An Ancient Practice for Modern Times: Sacred Clowning and the Play Space for Culture Change
by Rehana Tejpar and Dan Rudolph
This year Bloom is inviting us to play more at work! We’re launching a set of offerings, supporting teams and leaders to use play to be more co-creative, authentically connected, harness the power of co-intelligence, and foster ease with the unknown. And.. have fun! This article explores how the ancient pedagogies of play and sacred clowning are relevant to our current knowledge and understanding of transformation, and perhaps even necessary for navigating the complexities of our times.
“Nasruddin, why do you ride a donkey backwards?
What are you talking about? I’m facing forward. It’s the donkey who's facing backwards!”
- Mulla Nasruddin, a 13th century wise fool from present day Turkey
Beginnings
In most parts of the world, humanity is trapped in overlapping systems of power that are backwards and maybe, just maybe, we could try facing backwards on the systems for a change! Playfulness and deviation from the norm is urgently needed, as business as usual (hyper-capitalism) is exponentially destroying natural and cultural ecosystems. In work cultures, we see this manifest in a constant sense of urgency and hyper-productivity, with little time to slow down and rest, take care of our health, feel our emotions, tend our relationships in collaboration, and dream into the future we want to live.
The sacred clown, the heyoka, the wise fool, the trickster, the contrarian, the player - this archetype, who goes by many names in different traditions, is an ancient role in society that many of us have lost touch with. In many Indigenous and ancient societies, the ‘sacred clown’ figure in the community was not simply a performer, they were members of the society, with a sacred role to help the community stay connected to truth and not fall into dogma…or take itself too seriously.
The spirit of the sacred clown, which we find in play and sacred clowning practices today, offers a curious, humorous, emotionally honest and compassionate way of being and seeing ourselves, each other and the world. She holds us by the hand and journeys with us to see beyond the illusions of our conditioning, into a garden of endless possibility. She brings us into the eternal present and reminds us of the sacred and the funny in the everyday. She invites us into unapologetic authenticity and speaking our truth in a way that people can actually hear it. And so importantly - she trains us to see the world through the wonderous eyes of a child, awed by the magic, the what if?... ok to hang out in the liminal space of the unknown and find a sweet rose on the roadside. She is open to change and growth, able to see seedlings of possible futures, everywhere. Unafraid to try, to flop, and to keep flying….and not taking anything too seriously.
To support our exploration of the potential and power of play, we’re going to look back at the ‘sacred clowns’, share how clowning and play-based practice can be used to address the modern problems of society and offer a list of resources to play-based practices and contemporary practitioners that you can use to bring more play into your life and work.
We (Dan and Rehana) feel this call to the sacred clown and the play space very deeply. Each of us in our own lives and work of culture change have found playfulness as a powerful pathway to find alternate routes, open possibility, connection, authenticity and more joy. We personally need play to thrive, to feel alive, to navigate the heaviness of these times, and see the untapped potential it can offer all of us.
We also see how fringe and misunderstood clowning and play practices are for tackling serious issues, so as a way of demystifying and giving context to these practices, we offer this article. Writing it also gave us a chance to deepen our own study as we continually learn the ways of the sacred clown.
We hope that this article will break some of the commonly held (mis)perceptions about clowning and play, and be in service to spreading the renaissance of these practices that have the power to build beloved community at work, in our communities and at home. We believe in the power of play to help us laugh together, be more real, and remember our belonging to one another. Hopefully, this article will inspire you to bring more play into your life and work
Jeffrey Vallance. Clown Family Tree, 1998
Clown History: From Sacred Clowns to Sacred Clowning
One of the archetypes that historically embodies intentional, wise play is the clown. Clowns have played a pivotal role in societies since ancient times. People are often surprised when I (Dan) share with them the history of the clown - how they were revered in society, seen as wisdom keepers, medicine people, advisors to the leaders. The sacred nature of the clown remains widely unknown.
