Clown-lympics!

BLACK SWAN

I thought this idea was very fun and I absolutely LOVED watching it. The performance was well-executed and went very well with the music, I didn't know it was supposed to be figure skating so I thought it was a "ballet". I thought the feathers were really cute and I was reminded of the fantasia scene with the ballet animals. I do think, however, that it could have been possible for stronger clown personalities to show through with actual clown-hats, then we would have known "oh hey, those clowns are trying to do Black Swan!" I was, however, incredibly amused and I liked this performance better than the movie. I also really appreciated Matt's squawking . . . that added a lot of vocal humor with a really simple sound, and it was awesome.

TIGHT ROPE

I thought this presentation was the best in terms of clown personalities, tricks, facials, falling, etc. It looked SO professional, I was really impressed. Every clown had a DISTINCT physicality and personality and the hats really did shine through the entire character. Each character was very different and stuck to their role throughout the entire tightrope walk. I like how Christae had a fuzzy, bear-like hat so she made her character the scaredy/schlumpy type which completely worked, and Jen's hat was floppy so she had a physicality to match and so on, everyone did a great job matching their hat. Also, the clown tricks were very clear which I think the other pieces lacked a little bit of the clown-trick precision that was so clear and well-executed in this piece.

PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT

This being my group, I will say that I thought the idea for speed-walking was super. However, I think if all of us had been there every week it would have been more polished, so we had some extra challenges with catching people up. I felt especially like I could have contributed more had I not missed the class in which we learned to fall, so I decided to make my character "the tortoise" of the race. I thought everybody really put a lot of effort into their costume and character, we were going for a more slapstick effect and I think with more rehearsal that would have been a little tighter.

I think the biggest challenge for us was the music. I had a hell of a time finding the Push It to the Limit song (the right version) on Itunes, so Rachel ended up playing it on her iphone and I played chariots of fire on my laptop, neither of which were really loud enough. Also, at the very end slo-mo fall I had trouble getting the music to play, so its always an adventure with a live performance. But overall I thought we had some really unique ideas and character choices and I enjoyed the schticks that the clowns played on one another in order to get ahead, that seemed very Looney Tunes to me.

Like Roberto, I also feel like I want to keep clowning around all over the place. It's a fun break from reality and an art that requires a lot of skill that I want to keep learning. Jen should teach a class all about clowning . . . please?