During this time of isolation due to COVID, classes, coaching, and private sessions are available online.
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Workshops: Clown, Acting, Directing, Creative Solutions, Flow Arts, Play
Country retreats: Fields of Play, Touch the Moon, Raising Frequencies [with Johnny Melville], Organic Mask and Clown (current retreat schedule has been suspended until further notice due to COVID)
University courses and residency: let's discuss your needs. Masterclasses available via the streaming platform of your preference.
Consultation/Coaching/Direction: one-on-one sessions or with your group, online.
Workshops for your company: Team Building, Creative Solutions, Playful Innovation Seminar
Personal Coaching/Guidance.
Artistic Direction/Mentorship.
Workshops are created based on my practical research or the needs of any particular group or organization. The following are some examples of popular workshop themes.
THE SPACE BETWEEN
"The expression of the self, radiating through this space between us, reminds us that in fact there is no distance between us, we are somehow deeply connected."
When we bear witness to the luminous joy of anyone in their freedom, flowing and responding, we laugh. We celebrate the power that exists in noticing how another lives and responds in an unpredictable predicament. This laughter comes from a deep place.
In moments of revelation we laugh, from empathy. We are laughing at ourselves, as we have a flash of knowing the self in the experience of the other. And across this space between, we feel united, as one, and this is a great and powerful reminder. We learn to celebrate the other, not because it is considered correct social behavior or because there may be a personal benefit to be earned. No, we are reminded of the profound power of the common human experience. And in this we experience a collective catharsis. Learning to sense, to trust, and to apply empathy in performance is one of the most empowering tools for anyone who wishes to create a compelling and engaging piece of living theater.
THE EMERGING GAME
Perhaps the greatest discovery for any performer is the alignment of the artistic self expression with the living instinct. In nature, form comes into being. In ludic exploration, game comes into form in the moment of action and relationship of one thing to another. This is a bold and fundamental concept within Jef Johnson's clown pedagogy.
Being participant in the immediate circumstance and experience is the first step. Learning to bridge the subjective experience with the objective encounter is key for discovering absurd logic, possibility, and personal humor. This is at the very core of clown. The ability to be in the vibration of "stupid genius" with the confidence to discover, to connect the physical with the fantastic, to see any possibility in the moment.
In this workshop, practical tools are introduced to exercise and develop creative association across sensorial and emotional spectra. This includes the practical assessment of "what is is, what it can be, what it might be."
THE PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT
"The physical instrument refers to a vibrant, radiant, sensate organism, responsive and involved with every change within itself in relation to the immediate physical world."
One of the strongest tools for the Clown performer is the body itself. The most universal language of all is action. Impulse, reflex, reaction lead to gestural expression, whether purely spontaneous or learned. A bold component of corporeal technique is the relationship between internal stimuli or state of frequency and the external environment. In this work, we explore the question of frequency and resonance, in terms of physical energy, mass, center, ground, and relationship to other. Corporeal sensitivity-empathy is essential to higher practice and healing.
This workshop is an intensive work with fundamental corporeal control and expression, from impulse to action. Formal and informal approaches are used to explore physical habits and to unlock the understanding of body "limit" and "core." The relationship of body core to ground, space, and emotion are also key elements in this work.
Gesture is discovered rather than attempted as some foreign language. Expression of emotion int he body becomes instinctive, linking the inner/subjective with the outer/objective experience.
BETWEEN DREAM AND REALITY
The Clown has the special gift of standing between the space of dreams and the physical world we call "reality." Clown can bring reality to dreams and dreams to reality. This bridge between our stages of consciousness is a road we can all travel.
Combining imagination, resonance, personal experience, emotion and mindful determination, the artist who is willing to let go and walk the path can discover structure and narrative as part of a vibrant living process, rather than simply formulating ideas and then later trying to manufacture action to justify the concept.
This is process based performance, discovery through play and action, experience, connection, and failure. This is not a formulas approach.
THE ORGANIC MASK
Organic Mask refers to the mask which is constructed of organic or living 'matter:" whether vegetable, mineral or animal. These represent the three aspects of the anima. The living material maintains a natural relationship with light and a capacity to channel light across and through its cells and fibers. Also there is residual experience in the organic material. This becomes important in the context of the relationship between the material construction of the mask, the individual exploring the mask, and the living world.
The Organic Mask is a practical, experience based, process.
The Organic Mask is NOT a process like popular 'theatrical-mask' training from schools, where the attention is on making characters and shapes to justify a mask by its appearance or design. This is about connection and unlocking sensory awareness. There is no special consideration for public performance. However, for performers, this work restores deeper confidence and presence.
We begin with simple body and sensorial work. This transitions into working with paper mask, then plant and vegetable matter, and learning the mask's properties and capacity to channel light. Over time, mineral and animal components are explored and incorporated. The time frame is dependent upon progress.
The fundamental training may extend to years of practice, but the basic tools are something taught in the beginning, starting with the simple paper mask, and slowly adding to expand that to include natural plant fibers.
The basic method involves relationship to light and ground, gravity, and the corporeal (body) center: mass in relation to ground and light: Source of light, direction, the center in relation to the space around. With this comes a greater connection to movement, sound, and change. This praxis is very useful for those wishing to find balance and an increased personal awareness.
What is revealed?
* Impulse, reflex and body limits are revealed in this early stage of the work with organic mask. All of the work in the mask, the meditative processes and physical concentration and attention to limit points, help to strengthen cognitive connections which assist in the training of the body, the practical and the subjective experience. Much is also revealed on the subconscious level.
* In addition, the Organic Mask work will help to unlock the senses, help people to discover sensitivity they never knew they possessed.
* Vibrational sensitivity is also developed. In the more open and alert state of sensorial experience, the bio-field increases its range, the body's field energy expands and becomes more sensitive to inputs and impulses from the world around. This leads to more internal sensitivity, and the eventual unlocking of a deeper subconscious experience, including tapping into archives of information, memories, and dream awareness. These are very valuable tools for the creative performer.
Mind-Body-Spirit
The Organic Mask restores and strengthens a vibrant relationship between Mind- Body-Spirit. This is often described as an awakening.
In this work, there is no imposing of ideas concerning "form" of body with relation to the mask, but rather the form of any mask is discovered by a particular body in its unique relationship with the a given mask. In other words, the body and form of the mask emerge from the experience in the mask in its immediate context.
The Training Process
The Organic Mask is typically introduced and then follow up workshops or classes to continue in the process. A longer intensive course is possible, which would involve additional dedicated focus to body and sensory experience...as well as meditation, clearing and parallel mind, mask construction, and so on...
The secondary extension of the Organic Mask work is the TOTEM Mask. This is a work dedicated to identifying personal Totems and exploring the profound relationship to those Totems through the mask.