ENTER THE SILENT WORLD LET YOUR IMAGINATION RUN WILD
I have enjoyed reading Clown Around
Magazine for several years now. I have read so many great articles. Some
have made me cry and others made me laugh, and some have given me great
ideas I have used with a thankful heart.
As I started to consider what I had to offer I thought about sharing
personal experience stories that would touch your heart as they did mine. I may have a time limit on my offerings
so I decided I wanted to write a few articles that could open up creativity
and imagination for the clown community. I apologize if offerings are
rather dry in nature, but I can offer some real exercises to enhance the
work of those who are interested in non-verbal chicanery.
Teaching movement in the written medium is quite challenging. This lesson is on the use of imaginary wall.
So let’s have some fun with an imaginary wall. There are many ways a clown can use this mime illusion and make the audience crack up. One of the rules of illusion is to do the action in reality first. So go run into a wall and see what happens.
No law suits please!
To be serious, go through the motions of running into a wall. Walk straight into the wall gently and take note of your physical reaction. In reality when we walk into something most likely we have our heads turned or our eyes looking off into lala-land. Your reaction of meeting the wall is uniquely personal. Repeat this action several times and take note of what your body does. Then do the same thing with an imaginary wall but exaggerate the reactions. Make them Bigger Than Life (BTL). Then look at the imaginary wall then back at the observers in BTL disbelief. When you hit the wall you might consider falling down.
Once you have run into the wall, then what?
There are many options:
1. Try to push the wall down
2. Find a door knob, open the door and pass through
3. Kick the wall and hurt your foot. Then watch the wall fall, walk over it on tip toes
4. Find the edge of the wall and push it out of the way to the side
5. Find and push an imaginary button, and watch the wall be lifted out of the way and wave good by
6. Take out your huge hammer and knock the wall down
7. What did you come up with?
How to do above:
#1. Do the action in reality. Put your hands on a real wall as if you were really going to push it down. Note what shape your fingers take on the wall. Your hands are probably flat against the wall, fingers separated slightly and there is a lot of tension in your arms and hands. Observe what position your body goes into. Become aware of the tension in your torso. Your knees are probably bent. Do this several times and then recreate the action on your imaginary wall. Do not let your hands move unless you take them off the imaginary wall or the wall falls and your hands follow. If your choice is that the wall falls you can make sound effects and watch it fall then do a strong man pose or victory dance.
#2. After you bump into the wall, look all around the wall for a way out (BTL). You notice a door knob! Turn the knob and pull the door (maybe it is stuck), open and walk through. (you can close the door behind you if you like). To make this look real practice with a real door. Where are most door knobs in relationship to your body? How far out do you have to reach? How does your hand work on the knob? Recreate reality (BTL) in illusionary form.
#3. I think you all know how to kick a wall. By know you should know what to do next. That’s right, go kick a wall. When you kick an imaginary wall make sure the foot does not go through the wall. The reaction to the kick is the highlight of the action.
First - show on your face that you feel the pain, second - look at the foot, third – react to the pain, hold the foot and do your ohw-ey dance. If done right it will always get a laugh.
I will try to explain how to do the hands on a wall so you can do #4 and make it real. The best exercise is to put your hands on a real wall and move your hands around on the wall. You must keep your focus on your hands and the wall. Stand in front of your wall. Put your hands up to the wall but not on the wall. This is ready position. When your hands are in the ready position they are relaxed the fingers are slightly curved with
small spaces between the fingers. As your hands take turns on the wall, each hand will tense when put against the wall surface and relax when in ready position. Practice against the wall then recreate reality on the imaginary wall. Most people are not aware that the body has a memory of its own. This body memory is extremely important when creating illusions. And yes TRUST ME! You do have body memory.
To walk to the side either way, use this pattern. Both hands on the wall, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent. Left hand crosses behind right hand, goes on the wall on the same plane as right hand about 4-8 inches away. Right hand crosses under left hand moves next to left hand on the same plane about 4-8 inches away. Left foot crosses over right foot. As the foot crosses, the body moves with the foot, but the hands don’t move. Repeat hand crossing, but second time right foot crosses back to original position. This can be done moving to the left - just reverse everything.
#4. After you established the fact the wall exists by first running into the wall then move your hands around on it. When ready move your hands to the side direction you are going to push. Once you get to the pushable side, let you finger tips curve around the edge of the wall. Practice on the edge of a doorway. Using hands with finger tips curved around the edge of the wall pull yourself into the open area, put both hands up on the side and push. (BTL) Use a lot of body strength and move the wall to the side with a lot of effort. A final comic gag is to have the last push be to easy, so you fall down go boom.
#5. This one is fairly easy. Using BTL gestures find the button with your biggest searching eyes. Two or three big hand circling gestures with pointed finger. Find and point - valah, push the button and react to the wall being lifted. Create great facial expressions as the wall goes up. You might look for a door; try to push the wall before you find the button.
#6. Pick up and swing a real sludge hammer. Observe how your fingers and arms work. Recreate the gesture in reality. You can use your foot to create a sound effect. As the imaginary hammer is brought back, lift the your foot and as the hammer hits the imaginary wall the foot hits the ground.
Have fun with the wall. But don’t hurt yourself.
Please
contact me if you have any questions or request for how to do __?__.
e-mail rosemarie@cox.net
call: 619 482-8856
*(BTL) Stands for bigger than life