SUBLIME STUPIDITY II:
The Next Step! Themes, Play and Voice
with Elizabeth Baron
Fri and Sat, September 14 - 15
at the Boulder Circus Center, Boulder, CO - USA
** You need to have taken Sublime Stupidity I in 2011 or 2012 in order to take this workshop! **
To REGISTER, please contact LaLaTheater@gmail.com
or call (303) 746-2669
- Schedule: Saturday 1pm - 8pm and Sunday 11am - 6pm
- Studio Location: Boulder Circus Center (BCC), 4747 26th Street, Boulder, CO 80301
- Ages: 16 and Older
- Class Size: Max. 10 / Min. 6
- Clothing: Clothes you can move in - not too baggy
- Color of clothes: Black preferred, or gray
- WORKSHOP COST: $ 245 / $ 220 (Early Bird Discount)
- EARLY BIRD: Deposit must be received by AUGUST 23rd
- Deposit: $100 (non-refundable and required to enroll in the workshop)
This workshop will be taught in English, with lots of French and Italian whenever needed... or Spanish, that can happen too...
SUBLIME STUPIDITY II: In this extended weekend intensive workshop, the clown takes the next step in her life! She now gets to play with other clowns and to learn more about herself.
Building on the work done in Sublime Stupidity I, we move from solo work into playing in duos and trios, creating through structured improvisation. We begin the vocal resonance work, through which each clown finds his or her unique 'voice.' The clown journeys from playing using only his body and/or pre-verbal sounds into playing and creating utilizing speech - maybe even song! ... And that's when it gets even funnier :o).
The student develops her ability to maintain and nourish her clown form, thereby deepening and energizing the clown state.
ELIZABETH BARON is an award-winning teacher, director, actor and collaborative theater-maker. She leads mask, voice, acting, red nose, and movement workshops and classes throughout the US and Internationally. She is part of the teaching team at GIOVANNI FUSETTI's international school of theater creation – HÈLIKOS: Scuola Internazionale di Creazione Teatrale, in Florence, Italy. Elizabeth holds an MFA in Lecoq Based Actor-Created Physical Theater, from Naropa University/London International School of the Performing Arts (LISPA.)
She is known for her compassionate, humor-filled teaching style, and her deep love of and belief in the power of the Red Nose to unlock our hidden, delightful selves. Liz sees this work as an invaluable tool for the artist, connecting us to an endless source of creativity and poetry, and providing a treasure trove of insight and inspiration. All while being very stupid.
For Elizabeth's full bio, click here.
Liz is a generous and committed artist and a sensitive, hearted and insightful teacher. Her clown, Mowanna, taught me about vulnerability and the openness of the clown heart. I am delighted to recommend her as a clown teacher: she will joyfully cast the spell of the red nose onto you.
Sublime Stupidity Banner Credit: Alex Miles Younger Photography
Student and Teacher Blurbs
I loved it. I felt held and I felt totally engaged in the work, and I feel that you have such a gift for bringing out each person's soft spots and gently bringing them to the surface, beautiful work. The best performance I have seen in a long time… What a lovely, exciting, fun, brilliant workshop you brought to us.
-- Joanna Rotkin, Tinhouse Experimental Dance Theatre and Naropa University Faculty
For anyone considering attending, just know that I seriously consider this to be one of the most profound classes I've ever taken in my life. It (along with the teacher) deserve a love letter. I signed up intending to learn a little about clowning, but I came away with the feeling I'd gone through a transformation. In a way, it was a soul retrieval. But instead of a steady drumbeat, it was the laughter of my classmates and the careful attention Liz held for us all that revived a lovable and comedic part of myself. I compare all classes, workshops, therapies and healings to this weekend, and they all fall a little short.
Liz is a powerful (and unsurprisingly now world renowned) teacher, and these workshops in the states are becoming a rare thing in the States...
-- Ted Reavey
Liz is a powerful, insightful, compassionate and incredibly keen warrior. A true teacher. I love her.
-- Tory Capron, Senior Teacher - The Dharma Ocean Foundation
For someone totally new to the world of clowning and performance art, and a little bit uncomfortable about my body, I found the Red Nose workshop extremely accessible, welcoming, and useful. There was no wrong way to move or wrong thing to do with my body, yet the workshop was cleverly structured and focused. It improved the way I look at my body and my own movement, and how I perceive others. Liz's insights and observations were excellent, and watching other people's clowns emerge over the course of the workshop was completely fascinating. Months later, I still think about the workshop and let my clown come out every once in a while, and I would recommend the workshop to anyone, and I'd happily take another one someday!
-- Matt Chisholm
Thank you again for leading us through this most amazing work. I've never had this much fun learning so intensely. You are gifted in recognizing and encouraging the playful aspects of each person and in getting the group to engage meaningfully with each other. I experienced insights into myself and my relationships that astonished and explained so much – much more than therapy or any other method of self-exploration! I can't thank you enough for bringing your wisdom and compassion to bear on the human vulnerability we all share.
