Roxana Küwen is a circus artist and juggler.  Born in 1989 in Northern Germany, she graduated in 2013 from Fontys Academy for Circus and Performance Art in Tilburg, Netherlands. She completed internships at the circus schools ESAC Brussels, Die Etage Berlin and Le Lido Toulouse. In her second study year she specialized in static trapeze and foot juggling. Roxana’s foot juggling […]
Read more
There’s going to be a clown event  called Laughs for the Left Behind – A Tribute to Patrick Cashin. next Saturday April 8 at 7 pm at the Seashore Day Camp and School 404 Broadway Long Branch, NJ 07740 As you might know, Pat Cashin was a well-loved and respected circus clown and performer who unexpectedly died last year– you […]
Read more
On the website Complex, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus ‘s favorite clown Kinko opines about the new movie IT remake In case you weren’t aware, a huge portion of Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) can be traced to this one movie (and the original Stephen King book). Once the remake is released, I’m guessing even more! Here’s the trailer of the new […]
Read more
While I know I’ve discussed the work of Jeff and Julie Jenkins (and their Chicago-based circus The Midnight Circus) I found a recent page on their website that details something I haven’t talked too much about. For as long as I’ve seen the Midnight Circus, I think they’ve always had a dog in the act. Â It’s been their family dog, […]
Read more
Whoever said that Circus was on its way out hasn’t been to Chicago. Right now– there are a plethora of circus shows coming up in the next few weeks (and some are ending in the next few weeks, or even next few days. Â So don’t miss them!) Â And I’m sure I’ve missed a few as well. CIRCUS SHOWS IN CHICAGO […]
Read more
Not my typical post for this blog, but these German Carneval float constructions are so good that I felt I had to share. Carneval is a time when things go upside down, and in Germany, that often means that the Carneval floats are merciless in their lampooning of current events. Â This year is no different, with a number of floats […]
Read more
Brian Dewhurst is the elder statesmen of Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas performers. Â Currently 85, he’s been performing all kinds of circus acts for the past 70+ years, and since 1993, he’s been working as a clown, performer, and director for Cirque du Soleil. Â He’s currently starring as the usher in the Cirque performance of Mystere. Dewhurst is featured in […]
Read more
I’m happy to say that ClownAlley, the late Pat Cashin’s excellent blog about the history of clowns and circuses, is back.  (It’s not currently at clownalley.net, but at it’s original place clownalley.blogspot.com) I have always been a big supporter of that blog, which has had some amazing photos and articles about circus clowns past and present. Friend of Pat’s  Beth Grimes […]
Read more
I had heard of Robert Anton, but didn’t know much about him. He died of AIDS while I was in college (in 1984.)  I had read a couple of articles in TDR (the Drama Review), which I used to pore over.  Knowledgable artists and critics loved his work, and extolled him to the high heavens– and though he had not much […]
Read more
Just discovered (thanks to Jim Moore’s Vaudevisual site) this documentary about American theatre clowning from the American Theatre Wing. It Features Slava Polunin, David Shiner, Joel Jeske, and Brent McBeth talking about the clown, what works, what doesn’t and the work of being a theatrical clown. So what’s great about this video? Well, clearly, one of the things I love […]
Read more
THE DEMISE OF RINGLING I have been gobsmacked like many by the news that Ringling Brothers Circus will close down after 146 years of solid operation. Â Mr. Feld, owner of the circus, is losing too much money, and has to call it quits. Friends are losing jobs, houses, lives, and for some, they may well feel that the meaning of […]
Read more
Stanley Allan Sherman will teach another one of his Roving Classical Commedia University workshops Dec 26-30, 2016. Stanley is a well-known commedia mask maker and expert on commedia.  We’ve featured Stanley a number of times here on clownlink, and he wrote a great guest post about what makes a great commedia mask. He’s been teaching workshops like this one since 2001, […]
Read more
Sad news: Â Julie Goell, the renowned musician, clown, and theatre teacher, passed away on Sunday. She was a teacher of mine (along with her husband Avner Eisenberg.) Â She and Avner taught worldwide for a number of years, and I took at least two workshops with them at the Celebration Barn in Maine and at MotionFest.(If you read the obit below, […]
Read more
I had the chance to see a great production recently at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The show is called The Complete Deaths by Spymonkey, a British troupe of clowns/physical comedians. Â If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you may have seen their work, as they created all of the comedy numbers in the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity. Â They are known […]
Read more
Hilary Chaplain is teaching another physical comedy class in NY. Â If you haven’t studied with her, you should! This class will explore physical comedy from a clown point of view. Expand your physical vocabulary, develop tools for playing comedy using the techniques of slapstick, improvisation, partnership, comic timing, and accidents in solo, duo, and group exercises. Through active games and […]
Read more
We saw the opening night of Cirque du Soleil last night.  As I wrote in my preview article, the show is not a tent show, it’s an arena show, full of puppets, projections, and acrobatics, based on the movie Avatar by James Cameron.  Here’s the plot summary I wrote in my previous article: When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy […]
Read more