograph: courtesy Clowns Without Borders
While you may think clowning is a lot of slapstick, falling over and custard pies in your face, it is a far more complex art than that. Dahlman follows a basic technique that was developed by actor/clown Mario Gonzalez, a technique used for commedia dell’arte (a popular genre of Italian comedic theatre) which is based on rules. Bet you've never thought about the rules of clowning before?
Dahlman recently started running a series of casual workshops designed to teach the basic fundamentals of clowning, but after popular demand will start a slightly more intensive and professional four-week programme from next Tuesday 25 at Real Shanghai. The clowning workshops will help people discover what type of clown they are, learn how to perform to both adults and children, learn about clowning in a theatrical sense and also how to be funny and deal with being on stage in front of an audience.
Photograph: courtesy Clowns Without Borders
The four workshops (every Tuesday from September 25 through October 16) will cost 500RMB in total, start at 7pm each night and last approximately two-and-a-half hours each.
Several of the participants at these workshops are likely to have attended one of Dahlman's previous classes, but they should also be accessible to complete novices. Contact 'daxiongruidian' on WeChat for more information.