-- Katie McElroy
Ms. Baron is an enthusiastic and engaging teacher, who is able to meet students on their level (whatever level that might be) and inspire them to work and make discoveries about both the topic and themselves. Her enthusiasm and professionalism in her work carries over into her teaching, and she sets a lively and productive atmosphere in the classroom/ performance laboratory. She provides a supportive environment for creative play and active learning that encourages students to take risks and try new things.
-- Elizabeth Ann Jochum, M.A., Department of Theatre and Dance – University of Colorado, Boulder
My main clown workshop goal was to become a better teacher by becoming more comfortable speaking in front of people. At first I thought I had failed, as my clown did not like being on stage either. But that was the lesson. I knew that I had an affinity for experiential education, hence my career choices; but the embrace of my discomfort and learning that I seek refuge in the crowd/audience has helped me to move around the "classroom" more freely and allowed me to more instinctively recognize and use teachable moments. I am unable to hide what I am feeling, yet I thought I had to hide my vulnerabilities, however not my faults, when teaching. I used to teach middle school math in the summers to bright, inner city kids, and thought I had lost my ability to teach.
I am finding success in the classroom again with this current group of students. Thanks Liz!
-- Fai Au
Like a first ever orgasm .... when Sublime Stupidity approaches initially, it carries some tension and excitement..... As it builds, it feels a little unfamiliar but there's something very natural about it.... something almost familiar.... When it breaks on you, it is with an irresistible, merciless intensity of pleasure. At the peak, there are moments when everything in the universe seems to finally make sense... and you are left feeling strangely peaceful and fearless. . .
Afterwards you are very tired and sleepy, or, you get up and reorganize all the closets in your house.
In other words, I recommend it...
-- Josh Medley
If you are reading this and are considering taking a workshop with Liz Baron, please do, for yourself and the world. This is some seriously life-changing stupidity she’s dish’n out and I recommend it fully150%. The two-day clown workshop was hilarious and profound, as well as tremendous fun. Taking the workshop with me were my girlfriend and two very close friends, which made it both rich and damn hard, as we all explored parts of our selves in the play of clowning that we normally keep beneath the surface. This was particularly important between my girlfriend and I and opened the door to a dimension of closeness that we didn’t realize we had been missing.
Liz took the dynamics between all of us completely in stride, supporting and challenging us firmly and compassionately. I have been clowning professionally for many years and found this workshop to be both rigorous and worthwhile, as did my friends who were on stage for the first time. So yeah: Liz Baron? Great teacher. Red Nose Workshop?: Invaluable investment in life, onstage and off. (Questions email: info@petesweet.com)
-- Peter Sweet, International Circus Artist/Performer
I loved the Red Nose Workshop with Liz Baron! I have never taken a Red Nose workshop before nor have had much theater experience but Liz's teaching style made the work extremely accessible to even the novice actor like myself. Liz has a remarkable ability of creating a safe space for the exploration of one's material to emerge while also encouraging you to dive deeper and fully embody the process. I highly recommend this workshop and can't wait to attend more with Liz in the future!
-- Brie Anderson, Therapist and Adoption Specialist
Having attended much longer red-nose workshops, I was curious to see how much Liz could do with a weekend. Wow! Liz guided us into some stirring and playful time in just a few hours. Everyone had the opportunity to explore their clowns. What impresses me most about Liz's teaching is her keen clown-vision. What she sees in someone is often so penetrating and clear, and it always provokes learning.
Liz also has the grace to allow herself to not get locked into a particular idea with someone's clown. Her insights seem at once precise and open, as perhaps parents can know their children and continue to know them more as they grow. Aside from her knowledge and passion for evoking clown, Liz practiced great time-management skills, good reading of and response to group-energy, and she provided a safe, well-guardianed learning/playing environment.
-- Jeffry Buechler
Elizabeth's luminous energy, her compassionate and incisive guidance, and her delight in the process were hugely important to me. Her mastery of this form is undeniable. She taught me to feel and use my fears, instead of denying and blocking them. This work changed my experience of myself.
-- Margaret Baron
We, Clowns in the USA, are very lucky to have Liz Baron as a resource. Her freshness, curiosity for people, dedication to the students and understanding of humanity make the perfect combination when I am looking for a Clown teacher. I have to say, I really love her laugh.
-- Mery Miguez
Taking a Red Nose workshop with Elizabeth Baron was a great Odyssey. As a novice in clown art, I felt that we were on a ship, not exactly knowing the direction we were supposed to head up to when we started but I knew that the team was safe and that the shore would be rewarding.
And it was. We explored our inner clowns individually and collectively.
We rediscovered all the spectrum of human emotions through them.
Liz's gift to help you shape your clown's birth through body movement is amazing.
Yep, it was like being pregnant and having a great midwife at your side, someone with no judgment and very supportive.
