Nobody’s Fool Brought the Clowns Together
When Clowns gather, anything can happen.
Getting all the clowns together ignited the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns. The clowns developed an online network to share stories, challenges and best practices. This resulted in ongoing conferences across Canada and visits to each other’s hospital programs.
Nobody’s Fool: But Everybody’s Laughing
The third Nobody’s Fool conference in 1999 was at the Asper Centre in Winnipeg. Olivier-Hugues Terreault wrote us a letter asking us to invite him to the conference so that he could apply for a grant. He was a dancer and very interested in clowning. He was a ball of energy. He would wear a nose around his neck and at any point, he would put on his nose and start to interact as a clown. As an organizer, I was nervous. There were guards at the door of the centre because there was a school in the complex and a turnstile where you went in one way and out the other. A clown’s playground! Olivier played mischief-maker with the guards by going in the out-door and out the in-door. I didn’t know what to do. But Olivier made friends with the guards and they showed him a huge ball that they had made out of elastics in their spare time. Olivier went on to co-found the Dr. Clown program in Montreal with Melissa Holland and now gives talks on clowning and teaches workshops around the world.
In 2000 Clownwise Inc. brought Jan Henderson in from Edmonton to teach a week-long clowning workshop based on her work with Richard Pochinko. Pochinko’s work holds relevance for both clowning in healthcare and clowns in performance. Here are her thoughts on “Your Inner Fool:”
Accepts itself unconditionally – physically, emotionally, and intellectually
Lives in the present moment – no past, no future
Has great powers of belief and trust
Sees everything as if for the first time
Lives to PLAY!
Generates ideas and creative alternatives without judgement
Feels what it feels, not what it “should’ feel
Expresses every feeling 100%
Lives in the place of laughing and crying at the same time
Doesn’t hold onto feelings past their lifespan
Thrives on change
Is curious, asks “What if… ?”
Questions everything but itself
Takes chances, pushes boundaries, challenges assumptions
Makes its dreams come true
Makes brilliant mistakes
Embraces problems and turns them into solutions
Always starts in hope, with the best of intentions
Assumes it should get what it needs, when it needs it
Breaks every rule but its own
Is non-linear, impulsive, digressive, intuitive, imaginative – right brain
Lives a life of Freedom and Magic, always acting from the Heart
Innocence after Experience
Your Inner Fool combines the innocence of the child you were
With the experience of the adult you have become,
To create the Wise Fool you actually are.
Your Fool is your essence – your most authentic self
Copyright Fool Moon Productions
Clowning for Connection - Camilla Gryski
Selected Clown Notes from St. Boniface Hospital Clown Program
Camilla Gryski worked as Posy, the therapeutic clown for the Hematology/Oncology program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Clown play, with its attendant humour and laughter, allows the child and family to focus on an activity which is life-enhancing. Within the play frame, normalcy reigns. Camilla explores the relationship between the figure of the clown, play, humour, ritual and spirituality. She demonstrated how one can create play's "magic circle" within the larger space of the healthcare environment.
Thoughts on Connection written by Camilla Gryski
About a year ago, I met Annie who was newly diagnosed with leukemia. She was only two and cautiously watched Posy the clown from the safety of her mother’s lap. Understandably, she was one of those children who needed to be courted by Posy, and I remember vividly the day she and I played together for the first time.
After several bubble-blowing visits, Annie was lured out of her room by Posy’s wind-up toys. We used the little yellow suitcase as a table for them to walk on. I played with her on the floor in the hallway - her willingness to play with me was so tentative that I hesitated to make any changes. Moving the whole play to her room might have caused an upheaval, severing whatever link we were forging. Posy never plays on the floor, but you have to know when to break your own rules.
We developed the beginnings of our play conversation that day. Annie was too small to wind up the toys, so she would choose one and put it into my open hand for me to wind. I would wind it up, then give it to her so that she could put it down on the yellow suitcase. Then together we would watch it walk across the top of the suitcase until it fell off the edge.
We have played together many times since then, usually in the playroom of the Hematology/Oncology clinic. Annie rarely talks except to say a prompted thank you, but she is always by Posy’s side as she plays.
I was delighted to see her come out of the clinic playroom recently, as it had been some time since we had played together. She is still tiny so I knelt down to greet her. Her face was serious as she came over to me, followed by her mom. She leaned into me as small children sometimes do, and put her head close to mine. I moved my head a little closer to hers and we stayed like that for a few moments, not saying anything, not moving. It was a lovely time of connection and communion.
Mom told me that Annie has missed Posy. She talks about Posy often and wants to be a clown for Hallowe’en. Annie sat beside me the entire time I was in the playroom. I played and face painted around her, as clearly she was not going to budge. When her dad came over to see what Posy had painted on her hand, she said, “Go away.” He went, and she stayed with Posy a little longer.
Later the Child Life staff person who had watched our encounter in the hallway said to me: “ ‘It almost brought me to tears.’ I thought to myself, ‘This is what it’s all about.’ ”
I don’t really know why Annie loves Posy so much. Perhaps Posy is a safe and gentle person in an unfamiliar environment or perhaps Annie senses a calm presence that helps her on the days when she must visit the clinic. Or maybe, despite the difference in our sizes, we became friends that day playing with the wind-ups in the hallway. Whatever the reason, I remind myself that it is always a privilege and a responsibility to be the recipient of a child’s love so freely given.
First printed in the Clownwise Inc. Newsletter, January 2001.
References
Proctor, Sue. The Archetypal Role of the Clown as a Catalyst for Individual and Societal Transformation. https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/977096/