Clowns in the time of revolution

In the last post I published before going to Egypt, I expressed my excitement of playing with the post-revolution clowns and see how they will look like…

Little had I known that I will be playing with clowns in the time of revolution!!!!

I got to Cairo on a Friday… and the Tahrir demonstration broke out…I thought “oh ok, this is all gonna end tomorrow”. But it didn’t…

I’ve been trying to put this intense experience in words … but in vain, so I thought of “storybuilding” the experience through my facebook and twitter updates

20 Nov

at 11:14 (fb)

starting a Clown Me In workshop with Al Warsha theatre group today ...in Cairo....and Tahrir square is still burning!!!!!

at 17:55 (t)

disastrous situation at Tahrir square!!!!...

at 22:00 (fb)

Egypt is so quite and empty. no sounds, no cars... Nobody's walking on the streets... we only hear the echo of the Tahrir's demonstration...

21 Nov

at 00:44 (fb)

Revolution from dreamzzzzzzzzzzzz

11:22 (fb)

last night's clown workshop got obviously cancelled! Cairo is revolting and demonstrating again! follow the second by second news on #tahrir - twitter

22 Nov

at 12:41 (fb)

We had an interesting revolutionary Clown Me In workshop last night in Cairo... 10min away from Tahrir square

at 17:14 (t)

One more hour and the #Tahrir will be even more packed. Ppl are arriving after work!

at 17:20 (fb)

Are we gonna clown Tonight at the official space of the workshop or at tahrir square? Question to be answered in an hour

at 17:22 (t)

@johannesmosskin keep us updated! Will know if the clowns are joining u in a hour or not! Will let u know

at 19:29 (fb)

The clown workshop looks like that till now!!! In a while it's gonna be more crowded Hahah viva la revolution

at 17:21 (t)

@fletchergull thinking if we will be clowning at the workshop space or at tahrir square? Answer in an hour!

23 Nov

at 11:14 (t)

clowns in the time of revolution!!!! #ylvp... how r u ppl?

at 01:04 (fb)

We clowned the revolution today at tahrir square and used the anti tear gas thing I stad of the red noses

at 01:09 (fb)

Dalia's clown nose at tahrir

at 18:22 (fb)

The Egyptian participants go to tahrir everyday and get suffocated from the tear gas then come to the clown workshop and work like crazy!!!

24 Nov

at 02:09 (fb)

Latest chant in tahrir that I find amazing

الشعب يريد الغاز القديم

What is not mentioned in the previous statuses … is the fact of loosing each day at least 4 participants… who they would either be sick in bed because of the tear gas or demonstrating at tahrir.

For that reason and for many other reasons, Hassan el gritly ( the director of Al Warsha theatre group) and I, debated a lot about whether we should cancel the workshop or not… despite everything, there was always this need to keep a bit of a normal life in the midst of revolution and “war” and at the same time, it just wasn’t very natural and we … knew it and felt it!

I thought a lot about the value of clowning in a revolutionary society. And about the one improv session were the clowns freely transposed the life of tahrir square on stage!

I remember at this very moment I felt the need and the energy to just go with the group to Tahrir square…

Sometimes we need to live it 100% wherever it is… and during that time… it was only Tahrir square where the clowns wanted to be….

so off we went.

Viva la revolution … vival el Clowns…

EGYPT!!

Egypt – 2 big events

A picture from the window of the Swedish Institute in Alexandria where Sabine is attending the follow up of the YLVP program.

The Young Leaders Visitors Program (YLVP) is an intercultural leadership program supporting the development of young leaders through a combination of personal growth and practical experience, focusing on social media as a tool for positive change.

The first part of the workshop was held in Sweden in May 2011 and here we are back again all of us in Alexandria and soon to Cairo for the 2^nd and last part.

Clown Me In – Cairo….

Finally it is happening

Sabine will be giving a Clown Me In workshop at the venue of Al Warsha Troupe in Cairo/EGYPT, for different actors and performers ….From the 20^th till the 24^th of November 2011….

So looking forward and excited to see how the post-revolution clowns will look like …

nos vamos a Colombia!

Perhaps, perhaps, quizás...

dentro del Clown Encuentro 2011.

La cita es el Viernes 4 de Noviembre en el Teatro Varasanta a las 20 hrs.

para mayores informes,

www.clownencuentro.com

Clown Me In en Pachuca, Hidalgo!

