clownswithoutborders.org

February

Volunteers: Moshe Cohen,  (USA), Dave (Sweden), Kalle (Australia), May, Theto and  Emye (Myanmar/Burma)

Project Overview:

INTRODUCTION: The project is a multi pronged international effort and artistic collaboration to bring laughter to areas of Myanmar, especially those affected by the Nargis Cyclone in May of 2008. The project involved two shows (a ‘Swedish’ and a ‘French’ group) touring the delta area in parallel during the second part of January, followed by a ‘Belgian’ group in February. Each show is/was a collaboration and artistic exchange with equivalent numbers of Western and Myanmar artists. The project is spearheaded by the logistical efforts of CSF France, in particular Sebastien Bris. This report is from the perspective of the sole US participant who was part of the ‘Swedish’ show and then collaborated with the ‘Belgian’ show for their first four days. Please know that both the French and the Belgian projects performed a similar number of performances and had a similar impact as did the project reported on below.

Part 1. Jan 17-Feb 3 2009 Sweden/US (logistics by Sebastien Bris.CSF France)

Participant (USA): Moshe
Participants (Sweden): Dave (Australian), Kalle
Participants (Myanmar) : May, Theto, Emye
-Number of Performances: 15
-Number of Workshops: 2 Full Day Workshop with Educators;
-Number of People Reached: 5925 Audiences in Yangun, Labutta, Mon and Karen States

Part 2. Belgium/US Cooperation (logistics by Sebastien Bris.CSF France)

Feb 2-Feb 8, 2009
Major local partner : Enfants du Monde, Droits de l’Homme
Participants ( Myanmar): May, Taung Zin, Soe Myat thu
Participants (Belgium): Hemo, Sylvain
Participants (US): Moshe
-Number of Performances : 5
-Number of Workshops: -1 Full Day Workshop with EMDH Team Leaders/Activity Leaders -5 with Children/Activity Leaders
-Number of people reached with performance: 480
-Number of people reached with workshops: 14 Adults, 110 Children

‘Swedish Team’ : Yangun, Labutta, Mon and Karen States Jan 17-Feb 3

ITINERARY
Yangun, Labutta, Yangun, Mon and Karen states.
Date & Location Event Participants Local Partners
Jan. 18-19 Yangun reheearsal in Yangun
20 Labutta WFP Helicopter. Meet partners. Planning meetings. EMDH
21 Labutta Show at Handicap Intl. Disabilities Resource Center 150 Handicap Intl.
22-23 Labutta Creativity Workshop (Expression with Humor /Circus for Educators) 40 educators/activity trainers from local NGO’s EMDH
24 Labutta Labutta Afternoon Guesthouse shows 120 EMDH, UNICEF
25 Labutta Labutta Morning and Afternoon Guesthouse shows 200 & 80 EMDH, UNICEF
26 Yangun WFP helicopter return to Yangun
27 Yangun Morning Show: Monastic School. Afternoon: Kaba Aye Boys Training School 750 250
28 Yangun Kyaikto Morning Show: Monastic School Myat Okala Afternoon Show: Sei Poo Taung Monastic School 400 400
29 Hpa An Morning Show: Save the Children Center Afternoon Show: Taung Kalay Monastic School 300 500
Save the Children 30 Mawlamane Morning show: Monastic School Afternoon Show: Leprosy Hospital w/ children from Care project 300 250 Care
31 Mawlamane Morning Show: DSW Training School Afternoon Show: Bago Monastic School 125 1800 DSW
Feb 1st Rest Day
3 Yangun Morning Show: Joint CWB shows at Alliance Francaise (Belgium/France/Sweden/USA) 300 Alliance Francaise

