Clowns Without Borders - USA

January/Febraury 2010

Volunteers: Rudi, Michal and Andi Lou

Rudi will be based in Chiapas to perform and work with other CWB volunteers in around Chiapas in January and February. Currently he is doing a nine day project with Save the Children.

Andi’s journal:

First Show with the Zapatistas
High in the misty mountains of Chiapas, live the Zapatistas of Oventic, a magical town of rotating citizens. Once in the main gate, the road is lined with cooperatives and buildings with murals all the way down the hill until you arrive at the basketball court. Not that it can be seen through all the fog, but we know its there. It is where we will be performing this afternoon, a show which we have no clue if anyone will come to, or if they even know about it.

We prep things in the small house that we are staying in, about 500 feet up the road from the court. When we go out to see how many people we have before we make our entrance, we are met with more fog; so much fog that you can’t see more than 50 to 100 feet in the distance. So, without knowing what is going on, or if anyone is even there, we assume the position and dreamily clown our way through the mist to the court.

I am walking on gravel in the fog, decked in black and white stripes and my dirty, dirty fedora. I have a very large, old black trunk in one hand and two identical brown vintage suitcases in the other, one wedged under my arm, and the other grasped firmly in my hand. Rudi carries a small speaker that blasts classical music as we parade down the gravel road of the revolution to our unknown audience.

When we arrive, our audience is small. However, things work differently here, and within 15 minutes, our crowd has doubled to about 80. Then the rain starts…we are wet clowns. The small blue umbrella is used to cover the speaker that rests on top of a suitcase and we continue the show.

A whistle blows from somewhere in the fog and all of a sudden people, kids mostly, get up and leave! We are befuddled clowns. Rudi gestures, “Where the hell is everyone going? Fine, go, we don’t like you anyway!” and stalks away pouting as I and Michal curiously look to see where people are going. We reluctantly continue, though we are losing most of our audience to some unknown plague. But by the time we are starting to get going again, everyone starts coming back! With more people even. Needless to say, this is a culture I do not pretend to understand, beautiful, but I don’t even come close.

So we continue, and lord is it hard to get volunteers. Every time we get close to the crowd they all cover their mouths and run backwards trying to get away. And it’s not just the kids, most people. Sometimes the teenage boys will try and be tough and not back off, but as soon as you get within a certain distance, their faces melt into young smiles and they scatter behind someone who they think is the current target. It’s hilarious. We got a couple of volunteers, but we had to take it really reeeeaaaally slow. And we skipped pulling the bra out of the shirt because a little girl had ended up being our volunteer, and that’s not really the kind of thing you do to women, no matter their age, in this culture, that much I have figured out.

Our final turn out was about 110. For the first time since we started doing these shows we don’t venture off into nowhere in a dreamy clown exit. Instead, after we have done several “tableaus” (as Rudi calls them) we stop and Rudi introduces us, thanks the crowd and lets them know that we’re going to do a workshop the next day. After this, we walk up the hill in the mist, as regular humans in a magical place to get some rest before our next day.

I arrive to Chiapas on an overnight bus that is far too fancy, and yet I still have not slept. Tired, but excited, I’m greeted by Rudi at the bus station and we immediately  go into a chorus of “the most beautiful girl in the woooorld” in the most nasally voices we can muster at 8:30 in the morning. (Singing this song the first time that I saw Rudi was my instruction from Mr. Charlie Brown and I complied.)

So, sleep deprived and hungry I am whisked up to an amazing house far up the mountain just on the edge of San Cristobal. The house is like a small dream, with moons and stars as windows and crafted into the tiled floor. I’m in Rudi’s house, that he designed and built four years ago. We eat and soon after, head to town to meet Michal at the bus station.

As we arrive we find her with a backpack and an old small beat up suitcase,  dawning an extraordinarily large hat made from what looks to be banana leaves. We spend the rest of the evening going over logistics and get some rest so that we can start putting together the show…which we have two days to do.

10am the next day we are getting to work, warming up and showing each other what we’ve got to use for the show. All of this is done in the small yard on the side of Rudi’s house.

We were late leaving the house for our first show and so we didn’t get all the set up time we needed. This meant that we ended up performing int he round for 650 school children and a school in San Cristobal called Angel Albino Corzo in the round…

It was a challenge to work a circle with new material, but the laughter rang at us from all 360 degrees and we felt good. It is an interesting experience playing for such a large audience with so few adults in the crowd,  it changes the energy so much. Not for better or worse, just different. It does help that there will not be anyone asking for their money back at the end of the show if it happened to not to well though

It is Friday evening and we have played five schools since Tuesday and its been getting better and better. We are learning how to interact and I am learning how to really develop a character in the context of clown theater. Its really challenging and while the stakes are not particularly high, the expectations can be, probably the highest coming from myself. I find that I spend too much time in my head and I need to come into my body more. But I am learning.

The kids are great and its amazing to see so many faces light up at the same time. Perhaps this is one of the differences between crowds of children and crowds of adults…not that adults don’t light up, but its not with the same innocence and truth. The other really fun thing about kids is the just scatter and scream when we walk to the crowd to get volunteers! Its such a beautiful sight as they jump up, smiles slightly covered with looks of exaggerated fear and keep pushing back until someone has the nerve to shake our hands.