As a practitioner and aspiring teacher of clown, learning about the history of the clown has inspired me and caused me to bring deeper reverence to my practice. Sacred clowns from the past are different from the spiritual clowning that is happening now in different spaces, stemming from the resurgence in the 1970’s. However, I feel strongly that learning about the history of clown figures in society is important for seeing how this ancient practice can be applied as a radical act of service in our modern times. It is important to add that much of my research and exposure to clown history has been in western settings (North America and Western Europe) therefore those are the examples given in this article.
“To us a clown is somebody sacred, funny, powerful, ridiculous, holy, shameful, visionary. Fooling around, a clown is really performing a spiritual ceremony. He has a power. It comes from the thunder beings, not the animals or the Earth. In our Indian belief, a clown has more power than the atom bomb. This power could blow the dome off the capitol”
- Lame Deer, excerpted from Seekers of Vision
Clown figures are found in many Indigenous traditions including the Heyókȟa, of the Lakota Sioux, the Noonlemala fools of the Kwawkiutl, Mudhead clowns of the Zuni Pueblo, Koshari and Kachinas of the Hopi, to name a few.
Lame Deer exemplifies the significance and power of the clown, the Heyókȟa, for the Lakota Sioux people of the Great Plains of North America. In Coming to Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures of North America, Swann describes the Heyókȟa as the contrarians, jesters, and satirists, who speak, move and react in an opposite fashion to the people around them. Their satire presents important questions by fooling around. They ask difficult questions, and say things others are too afraid to say. By reading between the lines, the audience is able to think about things not usually thought about, or to look at things in a different way. Unbound by societal constraints, Heyókȟa are able to violate cultural taboos freely and thus critique established customs.
With innocence, wisdom, humour, play, totally accepting themselves despite being quite different from the rest, they support the society from falling into dogma, or following the status quo. They help people stay awake.
Similarly in power but a different articulation – in medieval times, jesters served as advisors to the kings in Europe. They lived in the castle and had a seat on the cabinet. Often the jesters were the only people that could disagree with, or mock, the king. They had the authority to speak truth to power. They were seen as some of the wisest people in the society and made decisions that had major implications. The section clipped from this video shares more context about the jester’s relationship with the king in medieval times.
In the 18th century, jesters had died out except in Russia, Spain, and Germany. In France and Italy, traveling groups of jesters performed plays in public spaces, through an Italian theatre form called commedia dell'arte. Commedia dell’arte spread across Europe, using masks, pantomine, semi-scripted/semi-improvised satirical performance, which often amplified social stereotypes with humour. A version of this passed into British folk tradition in the form of a puppet show, Punch and Judy. In France the tradition of the court jester ended with the French Revolution.
As societies began to enter the industrial age, we saw less and less of the sacred & truth telling clown – increasingly, the clowns and jesters became entertainment. The relationality, connection to community, reverence, healing and sacredness that was common in ancient clowning traditions was, for the most part, lost in the performing ‘modern clown’.
Today, this non-sacred clown is what most people think of when I mention ‘clowning’ to them. They think of kids’ birthday parties, Ronald McDonald, Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephen King’s horror film “It”. Sometimes people think of criminals they’ve seen on the news dressed up in clown costumes. Rarely, when expressing my excitement about clowning do I find someone that is connected to the more sacred forms of clowning, or do they consider clowning to be a contemplative practice with power to be real in a world of illusions, speak truth in a way that people in power can hear, and find beauty, even in failure.
With this being said, there has been a resurgence in clowning stemming from the 1970’s, where clowning is again being seen as a sacred art. Some leaders in this resurgence include Jacques Copeau, Jacques Lecoq and Richard Pochinko. Pochinko was a student of Lecoq (and many others) who studied Indigenous sacred clowning traditions and formed his own methodology of teaching, which merges the two. Many contemporary teachers have learned from these elders or trained in their methodologies.