‘Belgian Team’ Yangun Feb 3-8

ITINERARY
Feb 2-8th Date & Location Event Participants Local Partners
Feb 2 Yangun All day Workshop: Creativity and Humoristic Expression for Educators/Activity Trainers. 11 EMDH
Feb 3 Kaba Aye Boys Training School Afternoon Workshop: Creativity and Humoristic Expression 20 Boys and 2 Activity Trainers EMDH
Feb 4 Hlaing Thayar Ward 7 2 Workshops: Creativity and Humoristic Expression. Show not authorized by local authorities 35 & 25 kids plus activity trainers EMDH
Feb 5 Hlaing Thayar Morning Show: Monastic School. Afternoon Workshop with kids and ATs Afternoon Show: Village 200 30 kids and 2 ATs 150 EMDH
Feb 6 Hlaing Thayar Ward 7 2 Workshops: Creativity and Humoristic Expression. Part 2 20 & 25 kids plus Activity Trainers EMDH
Feb 7 Kyaing Waing Kyaing Waing Boys Training School 120 boys plus teachers and monitors EMDH
Feb 8 Ma Li Kha Morning Show: Ma Li Kha Girls Training School. 2 Workshops: Creativity and Humoristic Expression. Parts 1 & 2 50 only (150 others not available) 20 plus AL EMDH

SITUATION: There is a lot of information about Myanmar and the situation there. Our purpose in going there is to bring all the laughter and smiles that we can; in a positive atmosphere; and in a collaborative effort with Myanmar artists. We were fortunate to be able to reach so many places and share so many instances of mischievous delight, both between performers, and with the audience during our time there. Overall we were very well received everywhere we went, the monastic schools, the community centers and Training Schools. Our local partners took great care of us. The Department of Social Welfare are very appreciative and supportive of what ‘the Clowns’ bring to Myanmar. One cannot discount that we were unable to gain local authorization for the shows in the Labutta Township, and in one ward on the outskirts of Yangun. That was most unfortunate, however we were fortunate to be able to take up the route from previous projects in it’s place.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES: This report reflects only a portion of the activities that are taking place in Myanmar over a 6 week period. The whole project is a collaborative effort between 4 Clowns Without Borders organizations (France, Sweden, Belgium, USA), coordinated by Sebastien Bris, CSF France who started organizing projects in collaboration with local artists in 2004. The specific goal of the project is to reach out to those living in areas affected by the Nargis Cyclone, in May of 2008. The areas of activity are the Labutta and Bogolé townships, where the cyclone first struck land. The French team headed to Bogolé, and traveled with a Solidarité food supply boat to stranded villages, and performed more that 20 shows during their stay. The Swedish group went to Labutta (my WFP helicopter) to perform in 8 outlying villages and offer a two day workshop for educators/activity trainers in circus/movement and clown-mime/humor expressionisms. As earlier noted, our time in Labutta was cut short, however we received reports that the games and activities that we taught in our workshops were received with great glee in the villages, and the techniques were very fun and useful. With the help of Unicef, we were able to gather up children from the Labutta group homes, and local institutions for performances inside EMDH’s staff house, a large open sunny room the bulk of the sunny top floor. We played 3 shows there for 400 children and NGO staff.

The 5 following days of question marks was turned into 10 shows by Sebastien, who had all the contacts and phone numbers for a trip up to Hpa An, Kaiytko, Mawlimane and Bago. It linked Monastic schools are offering less fortunate children an education, several outreach program for children affected by HIV/Aids (Care, Save), a leprosy hospital, and several training schools for children. The training schools are detention institutions, and we are very glad to have an opportunity to do shows for them. The second part of my time in Myanmar I joined with the just arriving Belgian team for 5 performances. I also offered another educator/activity leader day of clown-mime humor expressionisms training to the EMDH staff-team leaders and activity trainers. I took that training to children with the activity leaders to the Child Friendly Spaces at Hlang Thayer Ward 7( 60 children) the Kabe Aye and Ma Li Kha Training Schools. The performances with the Belgians was very nice, and we played a series of small intimate spaces. I was able to play a bit the catalyst role in helping mold a show out of 5 artists who had never worked together before (Slyvain, Hemo, May and Taung Zehn). It is the great advantage of working with multiple artists with different cultures, you have the opportunity to weave a very nice basket. We were unable to play at one place due to lack of local authorization, and one training school only brought us a fraction of the kids there because there was 9th and 10th level exam preparations, and she was afraid that we would be too much. The two workshops with the kids though were very productive, the kids digging into the experience. The Belgian project is active as I write this report. The quatuor will go to do performances in Bogole, and then Hemo and May will travel to Labutta to offer workshops to the educators we had worked with. Sylvain has, in parallel, teamed up with Soe Myat thu, the great Myanmar clown actor who played with the French team, and they will perform in numerous locations around Yangun.

