Entrevista a intercambista del curso de agosto 2011.
Una entrevista muyy diferenteee!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOp6RB9m6os&feature=relmfu

My Time at Cal Clown

Wow! So much to say about my experience at Cal Clown! It all began a few years ago after seeing a performer in the street...he was hilarious and brilliant in what he did...I was bedazzled and wanted to know his secret! He was a clown! Gone were my preconceptions of a clown being someone who wears stupid make up and entertains children badly. A new world of curiosity had opened for me, I wanted to learn! I scoured the internet for courses and found a weekend course at Escola de clown de Barcelona. Little did I know how much this would change my life over the coming years!
So I did the weekend course...the school was beautiful!...a haven of happiness in a beautiful little spot in a forest on rolling hills with the Pyrenees as a backdrop. There was a beautiful old Spanish farmhouse in a clearing and a circus tent nestled in between the trees. I had found a community of people filled with love and good intention, I had found a place where I could grow and be human, and be me. And over that weekend I had my first taste of what clown was, the real me, uncovered and open...or at least a part of it. But the weekend wasn’t enough! I wanted more! I returned to my home in England and carried on with my life. I had no money to be doing anymore clown training though I knew that’s what I wanted to do. So I bimbled on and enjoyed my summer...nearly 6 months passed and then one day I received an email from the school regarding student/work exchange; It felt like the skies had opened! Yes! I saw a possibility/opportunity to continue on my journey in becoming a clown and replied to see if I could do the exchange. I was over the moon when I got a reply saying that I had been accepted!
A few weeks later I arrived and started as a worker at cal clown! I was so pleased to be back there in that place. There was a lovely bunch of students and workers there and I felt welcomed and loved! My experience as a worker at the school was a wonderfilled one! As fruitful and energising in some ways as the clown training itself but different! It felt more like being part of something beautiful evolving than work! As a worker I would cook, clean and do many various jobs in and around the house...allsorts actually!! And it was always a delight as the people there are so nice! Clowns!! There would always be laughter, joy, music and bimbles and on my day off there would be nothing better than a walk through the forest down to the river(so beautiful!) , going for a swim, and collecting elderflower for cordial! It was a truly fruitful experience as a worker and I loved it! But my work finished and the next time I went back it was to begin my training as a clown...to become a student!
Wow it was finally happening! After all the work I began my clown training! It was quite funny to become a student again after working there the times before. I would wake up, there would be coffee and a lovely breakfast on the table ready. We would then go on a little walk through the forest before class; a really nice way to wake up!
The courses were amazing! The classes consisted of lots of games and play! Yes! Finding your clown was the first part of the process and breaking down personal barriers to discover the inner clown and let him out. It’s really quite clever how the series of games the teachers put together draw you out and open you up! And it’s FUN!! After that you go on to develop your clown in many different ways...emotion, character, street, magic, circus, partner/group, stage...to name but a few! There’s so many different angles! And at the end of the course we did a show to the public! It’s amazing to see how myself and indeed everyone else on the course had changed in a short time! It wasn’t just a change in the way we performed either, it was a transformation of self, the opening of something beautiful within; we were different in everyday life too. I felt more love and compassion towards people and more love and light within.
I have also found many new ways to put together numbers; I have learnt many new ways of formula and theory to apply to different situations and scenarios and also completely changed my perception on how to look at things and situations. I have created new numbers much different from my old style and with my new perception I have found much joy and emotion both in my shows and in my soul.
I would like to thank Clara and Jon deeply from my heart for the work they have done with me and for the wonderful change and beauty I feel within. I feel I have received and found something pure and wonderful, perception changing and energising....I feel so much more connected to me and to the essence of being. I came to improve my perception as a performer but have found something infinitely more than I could have ever originally imagined!
The way I live my life has changed, and changed for the better! And now in my homelife I try to live my life as a clown too! Honest and pure.
My only sadness now is that my time at cal clown has finished!! Maybe I'll make a disguise and go back as a new student and start over again....as Dudley Moocoo from Eastern Europe!!
Muchos love and thanks to you Clara and Jon....and all the wonderful characters I met at my time in Cal Clown! xxx

Gary Boardman

Cooking for clowns - Neele, an exchange worker

Cooking for clowns.

I´ve spent this april in Cal Clown, to exchange my work for the one month intensive course in august.

As I am a person that really likes to work and to do things for other people, like cooking, and as I am a person for who cleaning is like meditation, I enjoyed the month of being in Cal Clown a lot.

