Why Charity Should Be Important to Any Clown

Have you ever had that feeling of pure joy, a feeling that you are doing something for a purpose? Let me tell you something, there is absolutely nothing that brings me more joy than visiting kids in hospital that are not feeling the best. To walk into that room which is usually associated with hurt and sadness and see a little face light up is truly heart warming... "Are you here for me?"


Very gentle I am. I tread with care, making sure that every child is comfortable with my entry. Any sign of despair and I back out and offer balloons from the door. They usually accept and warm up to me within seconds. I must always remember that I am entering their little world of problems, so I need to be fully aware of their feelings at all times. It always seems to play out the same, a small smile from the corner of the mouth, a quick look to mom like they are asking permission to be happy at this sad moment. It does not take long to get the stamp of approval from the child, giving me the opportunity to be show them that yes… I am here for them.


The movie ‘Patch Adams’, has always been an inspiration to me. Yes I look utterly stupid and clumsy as I walk into doors and play with the hospital equipment, but if I glance over my shoulder I’m sure to see a child giggling away.
One of my favorite balloons to make is ‘Zimbo’ s Super Sword’. This is one of the larger swords in my inventory of balloon ideas. I tell the child that this sword is to protect them from those nurses next time they come in to visit. Sure enough, as I’m entertaining another child down the hall I hear a shriek from the nurse followed by a hysterical giggle from the child. (whistle) it was not my idea :)


I don’t always spend all my time in the kids ward, many times I end up running around the hospital entertaining the nurses and doctors. They deserve to smile too.


I am honored to be a hospital clown, the smiles and giggles leave me all gooshy inside. The visits allow me to recharge my week with warm, fuzzy feelings. It brings me so much more joy than any paid job. I don’t plan on throwing in the towel any time soon.

Take Care
Zimbo the Clown

Clowning as a Career in South Africa?

Have you ever been called 'the class clown' , or do you enjoy being the center of attention?

We all know how hard it is to keep ahead of interest rates here in South Africa. Almost all of us need a second job to survive. Do you want a job that does not seem like HARD WORK? If entertaining kids is something you have a passion for then you might as well get paid for having fun.

This is how I, Zimbo the Clown started clowning all over Johannesburg. I took my passion and ran with it and the results have been more than rewarding. There are a few criteria s to meet, and if you treat clowning like its 'just another job', then you are sure to fail. Your heart needs to be motivated in order to succeed in this very in-demand job.

Why should I consider being a clown?

• In South Africa clowning is an open market that not too many venture into. With hardly any competition this leaves a wide open gap for you to be welcomed into this fun and friendly world. Clown stick together and will help one another.
  
• After the first couple laughs and smiles you will feel wonderful.
• To be a clown their are rules and requirements, however if your heart is in the right place you can easily be trained and ready to perform in as little as a couple of weeks. However it does take a few years to perfect your skills.
• Its a wonderful job to consider as part-time, you only have to book one or two parties per weekend.
  
• When it comes to expenses, you are sure to make up the cost of your costumes, balloons and magic after as little as two jobs.
• You may never get a ticket again after being pulled over for speeding :)

What does it take to become a clown?

• It is essential that you have a passion for people, most of all a gentle nature towards children.
• You are there to make a fool of yourself and not other people
• You have to be tolerant and open to stares, laughs and criticism. Children will tell you exactly what they think of you so you need to take it all as a positive advise on how to improve.
• Patience, Patience, Patience
• It is important to keep your acts up-to-date and constantly changing. As you get popular you will start to see the same kids so you don't want then seeing the same old tricks
• Be open to learn new tricks, new balloon shapes, new skits. Wherever you go, always look for new ideas to add to your act.
• Don't be afraid to do charity work.
• You must have a professional mindset, Clowns are professional entertainers.
  
• YOU HAVE TO ENJOY YOUR JOB - OR DON'T BOTHER

What is covered in the training?

• You will be shown how to build a clown character you will keep forever.
• You will be trained on the clown essentials like twisting balloons, basic magic, skits and face painting.
• You will be taught on how to interact with children and the rules and regulations involved with entertaining children.
• If you meet all requirements you may be chosen to work alongside Zimbo the Clown or join the troop at Clowning Around.
  

“I don't want to be called 'the greatest' or 'one of the greatest'; let other guys claim to be the best. I just want to be known as a clown because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything-sing, dance, and above all, make people laugh.” ~ Red Skelton

If Clowning sounds like something you wish to do and you live in South Africa with a valid ID book, please call Zimbo the Clown on 084 597 7655 for more info. Training classes begin on 4th September 2008.

Keep Clowning Around
Zimbo the Clown
www.clowningaround.co.za

Simple Clown and Simple Fun

In today's world of kids birthday parties, a lot of weight is put on the parents to go out of their way to make their party the most impressive party of the year... but who is this really for? Believe it or not, the hype of a huge party is usually something the parent has worked their child up to. If the parent has decided that a huge amazing birthday party is the way to go then this is what a child will expect, but be warned, a child's expectation way be much more than what you had in mind. Their imaginations might very well out do yours. This can lead to a disappointment on the child's part when the party is not as WOW as it should be.