DESCRIPTION OF PERFORMANCE: ‘Swedish group’ The performance was created during two days of rehearsal at the Alliance Francaise in Yangun. The creation process was a collaborative effort with Moshe taking on the artistic director role in a nominal fashion. The show combined both Western Circus/Vaudevillian style antics and ‘numbers’ with interpretations of Myanmar dance and song. May, the youngest of the group (18) took on the role of #1 clown, being in charge, with Dave (Australia) jumping into the lowest position. Moshe took on #2 and Kalle #3. Theto and Emye, musicians and masters of improvisation, took a sideline role, Theto on percussion, Emye on Myanmar vibraphone. The show opened with a little procession of the four clowns onto stage with stops. Dave not paying attention bumped into Kalle who bumped into Moshe who bumped into May, who got a little upset thus setting up the status roles. Dave was left on stage to take a balloon animal balloon, and after flossing his nasal passages, blew it up, and did a fake sword swallowing routine that May interrupted pulling the much larger Dave off stage by the ear. A series of circus skills based numbers ensued. Moshe and Kalle passed juggling clubs. May coaxed a scared Dave to walk through the clubs who then got so excited by it that he kept going on well past the time that the clubs stopped passing. A flower was then knocked out of his mouth while he stood in the middle. Moshe did a hat and sponge ball magic routine, Kalle did an egg routine that ended with Dave coming out as a chicken, chasing the egg man through the audience, then Dave blowing the rubber glove up over his head. Dave did a Diablo routine with May in a humorous supervising role. Moshe did a cigar box stacking and balancing number with members of the troupe traumatizing him with additional boxes and a glass of water (even Theto got into the act). Dave came out to play ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ on his ukulele in a falsetto. Moshe and Kalle on ukulele’s (that we all brought ukulele’s was a simple twist of fate) came into join him amping up the rockabilly side of things, but brought back to earth by May’s arrival with the directive to do the hokey pokey (Dave’s forte). We played and danced the hokey pokey, and with four volunteers dancing with us. A very fun number. The show then switched into Myanmar gear, quite literally, with May distributing Longies (the traditional cotton skirt than everyone wears). The clowns had a distinctly difficult time putting the longies on: Moshe tried to put it on by slipping it over his head (rather than stepping into it), Kalle decided he needed a running start to dive into his, successfully, when room allowed, taking an extremely long (up to 100meters) run to have some momentum. Dave’s longie was a double length version in student color green which fit up over his head and more resembled a cloak of some kind. We all danced a traditional dance with the longies finally on until the music stopped and Emye came up to correct our dance postures. Emye developed and changed the number over the course of 15 shows, developing a very strong laughter filled sequence. When the music finally started again, it went from slow motion into way too fast time allowing the clowns to take the dance to absurd levels. The show ended with the clowns singing a traditional children’s song “Sein o Zei’ with the audience singing along. In the Mon and Karen states, the ‘Sein o Zei’ was dropped as the kids didn’t seem to know it, and the show was readjusted to end with the Hokey Pokey, getting all the kids to sing/shout ‘Hokey Pokey’ at appropriate moments. The show was a delight for all concerned, performers and audience, quite fun and funny. Length 60-80 minutes. ‘Belgian Group’ As Moshe’s participation with the show was brief, only four days of a much larger time period, he essentially slipped himself into the framework of a the show. The show was a more straightforward situation with Sylvain doing his magic numbers with a little assistance from May, and Hemo and May were creating a puppet story from scratch as Hemo’s shadow puppet performance was not feasible in the given working conditions. Thaung Zeng provided musical accompaniment for the shows. Moshe encouraged collaboration between the artists, offered advice to Sylvain, and encouraging Hemo with advice/direction in the creation of her puppet piece with May.

