The second time we went clowning was in July. The park was full of people. I was feeling a lot of resistance – a combination of tiredness from the week and fear of the unknown. This was my first time clowning amongst the public – the last time it was solely within a small group having a picnic. I was even debating backing out, but thankfully, I didn’t.
Barbara, our “Clown Curious” leader, noticed how reticent I seemed and later admitted to me that she was having doubts about my being ready to clown…
Clowns Sue & Lynn playing follow the leader
We put on our red noses and headed in to the park, starting out by playing follow the leader, and it was like a switch was flipped somewhere inside me – she is alive! The shift was instantaneous and amazing. I loved being the leader! I started off strong and didn’t look back. The rest of the evening was magical.
We then moved on to dancing and conversing with the people who we came across as we made our way through the park. This clowning marathon lasted for hours…
One of the earlier moments that stood out for me:
There was a young man rushing to get somewhere. Barbara caught up with him and walked at his brisk pace, while holding out her arm and pointing to her watch. He smiled.
Breaking the Rules – Yay for Non-Conformity!
Barbara, Sue and I came upon a nice lady sitting on a bench. We seated ourselves next to her and started a conversation. It turned out that she had been unemployed for a year, and just had an interview that day. We expressed our congratulations and excitement, and while she was reiterating that it was not a done deal, just an interview, we started shaking each others’ hands and congratulating each other. You could almost see the big question mark hovering above her head. It was a real “wtf” moment for her…! Didn’t feel great about that, but it’s so interesting to see what happens when the usual/expected conformities are not followed.
Lynn and Chris/Stampy clowning - that horn was a challenge...!
My Spontaneous Marriage
Fellow clown Stampy, a.k.a. Christopher Scheer who is a brilliant actor, professional clown, magician and dialect coach turned his attention to me and kept gesturing at his left ring finger. I asked if he was married to another fellow clown, Johnny. He shook his head no, pointed at his finger again, and then pointed at me. He wanted to marry me – aww! So Barbara, who really does perform wedding ceremonies, “married” us. I vowed to spank Chris every day. So off we went into the trees for our honeymoon. Unexpectedly, he knelt in front of me, put his head through my legs and lifted me way off the ground so I was hanging upside down and onto I don’t know what to keep from falling on my head. I yelled, “Oh my god, you’re crazy!” It had been, well, a reeaallly long time since I’ve been lifted like that…whew!
Five Moving as One
Our group was on one of the big lawns and I spotted a head warmer – a knit hat with no top. We all five of us stuck our hands through the hole at once and walked around like that for a few minutes. It was like we all suddenly became one; it felt to me almost as if I was relieved of having to be in the driver’s seat as I usually am and just let myself go with the flow of a group. It was so interesting to notice how we all reacted to things as a group – if something caught my attention, I couldn’t necessarily react to it because the others may not have noticed it or found it as compelling as I did. Definitely had to give up the urge to be in control…!
Sing Along
We encountered some young women who were singing a lovely song, so we chimed in with them. One of them was totally into our singing along with them and put her arm around Barbara, but another one was completely freaked out. The expression on her face was priceless – another “wtf” moment for sure! You could almost see her brain saying “this does not compute!” But eventually she was able to deal with it and she started singing again.
What is your favorite boundary pushing experience?
They fly in and out like sparks of insight and divine information to help us.