The first week has come to a finish and we will head to Oventic, the Zapatista Caracole for this municipality on Tuesday.

Peace from Chiapas,

Andi Lou

Michal’s journal:

More than half of our trip here in Chiapas is over although not half of the excitement as we go to another zapatista caracole next week Roberto barrious, near Palenque.

Performing with Rudi and Andy is a real treat. I am inspired and motivated and am learning a lot.

We have just been giving out workshops in Oventic caracole. One show was outdoors in a magical clearness opening in the mist of a damp fog… most of our weather experience in Oventic was of being in a white blur. As if the skies adjust themselves to the” Escondido”, hiding energy of the place. Faces hidden behind black EZLN masks and green mountains and trees behind white cloud - “fogantic”.

The show started with few people hanging around the basketball field and ended up with more than 100 happy spectators of mixed age and gender. We got most of our volunteers, even though like most of the indigenous public, the kids like to run and scream from clowns approaching them.

The second show was at the school the next morning. A miscommunication and understanding led to the fact that while Andy and Rudi had already begun the show, I was up at the shop café having a deep conversation with Julio who was working there about the similarities and differences between the Palestinians intifada verses the Zapatistas revolution. I was also curious to know how it is that most of the indigenous who are Maya descendents have lost there ancient culture and knowledge…  and Julio was interested in learning from me the little Maya knowledge I have to share.

I came back to our little shack, saw the note about a show happening in the school, Heard the shouts of laughter, dressed up, ran and peaked in through the door just as Andy and Rudi were about to leave saying goodbye to the children.. This surprise turned into a ten minute finale before the kids started to leave slowly, still curios, fascinated and looking back to us and whatever magic has just happened before there eyes.

For me the cherry on the top were the workshops. The first workshop started with 70 people, little ones girls and boys and youngsters, only males. The group energy and capability were amazing in my eyes. So much discipline, politeness, curiosity and respect to us the teachers and to one another. The second workshop the day after was more profound giving the adolescents more of a chance to experience the sensation of performing to one another. Each of the three of us was responsible to create a short presentation with a group. The skits turned out really nice and you could notice the students engagement and enjoyment.

The junta “buen gobierno” were pleased with our work in Oventic and at our last meeting expressed their interest in expanding the work of CWB to other comunidades (communities). They excused us for not being able to go there this trip with the fact that the Mexican army was tensing its muscles and they were concerned with our safety. I couldn’t help it and raised the question that troubles me and made mouths mumble in confusion behind black masks. I asked the junta how is it that the Maya ancient knowledge is not known here and taught? The Mayan calendar, 2012, etc… I just feel personally that alongside a revolution to defend land should be a revolution to defend ancient wisdom and culture but it seems that these have been buried under the cross of Jesus.

Today is the 24 of March and much water has flown in the rivers of Chiapas and my life since Andy Rudi and I parted on the 17 of February. I am still in San Cristobel. Still curious, bewildered, confused and have many questions about… justice, injustice, revolution, poverty, ignorance, education, awareness, worldwide cooperation control verses ecology, health, liberty… and more…

Our last trip of CWB Chiapas Mexico 2010 took us to Roberto barrios caracole. As usual we were accepted in a very polite manner and a Zapatistas form of hospitality. Fortunately we were given hammocks to sleep on in the not very clean shack of mud floor, and simple healthy food. We had the show the evening of the day we arrived and although we were told that the basket ball field would be lit… towards the end of our show we were in the obscure of the falling night. The following morning we gave a workshop to the adolescents, who live and study in this caracole, some very far from there home community. There are two big shacks crowded with hammocks, one for the girls and one for the boys. To my satisfaction in this workshop there were about as many girls as there were boys. Again I was impressed by the sense of a cooperative, attentive and uncompetitive quality of the group and the relationship between the youngsters. I also sensed the power and liberty of the women which the Zapatistas are famous about. Respecting women’s rights is a very important issue in their education.  It was obvious that the students enjoyed experimenting with the tasks we led them through, juggling, improvising, playing, and challenging the ability to walk in a maze with eyes closed.

All prepared to drive to the next community, we were told by the junta that for a reason unknown, the community is not there and expecting us as was agreed. Instead of being disappointed, I am learning that When cultural differences and understandings collide it is best to be humble and thankful for the opportunity to come even just a fraction close to this special society who at the same time can be very amused by clowns and very careful to where, when, why and who comes past the juntas decision making.

Left with many questions and contradictions… one for example, why is coca cola such a famous drink in a community that is rebelling against the rule of multi national cooperation’s in the world? I said goodbye to Andy and Rudi and set off on a new project.

Living in San Cristobal, street performing and connecting with small boys selling chocolate and cigarettes and little girls selling scarf’s and hand made giraffes and rehearsing a new circus theater show.

“Media Luna” was premiered on Sunday at the Zebadua Theater. Yesterday I had another show. Three different indigenous schools came. I still have some fruit each child from La ludotec gave me after the show as a cambio, exchange La ludotek is a volunteer school working twice a week for children from the mountains. There were also 50 students from far away comunidads in the mountains who live in a boarding school in san cristobal. It felt realy good to show and share and receive the love from the audience.