DESCRIPTION OF WORKSHOPS: The workshops with educators, team leaders, and activity trainers (Labutta) was conducted in two parallel sessions, one by Dave and Kalle, the other by Moshe. The overall group was split into two, and each group worked with both sections for two half days. Kalle and Dave focused on games, movement and juggling (especially work with one ball) and object manipulation. They numerous activity games for groups that encouraged fun, participation, connection and collaboration. The object and movement work encouraged initiative and creative expression. Moshe focused on working with creative movement and humor-full expression. The workshops emphasized opening up expression through movement, gesture and voice. Constantly in parallel was the focus on opening up one’s sense of humor by applying it to movement and voice exercise work. Elements of mime and simple routines (box/tug of war) were taught, again with humor being the major parallel component. Playing status roles (leader, follower, goof) were explored in a follow the leader, bump line similar to the one played in the show. Emotional expression (fear, anger, being in charge) were explored/expressed through humor/clown exercises. Moshe taught a shortened version of the same workshop to EMDH educators/leaders/trainers in Yangun. He also taught six workshops with children applying these methods with the help/participation of activity leaders.

BUDGET: Transportation to Myanmar, and expenses for part 1 were taken on by CUG Sweden. CMSF covered the majority of expenses for part 2. The French CSF covered the logistical and administrative expenses. CWB-USA contributed to miscellaneous expenses with a budget of $250.

PARTNERS IN THE FIELD: Enfants du Monde/Droits de l’Homme (EMDH) -Acted -Save the Children -Care -Unicef -Handicap Intl. -Alliance Francaise -Solidarité Intl. -MDM -AIM With the support of the Burmese Department of Social Welfare

CONCLUSIONS:
Assessment of activities: This project is the best international collaboration in the CWB arena so far. The ‘work’ done was a very powerful force that was quite effective in bringing laughter to areas where it is needed. The performances were of very high quality, and quite funny and have been very well received. Collaborating with Myanmar artists, creating performances through rehearsal process in the country proved highly successful as well, and allowed to incorporate local as well as Western culture into the shows. The workshop activities with Educators, Activity Trainers and Team Leaders was highly successful and worthy of the trip just on it’s own account. There is a very high value in offering alternative methods (circus, mime-clown) for working with children in difficult situations.

Assessment of future possibilities: There is little doubt that this type of collaboration should be pursued in the future, and not necessarily just in Myanmar. -the international collaboration involving several cwb groups offers potential as a way to take advantage of the resources each group offers: financial, artistic and logistical. -the international collaboration between local and visiting artists provides a much deeper well for artistic creation, and can result in a show that is more pertinent and accessible to the country visited -the workshop component deserves greater attention and expansion. This reminds me of the work done in Djakova, Kosovo (1999) I did with teachers and students, applying clown and circus methodology to deal with traumatic situations. There is a strong potential to use constructive fun, creativity and expression ( physical/movement, vocal, humor) to work with children who have experienced/are experiencing difficult situations. -Training educators and trainers was especially significant. It was clear that the work was very valuable, and that the training needed more time and depth for the participants to have a better understanding and grasp of the techniques taught. It was apparent that the work proved very useful in the field, and would be more beneficial if the training was more extensive.

Assessment of Partners: This project would not have been possible without the extensive collaboration of our local partners, and for CWB-US, our CSF, CUG and CMSF partners. The local partners made it possible to reach the delta areas. EMDH navigated the beurocratic waters to apply for and receive entry visas as well as travel authorizations. All the local partners collaborated extensively to facilitate our travel, lodging, communications and logistics for setting up the shows and workshops. In the case of CWB, the larger groups, CUG Sweden, CSF France, and CMSF Belgium, supported my participation, logistically and financially, without which it would not have been possible for me to participate in this project. It is probable, that as a veteran of many CWB projects, I was able to lend a hand of experience to the overall accomplishment of our goals.

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