Clowning Around!
Story by: Georgie Stout
Photos by: Nathalie Schueller
Parents and friends came together last Tuesday to watch a hilarious performance by about 100 Kindergarten students in "the Clown Olympics" at the PS8 auditorium. Students donned costumes, hats and face painting, carried props and performed all kinds of crazy tricks for over an hour. The performance was a culmination of a workshop by the Circus Arts and Clown Theatre Workshop, run by Marquis Studios and clowns Fred Collins and Luanne Dietrich, known as TwoTooFar.
"In the Circus Arts and Clown Theatre workshop, students study the art of the clown...Through the exploration and mastery of circus skills and clowning techniques, the students are given an opportunity to break through their personal barriers and discover more of their own abilities", reads the program from the event.
All four Kindergarten classes participated, and performed everything from feather balancing (The Feather Balancers of Ticklevania), hoola hooping (The Hula Hoop De Do Dah Daze) to pantomime bubble blowing (The bubblegum blowers of bazookaville). A highlight was "The Strong Woman of Sticky Socks", brilliantly performed by Luna Miller who along with two assistants lifted a foam barbell with much vigor. For each act, a panel of four judges, students from K103, gave scores. Judge number 4, performed hilariously by William DeSantis goofed up every time by showing an upside down letter or pictogram to which the other four judges would exclaim "take care of that clown" and tickled him with feather dusters until he fell down in giggles.
The Circus Arts and Clown Theatre Workshop is one of PS8's on-going enrichment programs. Enrichment at PS8 is in support of the Renzulli model, which focuses on cultivating each child's individual talents. You can help support the enrichment programs by donating money to PS8's general drive by clicking here. You can learn more about Marquis studios and their programs by clicking here.
For more photos, click here.
Posted on: June 24, 2008