Gracias a todos los clowns de Pachuca por subirse al tren, por soñar y por celebrar la locura. Un agradecimiento muy especial a mis anfitriones Paola Nolasco y Carlos Mentado López, sin su ayuda nada se hubiera logrado. Esperamos con ansias nuestro regreso a Pachuca. Gracias!!!

a Clown Me In...PUSH

Last week I found a website called www.thxthxthx.com , where Leah Dieterich offers longhand shows of appreciation for situations one normally doesn’t note…

Some of her notes made me laugh so hard… and I was so curious, I couldn’t stop reading her… (thanking the fridge, the muscle, the blue gas stove flame, the booze, the tatoo etc…)

Only then I realized….that Clown Me In ( Gaby and myself) and before even thinking about thanking random things in life…we never thanked all the “behind the scene” friends who have been helping us since we have started!

So here you go,

Christian Irles… the poor guy who had to bare our stupidity when making the blog

Pascale Chehade whom I just sent a clown me in proposal paper and asked her to make it look better… she not only did that, but also the logo, the designs, some of the posters and the completion certificate.

Valentina Munoz who is offering us great costumes

Gabriela Frias who offered all her miles to Gaby

Farah Kassem who’s taking the beautiful pictures and videos ( the bad ones are taken by us)

Cynthia Choucair who’s always present

Elie Abou jawdeh the quickest poster design

Wissam Chidiak one poster and technical godaddy and google mail adjustments

Ailin Conant who spent one month with us creating in Mexico

William Choukeir for a specific full of ideas e-mail he sent me

David Habchy who has this great talent in coming up with whatever I need… whenever I want

The Indian embassy who gave Gaby a visa in no time

The Mexican embassy who gave me a visa in 1 day (as I forgot to make one before leaving)

The brick theatre in NY, Berenice Gonzales who supported Gaby a lot

all the organizations and theatre companies we worked with....

And finally our families (moms, dads, sisters, brothers ) who just love and embrace our craziness

All our friends who were and still are such a great support

We thank you for believing in us and making our lives easier …

did i forget anyone???? ooooooops

thought of the day

I have never quite understood why I fell in love with It all started when I got slapped on the face by my teacher Giovanni Fusetti in London… and after an interesting journey I have had since I was a kid in Lebanon… Giovanni (even though he didn’t really slap me as slapping with his hand!) simply and gently opened a whole world to me … the Clown world, in a slap like “wake up you idiot girl”! Was a tough journey to find this Flower clown and harder to accept it! But something touched me deeply… deep deep inside and made me not want to do anything but share this journey with other people. Why? Because my way of seeing things changed drastically… because suddenly all made complete sense to me! I realized how much I was taking myself so seriously, how much I was sucking myself into the stress of life and how stupidly I was refusing my stupidity instead of embracing it! Today, I look around me, and I feel sorry for the years I spent worrying about minimal materialistic matters! Does it really matter if I get the best grades at school when I forget everything some years later? Does it really matter if I win prizes when I have to be competing, crying and hating the rivals? Does it really matter if I make shit loads of money when I can spend them in a day? Does it really matter if I am better than you? And I can go on forever... Well maybe it does, and it surely did… but not anymore. I am so grateful that now I can see the positive side of each person, I acknowledge the fact that everyone has something special, I can appreciate my niece’s and nephew’s freedom, I can freely cry when I get a kiss from the untouchables in India, I can be deeply touched when I see my loved ones laughing, I can shiver when I know that a war is on its way and scream loudly when people kill each other because they fear the unknown… Since that slap, I stopped fearing the unknown, I accepted my weaknesses, I learned how to touch other people gently, I have become more humane… and all I care about now is to share this experience because thankfully I still have this silly hope that one day humans will actually become more humane and that love exists if we are open to receive it! Clown is humanity, is freedom, is playfulness… Clown is the real life… offered to us on a transparent platter… let’s all share this platter… and devour it with no masks on! I thank each and every person for reminding me that I am a simple weak human being who can never be strong without him or her!

Sabine Choucair

Siguiente parada/next stop

Siguiente parada/next stop

Clown Encuentro 2011

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA!

El 3º Encuentro Internacional de Clown se realizará del 30 de Octubre al 05 de Noviembre del 2011 en la ciudad de Bogotá. Este evento convoca al público en general a participar en una serie de talleres, conferencias, espectáculos, intervenciones públicas entre otros.

Este año el tema del Clown Encuentro será “El Clown y la Transformación”.

“Perhaps, perhaps, quizás...” de Gabriela Muñoz

MEXICO

"Perhaps, perhaps, quizás..." es una obra de clown que juega con la idea de la espera e ilusión por encontrar al hombre “perfecto”y la soledad a la que esta conlleva cuando uno mismo es tan imperfecto. En una época en donde la presión del tiempo y la falta de esperanza en uno mismos son inminentes, nuestra protagonista Greta ensaya una vez a la semana el gran día, el día de la boda. Tendrá suerte esta noche? Quizás, quizás, quizás...

