clown,
professeur et
chercheur
Cela fait plus d'un an que nous avons pu nous réunir et partager le clown en personne. Mais maintenant, des plans provisoires sont en cours pour certains ateliers en 2021 dans le monde, en :
Almetievsk (Tatarstan), Russie
Iași, Roumanie
Prague, République Tchèque
Berlin, Allemagne
Asheville (NC), États-Unis
Montevideo, Uruguay
Weekend Workshops at London Clown School
​
Venue: Bold Elephant, 21 St.George’s Road, London SE1 6ES
Cost: £130 for one weekend
Time: 10am-4pm Saturday and Sunday
London Clown School
Dates: 12th-30th May 2025
Venue: Longfield Hall, 50 Knatchbull Road, London SE5 9QY
​
Email info@jondavison.net for details on how to enrol
Clown Dynamics: 20th-22nd September 2024
Clown Devising: 23rd-30th September 2024
Venue: Central Shanghai, China
Email haylincai@yahoo.com for more details
Payments
​
Please send an email to info@jondavison.net (or the workshop organiser if stated) and I will send you details of how to pay.
Cancellations
I do not usually refund payments made (either whole or part payments) but I can offer you:
-
The chance to use your payment towards a course or workshop at a later date within one year of the original course.
-
If the workshop fills up and there is a waiting list, you may receive a refund if your place is taken by someone on the waiting list.
These options are only applicable if you are unable to attend a course through some unavoidable or unforeseen circumstance, and can only be taken if requested at least 48 hours before the start of a course or workshop. If you cancel within 24 hours or do not turn up without notification then you should pay any outstanding fee.
This policy is to protect the viability of courses, whose costs and numbers of participants need to be confirmed in advance.
I try to keep all prices as low as possible (I haven’t forgotten how difficult it can be to be a student). That’s why there is a single price, with no discounts or concessionary rates.
​
Atelier du week-end à Brixton, Londres
25 - 26 septembre 2021
​
Heure: 10h-17h samedi et dimanche
​
Lieu : Le Bureau des idées stupides
18 Place Valentina, Londres SW9 8PG
https://www.bureauofsillyideas.com/
Coût: 130 £
​
Pour plus de détails et comment réserver, envoyez un courriel à info@jondavison.net
​
Nous sommes de retour!
Le premier atelier présentiel après un an et demi en ligne !
​
Le week-end s'adresse à la fois à ceux qui ont fait un atelier avec Jon Davison et à ceux qui découvrent son enseignement.
​
Cet atelier plonge dans la dynamique fondamentale du clown, comment vous faire paraître, vous et vos amis, stupides pour que nous vous aimions et riez de vous.
​
Convertissant notre peur habituelle du ridicule en plaisir de rire de nous-mêmes, nous pouvons l'utiliser pour faire rire les autres et expérimenter la liberté du clown. Comment les clowns font-ils ce qu'ils font, comment votre stupidité fait-elle de vous un succès et comment se produit l'impensable ridicule ?
​
Quand on regarde vraiment, la plupart des choses sont ridicules : nos corps, nos mouvements, nos idées, nos émotions, nos mots, nos relations, l'univers. Le seul but du clown est de transformer l'échec en succès, la peur en rire, la souffrance en joie. Nous n'avons pas besoin de nous changer nous-mêmes, il suffit de tout regarder sous un autre angle. C'est une chose humaine à faire, donc n'importe qui peut le faire.
​
Le clown est parfois entouré de mystère mais en réalité c'est un mode de performance très simple. Cet atelier utilise des exercices simples ancrés dans la réponse du rire afin d'accéder au clownerie de la manière la plus directe possible.
​
​
​
​
Clown Workshops with Jon Davison – Method, Aims and Objectives
What happens when you clown in front of others, alone or with others?
The workshops are aimed at all students, teachers, and practitioners of the performing arts whether or not you specialise in clowning.
The workshops are mostly about relationships, between you and others, whether you or they are clowning, or witnessing the clowning. The relationships form dynamically and change rapidly in real time, buffeted about by actions, responses, laughter, the absence of laughter, and our feelings about ourselves and others.