I just did what i normally do. Cook. Clean. Try to make everything nice.
For me it´s a pleasure, specially with the knowledge to come back in august and do the course.

It makes sense to me, to “work“ and get education in exchange.
This principle, for me, is simple and true.

I know that cooking, cleaning, collecting branches, cutting them, and all of the things i´ve done in april are different actions than clowning, but for me, it is very connected, because both I do for other people and also for my pleasure.

If I bake a cake, it´s one of my favorite things to do. When it´s finished all the people I share it with are happy to have a nice cake.

I guess, for me, to be a clown is the same.

Neele

Experiencias de Cal Clown 4

Cal Clown ha cambiado mi vida

He pasado un mes en Cal Clown durante Mayo 2010 para realizar un intercambio de trabajo y así participar en el Curso Intensivo de un mes en Agosto. En un grupo de 3-4 intercambistas nos hemos ocupado de las necesidades cotidianas de los alumnos y hemos ayudado a Clara con todo lo que hay que hacer dentro y fuera de la casa. Aunque he pasado este mes con trabajos como cocinar, limpiar, cortar leña, etc. nunca me he sentido así de feliz y satisfecha de ocuparme de tareas domesticas. Para mi estar en Cal Clown es como estar en otro mundo. Un mundo sin tabúes en donde cada uno tiene la oportunidad de ser auténtico, libre y loco. He disfrutado tanto de vivir en este ambiente inspirador y creativo, que no veo el momento de hacer el curso en Agosto, para descubrir mi clown y para desarrollarme como artista y como persona.

Laura


Cal Clown changed my life

I have spent one month at Cal Clown in May 2010 as a work exchange for participating in the 1-month Intensive Course in August. In a group of 3-4 exchange workers we cared about the daily needs of the students and helped with everything that has to be done in and around the house. Although I spent the month with jobs like cooking, cleaning, cutting wood, etc I never felt so happy and fulfilled by doing domestic work. Being at Cal Clown for me it’s like being in another world. A world free of taboos in which everyone has the chance to be authentic, free and crazy. I already enjoyed it so much to live in that inspiring creative ambience that I can’t wait to do the course in August to explore my clown and to develop as an artist as well as a person.

Laura

Què ha estat per a mi ser Intercanvista a Cal Clown

To be quite honest with you, I have to say that, actually, when you are an exchange worker at Cal Clown, you will work. A lot. Just remmber that thanks to you, the Exchange workers, the students and teachers will be able to give the best of their clowns and dedicate themselves one thousand per cent to their work. You will be the foundations of Cal Clown. The roof that protects, and the walls that surround.

Cooking three meals a day, cleaning the bathrooms and communal spaces, fetching water when required, gathering and chopping firewood… the tasks will be many and varied. But the reward is great, greater even than the physical tiredness with which you will finish each day. Because serving someone (in this case, the students and teachers in the house), when there is no relationship of superioity between who serves and who is served, becomes pure pleasure whenever it is done with LOVE.

Because during this month that I’ve been serving in Cal Clown, there kept going through my head some lines from the Catalan poet Josep Maria de Sagarra which, for me, express clearly how to approach being an exchange worker.

Poem: Sea Water
Josep Maria de Sagarra
(Translation)

“... and do all we do,
with heart and eyelids open
and with all five senses...”

Offering, in every action and every gesture, all our affection in order that students and teachers feel welcomed and loved by us, the exchange workers.

Team work, team LOVE: these are the bases of a job well done. And this job well done will give you HAPPINESS. And when your heart is full of joy, tiredness becomes mere collateral damage which does not diminish spirit or desire, quite the contrary.

Always remember that to BE HAPPY you only have to decide to be so: because everything is just beginning, and everything is still possible.

Dani Gómez Carbonell
Barcelona, 14 junio 2010


Para serte sincero (y sin-uno, y sin-dos, y sin-tres...) desde buen comienzo, te voy a decir que, efectivamente, haciendo de intercambista en cal Clown, trabajarás. Y mucho. Recuerda que gracias a vosotros, intercambistas, los estudiantes y profesores podrán dar lo mejor de sus payasos y dedicarse al mil por ciento a su trabajo: seréis la base de Cal Clown. El techo que protege, y las paredes que acogen.
Cocinar las tres comidas diarias, limpiar a fondo los lavabos y espacios comunes, traer agua del río cuando sea necesaria, recoger y cortar leña... los quehaceres serán múltiples, y variados. Pero la recompensa es muy grande, más aún que el cansancio físico con el que terminaréis cada día. Porque servir a alguien (en este caso, a los alumnos y profesores de la Casa), cuando no hay relaciones de superioridad entre quien sirve y quien es servido, se transforma en placer siempre que se hace desde el AMOR.