“But how do you teach someone to be a clown, to be funny? “You don’t,” says Pochinko. “You guide them. When I say ‘Eileen: Clown,’ what comes into your mind?” I sat for a moment frozen into a self-conscious attitude, hands folded under my chin thinking frantically. “There!” He exclaimed, mimicking my gesture. “What went through your head?” I answered that at first I was panic stricken, then I saw all the different possibilities. “Yes and between the panic and possibilities lies your clown. The panic and the possibilities are universal. If you can learn to laugh at your panic and together we can find a way to express it, then people will identify with it and go through their panic with you and release it.”
Pochinko believed that “every one of us has a clown inside, it’s just a matter of finding the way to it.” His teachings have greatly inspired and guided us as facilitators of play and sacred clowning. They have given us a stronger sense of belief in the power of dancing at the intersection of sacred clowning, the play space and culture change.
Clowning and the Play Space for Culture Change
Often, our daily grind and rituals can feel machine-like, rigid and with little opportunity to deviate from or challenge the status quo, I'm feeling (me, Rehana!) the loud call of the sacred clown and the value of the play-space to tap into this wisdom and shake it up!
When I play, I feel immediately more awake, more alive and attuned, connected to myself and others, connected to my body, joy, hope, humour, possibility and presence. I have been integrating play practices in social justice, community building, and organizational change work over the past 18 years. What I have learned (and keep learning) through the practices of Theatre of the Oppressed, InterPlay and more recently, clowning, is that play is deeply powerful in creating the conditions for transformation. The ancient practices of sacred clowning and play offer pathways to reconnect with more of our wholeness and who we really are with others, while remembering our need for play humour and imagination. They offer us possibilities in these wild times we’re in, facing big unknowns, complex circumstances and the inevitability of our mistakes as we try new things.
My experience is backed up by much research, including a recent study conducted on the practice of InterPlay, which found that more than 80-94% of practitioners felt more energized, connected to joy, ease, creativity and hope after playing. What is interesting when it comes to the connection between play and culture change, is that 85% of people surveyed, expressed that they challenged themselves in the play practice to step outside of their comfort zone and try something different.
What these experiences affirm is that the ancient medicines of play and sacred clowning can support us in these times of awakening and culture change. Clowning and the play-space creates a powerful container and pedagogy that can liberate and expand beyond the confines of cultural conditioning – making space to claim our personal and collective power, to see differently what is possible.
The play-space is the space of possibility, of malleability, invention and creativity. How do we truly move into creating something new if we don’t allow ourselves to play? Without an element of play in the space, we can easily be mired with the way we think things are or should be. We can easily move into cynicism, disbelief, fear, and critique, shutting down our own or others’ ideas. Sacred clowning and play practices help us move into the ‘what if space’ together, by accepting all offers, being present to what is and playing with that, collaboratively. Clowns and improv players are the teachers of yes, and… accepting what is offered with enthusiasm and building upon it, transforming it as they see fit. This is essential practice for the work of our times, working with the reality of what is, to explore what could be, together.
Play/clown space welcomes everyone to show up as they are, and celebrates all as they are. It creates a space of acceptance, that supports us to stretch into unmasking, being vulnerable, authentic and whole. This acceptance is welcome with deep love. On a personal/internal level, this can be deeply healing, as it invites us to accept all of ourselves more fully, including what’s in the shadow, the parts of ourselves that we shame, deny, repress and are afraid of.
Bringing our shadows, or what we repress into the light, celebrating them, and being witnessed and celebrated by others, can have powerful impacts on creating a space of enough psychological safety to share our unique and diverse gifts, perspectives, say what we really feel, take risks, try new things and trust our instincts. When play practice is woven into work culture this can have a powerful effect on creating bonds of trust between teams for authentic leadership, collaboration and innovation to emerge. This can help us to heal from generations of conformity, of following the rules, the script, the external authority that says “this is how it should be done” - creating more space for our inner authority to shine its light. Sacred clown and play practices support us in creating cultures where there is room for a multiplicity of leadership styles and a diversity of perspectives, which is fundamental to support humanity’s collective wisdom to shine through.
