Clown is not just a performance expression but a philosophy and way of life, a life of connection, expressive freedom, humour, authenticity, honesty, presence, intuition, risk, commitment and the ability to fail well. It’s one thing to perform clown but another to adopt the profound teachings into your life and work. This is no easy feat, it’s a deep developmental process unleashing your self-expression, understanding your limitations on a visceral level and taking courageous risks to express authentically before others.

The Clownlife pedagogy is focused on self-research through the art and practice of clown with a strong focus on well-being and mindful living. Exploring the central questions: Who are you in relation to the self, the other and the natural world beyond? What is funny about you? How does the world see you? How do you connect? How do you fail or in other words flop? How easy is it to laugh with yourself? What are the different masks (of your personality) that you wear? How curious can you be? And ultimately how can we insist on following our pleasure to awaken our life force, to not take this life for granted but rather express authentically true to our nature and find our inward freedom to not only liberate ourselves but our audiences too? This work can lead to profound transformation not just in our performance and stage practice but above all it has the ability to transform our lives if we let it.

WHAT YOU WILL GET FROM CLOWN:
There is no limit to the profound teachings Clown explores

• Being seen and seeing others
• Expressions of the wild self
• Heightening a sense of Intuition
• Accepting all of ourselves- “You are enough to be loved”
• Understand how the world sees you
• Share your humility
• Go beyond your protective mask and stand authentically
• Commit and follow through
• To share honestly with vulnerability and sensitivity
• To meet your limitations and challenge yourself to go further
• To laugh at yourself and see the humour in your world
• Having a ridiculously fun time while diving in to the depths of exploring the self.

Facilitator Bio

Zuma Puma aka. Nelly Scott is a Canadian performer and the founder of Clownlife courses merging the work of Clown and personal development with a focus on how the studies of Clown can positively influence one’s life and artistic practice exponentially.
Zuma has facilitated over a thousand Clownlife participants over the years in 14 countries across the UK, Australia, Europe, South, Central and North America. Teaching in universities, colleges, theatre companies, corporate settings, artistic residencies and retreats, online and the list goes on.

She is most well regarded for her work founding the International Lost Cabaret- London’s most alternative comedy night since 2012. The weekly Comedy cabaret took on its own life and grew into a collective initiative with a manifesto to support contemporary alternative comedians push the boundaries to create new works, some have garnered great success with Netflix specials and International awards. The Lost Cabaret comedy nights are now showcasing comedians regularly around the world in; London UK, Melbourne Australia, Sydney Australia and Paris, France.