The workshops are concerned with laughter, and the unique relationship the clown performer has with it - when it is present and when it is absent. But it is not concerned directly with the question of HOW to be funny. Nor is it concerned with the question of WHY something is funny. These are not inane questions but they are dealt with amply by others elsewhere.
Laughter is the fulcrum upon which clowning balances. Laughter does amazing things to us, physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually. Whilst we are immersed in it, it seems to relieve us of the burdens of norms, expectations and even meaning itself. What a relief!
But it is never under our control. To pursue such domination is a pointless task. But neither is it advisable to discard it, out of fear of not attaining it. Clowns who MUST be funny and clowns who DON’T HAVE to be funny are a turn off.
In workshops we will focus exclusively on what we do and how we feel about it, and we respond to our own and others’ actions. When you really look, most things are ridiculous: our bodies, our movements, our ideas, our emotions, our words, our relationships, the universe. We don’t need to change ourselves, just look at everything from another perspective. It’s a human thing to do, so anyone can do it.
The exercises we will use are my latest attempt to condense the training into the simplest and most accessible form I can. My concern has always been to simplify. Clowning is sometimes spoken about in mysterious tones, with allusions to depths of meaning. Those may be valid conclusions to draw. But they don’t, in my experience, serve as starting points on the journey. We cannot aim directly for such grandiose or abstract goals.
The exercises might sometimes seem so simple as to appear mechanical. By focusing on the simple tasks, we can become more aware of our responses on all levels. Simple meditation techniques work in a similar way. Furthermore, these emotions, sensations and thoughts will make up much of the content of a clown performance, in the absence of an authored, fictional character or narrative (and mostly I regard clowning as inhabiting this ‘fiction-less’ world). Once we start to come to grips with this material, we can see how clowns can create many different kinds of dynamic relationships between themselves, and between themselves and the public.
We will experiment with how you, as a performer, respond to that response from the onlooker. How do you behave, feel or think when the spectator laughs, or does not laugh? Indeed, how do you behave, feel or think upon the mere appearing in front of that audience whose expectations are already formed? Such self-explorations are at the heart of any genre of performance. Focusing on how you, as a performer, respond to your own presence in front of a responding audience, can enrich your work in whatever direction, style or genre you choose, and enable a coming to terms with some of the common struggles that many performers will face throughout their careers.
The workshops are suitable for anyone interested in clowning, whatever your experience. Clowning is something many of have done throughout our lives in informal or social situations, and our experiences will differ widely according to our backgrounds, cultures, and identities. We already know a lot about clowning before we ever set foot in a class or on a stage. All of this knowledge is welcomed into the workshop, without the need for aesthetic unity or discipline.
There are many clown teachers. There are many methods. They do not agree. Here is a quick way to get an idea of my approach:
​
Words I use: funny, laughter, do, action, task, object, clown, clowns, clown-like, clown-ish, gag, number, act, exercise, pretend, simple, fake, real, why, feel, emotion, think, human, surprise, impact, intrude, disrupt, contradict, shame, love, audience, script, wrong, stupid, look, friend, plan, experiment, science, attention, drama, dynamics, mechanics, conversation, skill, repertoire, fear, ridiculous, conditioning, cultivate, aware, speak ...
Words I don’t use: spontaneous, authentic, sacred, self, inner, mask, truth, the clown, improvisation, play, game, high stakes, universal, difficult, wisdom, transform, art, collaborate, physical, spiritual, problem, status, ensemble, dark, tragic, contemporary, traditional, rule, creative, imagination, fiction, message, personal, mime ...
Help Organise a Workshop Near You
-
Would you like to do a workshop with Jon Davison near you?
-
Why not collaborate in organising one?
-
Choose the length of workshop – most typically either a weekend (Saturday and Sunday) or a five-day (Monday-Friday) – and how many hours a day (six hours is a good maximum)
-
Decide on a venue for the workshop – ideally a clear space of around 10 metres x 10 metres or similar.
-
Agree on a minimum and maximum number of participants – between 12 and 16 is ideal.
-
Agree on a price per participant that will cover Jon’s fees, travel and accommodation as well as venue hire (remember to include either you as a free participant or taking a commission).
-
Collaborate with Jon on publicising the workshop, managing the venue and answering enquiries. Also on finding accommodation for Jon.
-
Collect payments from participants.