Finding Mindfulness Through Clown - a benefit for Haven

Finding Mindfulness Through Clown - a playful workshop for adults of all abilities

SATURDAY, MAY 21
1:00PM - 4:00PM

BY DONATION

Donations will support HAVEN, Southeastern NH's crisis agency. HAVEN's mission is to prevent sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking and to support and empower women, men, youth and families to heal from abuse and rebuild their lives. The 24-hour confidential hotline can be reached at 1-603-994-SAFE (7233). For more information about HAVEN, visit www.havennh.org.

Register Now

Suggested Donation:

$30 non-members

$25 Yoga in ME members

In its purest form, the Clown is not scary, pushy, or frantic. Instead, the Clown is a pre-verbal, pre-socialized creature who sees her environment through freshly-born eyes. Watching the Clown, we take in the world as she does, rediscovering the wondrous in ordinary objects and in the people around us. Performing Clown, we let go of our preconceptions of how we should look or sound and we simply react.

In this Clown workshop, we will use solo, partner, and group exercises to slow down our minds and look at or listen to or feel or smell one thing at a time. Through improvisational work using our bodies, the space, and a few costume pieces or props, we will make marvelous discoveries: the floor can be deliciously cold against your cheek; the sounds of the street through the wall are like music and can be listened to in rapt stillness; a potato masher and a laundry basket can play hide and seek together. We will shape these discoveries into tiny-yet-epic stories using classic Clown techniques.

Finding Mindfulness through Clown will emphasize presence in the moment, curiosity, lack of judgment, and access to joy. All bodies are welcome, with no previous performance experience required. The workshop is fun, freeing, and will help to calm anxiety and awake creativity.

Leslie Pasternack holds her Ph.D. in Theatre History from the University of Texas at Austin and is a graduate of the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre. Her solo masked show, Clean Room, won Seacoast Spotlight awards for Best Original Script and Best Actress. She has taught Acting, Clown, and Stage Combat to children, college students, adults and sassy senior citizens. Leslie is also the director of Make Sure It's Me, a theatre outreach series about Traumatic Brain Injury in the military.