Perhaps, perhaps.. se presentó en el NY Clown Theatre Festival 2010 recibiendo excelentes críticas. En México en la carpa de Cirko de Mente y la Universidad de la Comunicación. Se presentará en Suecia dentro del Festival STOFF

2011.

WEB: http://perhapsperhapsclown.blogspot.com/

TALLER:

Dictado por: Gabriela Muñoz de México

Flower- @TedxBeirut

Flower was strictly objecting on the wedding today at TedxBeirut...

and actually Flower doesn't know why they called it a wedding...

and Sabine's clown Flower.... objected... as obviously...

TedxBeirut would be only HERS :)

Ok...She had to kiss some guys from time to time ( out of depression ) and to look for the bride to be, among the girls!!!!!!

Clowning with the employees of IECD - Lebanon

Below are some pictures from a Clown Me In workshop held with the employees of IECD

( Institut Européen de Coopération et de Développement - Délégation Proche Orient) in lebanon

As a start, it was the first time i would play with people in French...

was so worried to the point where i had to look for all the technical words and study them before the group got to the workshop space :) ...

well it wasn't as dramatic as i am picturing it here.

It was quite interesting to get the group in the game, after a long day of work!!! but once there... the fun began!

The only problem was the couches i have...as they were so comfortable...and inviting people constantly to take a nap

even Louise's baby looked so comfortable!!!!

i will leave you with the pictures now so you can imagine the rest of the story...

Merci les IECD :)

Mosaik School - South of Lebanon

Salhieh – Saida – South of Lebanon…

A school for children with special need… newly built, the smell of paint is still filling the place, endless empty rooms prepared nicely and neatly and waiting for the kids to come on the 13^th of October….

So much echo that one only needs to whisper in order for the whole school to vibrate…

Now add to that, 30 educators, 31 laughter per second and imagine how it was like when spending 2 days there, clowning around!

I do not need to meet the kids or see the educators working with them to know that the atmosphere is relaxed, the love is out there and everybody enjoys it…. it’s a marvelous needed school in Lebanon, I would even say … one of a kind !!!!!

with open, creative, loving team, that I had the chance to clown with.

Pictures say it all…

so enjoy…

hopefully as much as we enjoyed!

Hakaya Festival- Jordan

Jordan and Hakaya festival will be Sabine's first stop for a new Clown Me In workshop after the Indian experience. It is so exciting to be back to the Arab world and play with the participants. Will be missing Gabriela Munoz!
The workshop will be held from the
14th till the 18th of September between 10am and 1pm at Al Balad Theatre, Amman.

Clown Me IN-dia

Clown Me IN-dia

And here we are, Gabriela Munoz and Sabine Choucair, clowning around India with Clown Me In... Farah Kassem is also with us taking lovely pictures and videos.... what an experience...


The journey started in Dhampur, where the director of the school "Rajesh" and his wife "Nisha" who was wearing a beautiful colorful sari, welcomed us with some Chai and coffee... We certainly got to the sweetest place ever. Colors were sweet, people were sweeter and the smell of sugar everywhere...

Wasn't a coincidence to smell this in the air. Apparently we are indeed in Dhampur Sugar Mills and we were to be hosted at the guest house of the sugar factory...
A lovely big house, a great cook and again lots of sweet people all around.


Now the school is amazing too..the rooms are mostly dedicated for sports games like squash, basketball, gym, they even have a swimming pool, a space for music, for carpentry, and lots of classrooms where desks are put in a form of an "L"... That's a proper school of new age.

At school with the kids we had lots of fantastic moments. Pushp Niketan school is a school of new age, the teachers and children are all happy at all times, they have freedom and no stress whatsoever, which really reflects on the way they behave and the love they have for each other. We learned a lot from them, we enjoyed how playful they were in class and how creative they are. We remember one time we were doing the butoh exercise and asked a boy to have the angry face ... He smiled to us and moved his head the Indian way and said yes yes angry...We burst with laughter, it was extremely funny and sweet to us how he expressed his anger with such a happiness that you only have to be that transparent to feel it.
In general anyway, the Pushp Niketan school was full of transparent people, just like its directors, the marvelous couplle, Nisha and Rajish.

It was quite emotional to leave this school. We went into a parade all together with music and clowning around all the classes...

even Farah put her red nose to take some pictures

Our last session with the teachers, was mostly playing the cat and mouse game that they loved and talking and sharing thoughts and sensations... Then they bought us saris.... And drew on our hands some henna so we won't forget them.... As if they are to be forgotten...





Since that day, we talk about them and how beautiful they were... How caring, how emotional to leave the school, the people, the atmosphere, the sugar mills...

The second part of the Journey, is at Riverside school in Ahmedabad.... now this, we will tell you about it when it's done!!!!! and more and more to come when we go to Chandigarh and Dehradun to work with some street performers :) ....