In my experience of being a leader and working with leaders - perfectionism is often an obstacle to innovation and collaboration. The idea that we are either right or wrong, and that we should always strive to be right and perfect is deeply ingrained in western culture from schooling, upbringing, and workplace cultures. It’s a heavy burden to carry, and doesn’t serve us in being the imperfect humans that we actually are, doing our best and making mistakes as part of our learning. The clown however, is totally ok with making mistakes, in fact, they celebrate failure as success and know how to make a bird bath out of spilled milk, turn a tragedy into a comedy and to not fear the inevitability of fucking it up, at some point.
What if we could take a tip from the clown and let go of the illusion of perfectionism?
I think it would free up a lot of mental space from judging or shaming ourselves and each other, to accepting ourselves and each other, trying new things, learning from mistakes, surrendering to reality as it is and building upon it.
In this surrender, the clown softens us into being more comfortable with the unknown, open to emergence, moving beyond the intellect as the primary source of understanding. Given the complexity of the challenges we face, part of our work is surrendering to not knowing and being able to work with emergence as it unfolds. Embracing the body, the senses, the intuitive and the emotions as insightful carriers of wisdom, the clown invites us to step into a form of leadership that seeks not to separate mind from body, emotions and spirit but rather to see them all as integrated.
As we navigate these times of change, complexity and unknown, we believe that the play space and sacred clowning are helpful tools to lean into that can inspire more connection, creativity, collaboration, joy and possibility. This isn’t always easy as adults in our busy lives with many responsibilities, and yet -perhaps it’s not as far out of our reach as we may think. Perhaps it’s possible to invite a bit more play and levity into our lives, to see life through the eyes of the child, with a bit more wonder and curiosity. For so many of us, the quest for belonging and connection remains a constant cry in our hearts and play is one of many ways to forge authentic, honest and vulnerable connections that can serve as deep reminders of our interconnectedness. We see this as a spiritual practice that weaves into everyday life, and we invite you to explore who your inner clown is and how play might serve to brighten your life, and the world.
Practically Explore More Clowning & Playing!
Practices
Playing at Work - a 4 part workshop series with Bloom
Clown Workouts - 36 Simple Clown Exercises
Interplay - Online Playshops
Practitioners
Barnaby King - Clown Spirit
Michelle Nicole Matlock - Circle Up Productions
Holly Stoppit - Clown-O-Therapy
Pedro Fabio - Clown training and working with organizations
Jonathon Kay - The Nomadic Academy of Fooling
Mery Miguez - Clown Love
Anthony Trahair - PlayfulLife
Resources
Clown-versations - Interview series with contemporary clowns
Clown Training: A Practical Guide - Jon Davison
How Clowning Can Lead us Into Connection - TEDx Talk - Holly Stoppit
A Clown’s Philosophy - 7-minute video
Imagination and Empathy: The Call of the Clown - TEDx Talk - Kato Buss
What Life was really like as a Medieval Jester - 11-minute video
Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Augusto Boal (Book)
Theatre for Living, David Diamond (Book)
About the Authors
Rehana Tejpar is a facilitator, mediator and coach working with leaders and organizational ecosystems to support culture change towards equity, collaboration, organizational health and creativity. Since 2005, she has been playing with play-based learning and transformation through Theatre of the Oppressed, InterPlay, and more recently sacred clowning. She is deeply serious and deeply playful at once, believing in the need for strategies that include creativity & play as ways to open up the fields of possible transformations, and reconnecting our mind, body, heart and spirit. She is based in Tio:tia’ke/Montreal, on the shores of the Iroquois River and works with Bloom Consulting.
Dan Rudolph is an educator, facilitator and seeker of truth. He is currently living in a monastic setting on unceded Abenaki territory (now referred to as Vermont), professionally practicing mindfulness. During his spare time at the monastery, Dan has been studying clown and offering workshops and doing performances for the community that he lives with. Although relatively new to clowning, Dan is very excited about deepening his practice and exploration and being able to offer this practice/wisdom to others.