Volunteer clowns prepare for Sunday balloon parade
The Advocate
By Wynne Parry
STAMFORD - Dove Burns smiled and frowned into a hand-held mirror, trying to visualize her future clown face.
"You are not becoming something else," Adam Auslander, a professional clown and performer, told his student at last night's clown training session held at UBS.
| Hilary Chaplain demonstrates laughter techniques as two clown trainees watch. Click image to see slide show. (Paul Desmarais/Staff photos) |
To find a look for Sunday's holiday balloon parade, Auslander advised Burns to find her own qualities and make them bigger.
At least 36 volunteer clowns are expected to perform during the annual event, sponsored this year by UBS.
They are charged with warming up the audience before the parade, filling in the gaps and ending the celebration with a grand finale.
"The only part of the parade that can go and touch the crowd is the clowns," said Nan Waite, 60. Green and purple braids framed her face from atop a shower cap.
Her clown regalia also included the white coat and "Dr. Loosi Goosi" name tag she wears while volunteering as a clown at Stamford Hospital.
At a table nearby, Burns, 28, had settled on three black freckles on each cheek, red on the end of her nose and white around her eyes. Bright red ringlets hung from her wig.
Now a lawyer, she sang opera for 13 years. She heard about the openings for clowns from friends.
"I think it will fulfill some of my sadness for not performing," she said.
After about an hour, all of the 18 clowns present last night had themselves fully put together and were ready for instruction.
In a parade, clowns have a few rules: Use lots of powder to preserve your makeup; make eye contact; don't approach people who seem uncomfortable with clowns; when pretending to step on a fellow clown's foot, straddle it.
Auslander and Hilary Chaplain, another instructor, shared their advice and led the clowns through some exercises. Chaplain had one group gradually build laughter, stopping suddenly, then roaring louder. The other group did the same, but ended wailing in sadness.
"It's playing with emotion," she said afterward.
Expanding the feeling from understated to exaggerated allows the clowns to maintain a kernel of truth, while the sudden shifts create humor, she said.
After practicing routines and a few whimsical dance moves, including the Charleston, clown trainees finished their rehearsal.
These clowns' mission is a universal one, Auslander said. "Society tells us to behave, and I think most of us want to break out of that."
At least 36 volunteer clowns are expected to perform during the annual event, sponsored this year by UBS.
They are charged with warming up the audience before the parade, filling in the gaps and ending the celebration with a grand finale.
"The only part of the parade that can go and touch the crowd is the clowns," said Nan Waite, 60. Green and purple braids framed her face from atop a shower cap.
Her clown regalia also included the white coat and "Dr. Loosi Goosi" name tag she wears while volunteering as a clown at Stamford Hospital.
At a table nearby, Burns, 28, had settled on three black freckles on each cheek, red on the end of her nose and white around her eyes. Bright red ringlets hung from her wig.
Now a lawyer, she sang opera for 13 years. She heard about the openings for clowns from friends.
"I think it will fulfill some of my sadness for not performing," she said.
After about an hour, all of the 18 clowns present last night had themselves fully put together and were ready for instruction.
In a parade, clowns have a few rules: Use lots of powder to preserve your makeup; make eye contact; don't approach people who seem uncomfortable with clowns; when pretending to step on a fellow clown's foot, straddle it.
Auslander and Hilary Chaplain, another instructor, shared their advice and led the clowns through some exercises. Chaplain had one group gradually build laughter, stopping suddenly, then roaring louder. The other group did the same, but ended wailing in sadness.
"It's playing with emotion," she said afterward.
Expanding the feeling from understated to exaggerated allows the clowns to maintain a kernel of truth, while the sudden shifts create humor, she said.
After practicing routines and a few whimsical dance moves, including the Charleston, clown trainees finished their rehearsal.
These clowns' mission is a universal one, Auslander said. "Society tells us to behave, and I think most of us want to break out of that."