Porque durante este mes en el que he servido en Cal Clown, me revoloteaban siempre por la cabeza unos versos del poeta catalán Josep Maria de Sagarra que, para mí, dicen claramente cómo se tiene que enfocar el trabajo de intercanvista.

Poema: Aigua Marina,
Josep Maria de Sagarra
...i fer tot el que fem,
oberts de cor i de parpelles
i amb tots els cinc sentits


(Traducción:)

“... y hacer todo lo que hacemos,
con el corazón y los párpados abiertos
y poniendo los cinco sentidos...”


Ofrecer, en cada acción y en cada gesto, toda nuestra ilusión y nuestro cariño para hacer que tanto alumnos como profesores se sientan acogidos y amados por nosotros, los intercambistas.
Trabajo en equipo, AMOR en equipo: las bases que os asegurarán una faena bien hecha. Y ese trabajo bien hecho, os dará FELICIDAD. Y cuando el corazón está tan lleno de alegría, el cansancio físico se convierte en un mero daño colateral que no hace que los ánimos y las ganas disminuyan, sino todo lo contrario.


... Recuerda siempre que para SER FELIZ sólo necesitas decidir serlo: porque todo está por comenzar, y todo es posible aún.

Dani Gómez Carbonell
Barcelona, 14 junio 2010



Què ha estat per a mi ser Intercanvista a Cal Clown

Per ser-te sincer i sencer des del principi, et diré que sí: a Cal Clown, fent d’intercanvista, treballaràs. I molt. Pensa que gràcies a vosaltres, intercanvistes, els estudiants i els professors podran donar el millor dels seus pallassos i dedicar-se al mil per cent a la seva feina: sereu la base de la Cal Clown. El sostre que protegeix, i les parets que acullen.
Fer els tres àpats de cada dia, netejar a fons lavabos i espais comuns, portar aigua del riu quan se’n necessiti, collir i tallar llenya... les feines seran moltes i variades. Però la recompensa és molt gran, més encara que el cansament físic amb què tancareu cada dia. Perquè servir algú (en aquest cas, els alumnes i professors de la Casa), quan no hi ha relacions de superioritat entre qui serveix i qui és servit, es transforma en goig quan es fa des de l’AMOR.
I és que en aquest mes en què he estat servint a Cal Clown, em rondaven sempre pel cap uns versos d’en Josep Maria de Sagarra que per mi especifiquen exactament com s’ha d’enfocar la feina d’intercanvista:

... fer tot el que fem,
oberts de cor i de parpelles
i amb tots els cinc sentits

Posar, en cada acció i en cada gest, tota la nostra il•lusió i el nostre afecte per fer que tant alumnes com professors se sentin acollits i estimats per nosaltres, els intercanvistes.
Treball en equip. AMOR en equip: les bases que us asseguraran feina ben feta. I aquesta feina ben feta, us causarà FELICITAT. I quan el cor se sent tant ple de joia, el cansament del cos és només un “dany colateral” que no fa que els ànims i les ganes disminueixin, sinó al contrari.

Recorda sempre que per SER FELIÇ només necessites decidir ser-ho. Perquè tot està per fer, i tot és possible encara.

Dani Gómez Carbonell
Barcelona, 14 juny 2010

Aiguamarina

Voldria ni molt ni poc:
ésser lliure com una ala
i no mudar-me del lloc
platejat d'aquesta cala;
i encendre el foc
del pensament que vibra
i llegir només un llibre
antic,
sense dubte, ni enveja, ni enemic.

I no saber on anirem,
quan la mort ens cridi al tàlem:
creure en la fusta del rem
i en la fusta de l'escàlem.

I fer tot el que fem,
oberts de cor i de parpelles
i amb tots els cinc sentits;
sense la por de jeure avergonyits
quan surtin les estrelles.

Comprendre indistintament
rosa i espina;
i estimar aquest moment
i aquesta mica de vent
i el teu amor, transparent
com una aiguamarina.
Josep Maria de Sagarra