<p>Clowning sounds amazingly fun but my family is not understanding how this is a useful skill. Truthfully, I'm not sure I am either. Except it sounds awesome. What do I say?</p>
<p>Not exclusive to clowning, but a nice, succint overview of the study of physical theatre:
[CCU</a> Department of Theatre](<a href=“http://www.coastal.edu/theatre/html/bfa-physical-theatre.html]CCU”>http://www.coastal.edu/theatre/html/bfa-physical-theatre.html)</p>
<p>And more specifics about clowning:
[2013-2014</a> Clown Conservatory Intensives | Circus Center](<a href=“http://circuscenter.org/training/clown-conservatory/intensives/]2013-2014”>http://circuscenter.org/training/clown-conservatory/intensives/)</p>
<p>Daughter is very excited to “birth her clown”. I confess, I do not quite get this either. But I’m sure I’ll be learning.</p>
<p>Clowning is GREAT! At Carnegie Mellon you spend a big semester sophomore year on it. Essentially, you take some part of yourself either physical, intellectual, or emotional and bring it to the forefront and make fun of it as you may. Due to that, they’re obviously not your kid friendly clowns, though some are! It’s an exercise to not be self conscious or held back by your insecurities. My clown was incredibly helpful to me and was a BIG acting breakthrough for me.</p>
<p>Awesome! Thanks.</p>
<p>Modern clowning, circus specific clowning, comedy in general or commedia d’ell arte?</p>
<p>My daughter studied clowning in the Experimental Theater Wing (ETW) studio at NYU/Tisch.</p>
<p>I think her class was called Bouffant.</p>
<p>The clowning my daughter is doing sounds like what CarnegieMT2012 describes in post #4. They look like circus clowns, each takes on a specific personality and they do put on shows over an extended period of time. But it’s not so much about the circus aspect, it’s about development.</p>
<p>Some are still talking about their clowns years later so it’s pretty impactful as an acting exercise. That’s my best uneducated explanation.</p>
<p>I am afraid of Pennywise the Clown.</p>
<p>What you are all talking about is physical theatre. Clowning, at least the clowning that many think of, is far from the large red nose, big shoes, and tiny cars. This has been a staple of training in Europe for a very long time and is only now getting a foothold in US classrooms. Think more of Bill Irwin (MacArthur Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, Tony Award Winner, Obie Award Winner) and less of Bozo the Clown. Both are legit. But one has more application to standard American realism taught at most institutions.</p>
<p>UNCSA offers clowning as part of their physical movement program.</p>