Choreographies of Protest
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When our bodies are welcome only as shoppers and met with violence as protesters - how do we claim public space differently?
With defiance. With hope. With poetic, persuasive, even utopian possibilities?
THE INVITATION
Choreographies of Protest is a 1-day workshop with Robyn Hambrook (Bristol Clown School, Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy) that explores the intersections of clowning, movement, activism, and public space.
“We are clowns because what else can one be in such a stupid world?”
—CIRCA, 2006
Rooted in the regenerative, liberatory and transgressive play of Rebel Clowning, we approach the body as a reservoir of signs and symbols - capable of persuasion, resistance, and radical joy.
Through clowning, movement, and ensemble work, we’ll experiment in public space, asking:
How can the fullness of our bodies and presence; use humour, disrupt power, transform perceptions, and reimagine collective action?
This is not just spectacle. It’s a call to research, refine, and value creative resistance - making it sharper, stranger, and more potent against the crises of our time.
*******************************************************
Sunday 24 August
10am - 5pm
New Fears Gallery
Reichenberger Str. 114, 10999 Berlin, Germany
PWYC €25 - £70
https://dandelion.events/e/e0rua
********************************************************
WHO IS IT FOR?
This workshop is for physical performers, dancers, and movement artists—or anyone confident using their body as their primary tool. We’ll work quickly, exploring clowning, protest, and public space through physical play, ensemble movement, and street-based experimentation.
(No prior clown experience needed—just a readiness to work with the body in contact with others and public space)
ABOUT ROBYN HAMBROOK
Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Bim Mason, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma, Lucy Hopkins and John Wright.
Over the past five years she has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This specialism has developed through her Masters Research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, on the streets and in protests with the Bristol Rebel Clowns and in research residencies with The Trickster Laboratory.
Robyn’s Activist Clown research has led to collaborations with Jay Jordan (Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, France), Clown Me In (Beirut), LM Bogad (US), Hilary Ramsden (Greece) and international Tricksters; ‘The Yes Men’ (US). Keen to explore the intersection of clowning and politics, Robyn is driven to create collaborative, research spaces, testing and pushing the limits of the artform to create new knowledge and methodologies for her industry and strengthen partnerships for future work.
Some of her most recent collaborations and teaching projects have included the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists & academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era). Robyn has most recently founded the Bristol Clown School, creating a home for clowning in the South West of England.
www.robynhambrook.com
WHY YOU SHOULD COME?
Previous participants have said:
“I relished the opportunity to burst the bubble of the current political and social climate with absurdity, and to do so in a co-created 'brave space'. This was serious play indeed.”
“Tools for performers, for daily life, for problem solving and well-being - through laughter, vulnerability, games, witnessing, the unknown and play. ”
“Two days of freeing up body and soul, utilising laughter as a tool for social commentary and change. Made me think about how I live my life as well as the kind of theatre I make.”
“beautifully built up, step by step”
With defiance. With hope. With poetic, persuasive, even utopian possibilities?
THE INVITATION
Choreographies of Protest is a 1-day workshop with Robyn Hambrook (Bristol Clown School, Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy) that explores the intersections of clowning, movement, activism, and public space.
“We are clowns because what else can one be in such a stupid world?”
—CIRCA, 2006
Rooted in the regenerative, liberatory and transgressive play of Rebel Clowning, we approach the body as a reservoir of signs and symbols - capable of persuasion, resistance, and radical joy.
Through clowning, movement, and ensemble work, we’ll experiment in public space, asking:
How can the fullness of our bodies and presence; use humour, disrupt power, transform perceptions, and reimagine collective action?
This is not just spectacle. It’s a call to research, refine, and value creative resistance - making it sharper, stranger, and more potent against the crises of our time.
*******************************************************
Sunday 24 August
10am - 5pm
New Fears Gallery
Reichenberger Str. 114, 10999 Berlin, Germany
PWYC €25 - £70
https://dandelion.events/e/e0rua
********************************************************
WHO IS IT FOR?
This workshop is for physical performers, dancers, and movement artists—or anyone confident using their body as their primary tool. We’ll work quickly, exploring clowning, protest, and public space through physical play, ensemble movement, and street-based experimentation.
(No prior clown experience needed—just a readiness to work with the body in contact with others and public space)
ABOUT ROBYN HAMBROOK
Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Bim Mason, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma, Lucy Hopkins and John Wright.
Over the past five years she has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This specialism has developed through her Masters Research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, on the streets and in protests with the Bristol Rebel Clowns and in research residencies with The Trickster Laboratory.
Robyn’s Activist Clown research has led to collaborations with Jay Jordan (Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, France), Clown Me In (Beirut), LM Bogad (US), Hilary Ramsden (Greece) and international Tricksters; ‘The Yes Men’ (US). Keen to explore the intersection of clowning and politics, Robyn is driven to create collaborative, research spaces, testing and pushing the limits of the artform to create new knowledge and methodologies for her industry and strengthen partnerships for future work.
Some of her most recent collaborations and teaching projects have included the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists & academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era). Robyn has most recently founded the Bristol Clown School, creating a home for clowning in the South West of England.
www.robynhambrook.com
WHY YOU SHOULD COME?
Previous participants have said:
“I relished the opportunity to burst the bubble of the current political and social climate with absurdity, and to do so in a co-created 'brave space'. This was serious play indeed.”
“Tools for performers, for daily life, for problem solving and well-being - through laughter, vulnerability, games, witnessing, the unknown and play. ”
“Two days of freeing up body and soul, utilising laughter as a tool for social commentary and change. Made me think about how I live my life as well as the kind of theatre I make.”
“beautifully built up, step by step”
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