Clowndance: Convergences in contemporary dance and theatrical clowning for pleasure-led performer training

This is a practice research project, drawing on my existing professional work across the borders of dance and clown. The central research aim is to develop Clowndance; an innovative pleasure-led approach to physical performer training located at the convergence of theatrical clowning and contemporary dance. Clowndance has been explored and delivered through a series of workshops and intensives, which are documented on the accompanying research website, www.clowndance.co.uk. This written thesis contextualises the Clowndance workshops, locating them in relation to current thinking and practice within the fields of dance improvisation, theatrical clowning and performer training. It articulates how feminist writing on collective pleasure (Segal, 2018) and utopian thinking(Dolan, 2010) influences my work and research focus. I explore current performance practice that combines dance and clown through interviews with eight UK-based artists, to articulate the richness of their work in performance. I highlight its direct relationship with the audience and the ways in which it invites laughter as a route to emotional engagement. I also examine these artists’ creation processes and training journeys, to establish the need for an approach to physical performer training that encourages play and pleasure, and generates the right conditions to make personal and emotionally engaged work. The pedagogic approach of Clowndance draws on the ethics of care (Held, 2005) to support participants ’wellbeing and agency within a non-hierarchical learning space based in liberatory critical pedagogy(hooks, 1994). I critique the boss clown model of clown pedagogy (Amsden, 2016), proposing a feminist, pleasure-led approach which I term the via volupta. The Clowndance studio work is then explored in detail, examining its efficacy in supporting open-ended play and disrupting perfectionistic tendencies in dancers, and developing greater embodiment in clown sand comedians. The voices of participants and my own voice from within the practice are brought into the written thesis through quotations from my journal, participant interviews and the research documentation.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Walker, Katherine

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/cff3ed4e-b99a-47f6-bdc4-8151ef255858/download