Having said this, maybe it is a better idea to keep the party simple. I can assure you that your child will be happy with whatever you decide so long as your heart is into the project and you are not running around like a chicken without a head. Smaller, simple parties allow you to spend more time with your child and less time worrying about the donkey in the flowers.

As Zimbo the Clown I have had much experience in the dynamics of what makes a good party, after all, the kids tell me exactly what they think of a party. I make it a point to ask every child about their day and how much fun they are having. So here are some first hand tips to an awesome, simple, cost-effective party.

First of all make sure there is enough food and make sure you put some out before the party starts. Don't put out all the food at once as it might get chowed before all the kids arrive.

Be sure to get a jumping castle to keep the kids busy as they arrive, if jumping castles are out of your budget then have some soccer balls or hoola-hoops for the kids to play with. Kids want to play the minute they walk in the door, so be prepared. If it is summer then the swimming pool works as a great pre-party activity, blow up a few floating animals and balls and the kids will do the rest.

About an hour into the party is the time for the kids party entertainer to take over. Whether it is a Clown with his wonderful balloons or a Magician with a bit of walk around magic, these are trained professionals who will no doubt keep the kids occupied. The most important tip for the parent is to stay involved with the entertainment. If you look excited then the children will pick up on this and they will have a wonderful time.

After the kids entertainer has met all the kids then allow them to put on the show. Have an area where the kids can sit on the floor and a small table for the entertainer to put his magic or tricks on. It is important that the parents help to control the kids during this time. If a child is trying to get their hands into the magic box then it is the parents duty to put the child in line not the entertainer. The entertainer may tell a joke about a shark being in the magic box, this is a hint to the parents that the child needs to be controlled.

After the Magic Show is a good time to do the birthday cake and sing. Have all the kids gather around the table or even better sit at the table. Have the knife ready... you will not believe how many times the candles are blown out and then mom has to run and get the knife. The clown or magician will be happy to help cut the cake while you click away with the camera.

If you have a Magician then your time is probably up after the cake cutting. If you have hired a Clown then you can go the extra hour and have them do some face painting. Again, have a table and two chairs available for this. Please note that clowns and entertainers do get thirsty so during the face painting might be a good time to hydrate them. Entertainers are not there to eat all the food but a little snack/drink will sure keep him/her fresh and at that point they will very well appreciate it.

After the second hour is up the clown or entertainer will be heading out and its time to start winding down the party. By this time the kids now have full tummies and are probably running around looking like super hero's and princesses. Get the party packs ready as the kids will soon be leaving. Allow the birthday child to open a couple presents or all the presents Play some 'pass the parcel' type last minute games. Last of all let the air out the castle, take a deep breath and smile. You have just pulled off a fantastic party.

Take Care
Zimbo the Clown

Choosing The Right Birthday Party Entertainer for Children Aged 4 - 8 Years Old

Engaging a good professional entertainer for your childs birthday party is almost a sure-fire way of making the party an enjoyable and successful one. But what type of entertainer fits the bill, the most important consideration is the age of your birthday child.

If he/she is between 1- 3 years old you may want to keep things simple. Children of this age are generally unpredictable and there is no cookie-cutter formula on choosing the right entertainer for children of this age. Children of this age tend to have shorter attention spans and varied temperaments. On the other hand kids aged 9 -12 consider themselves all grown up and usually scoff at what they consider kiddy forms of entertainment. But if your kid is between the ages of 4 - 8 then he/she is at an age where they are old enough to understand jokes and enjoy fun-filled interactive games or activities with lots of movement. This makes hiring an entertainer for kids in this age group easier and more worthwhile for all.

When it comes to hiring the entertainer the many people think of hiring a clown. Clowns are bright colourful and perform weird tricks that make people laugh. No clowns are not magicians but they sure have a great time trying to be one. Clowns are also masters of face painting, after all, they have plenty of practice on themselves. Clowns also have the ability to keep children entertained for a longer period of time so keep this in mind if you are planning a fairly large party. Another highlight of any clown is balloon twisting, wonderful colourful balloons that take the shape of whatever your child's imagination will allow.

Another popular choices of entertainers to consider for your kids birthday party might be a magician. Magicians specifically those specializing in children audiences are common choices as kids party entertainers. Good kids magicians perform bright and colourful magic such as producing a huge bouquet of flowers from an empty vase or making colourful handkerchiefs appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. Magic is a popular choice of entertainment for children because it gives the children a sense of wonder where they can suspend their disbelief. When a magician makes an object appear disappear or float in front of their eyes it lets them believe that such things are possible and that they may one day be able to do such things as well. It inspires creativity and wonder that is only lacking in today's modern world. If you looking for a magician check his experience and ask how he intends to tailor his show to cater to your young audience.

Jugglers are fast becoming a popular entertainment choice at birthday parties. Their sublime juggling skills combined with entertaining routines make them a hit not just with the kids but the whole family. Jugglers who perform at kids parties are usually prepared to demonstrate different kinds of juggling skills. They may also juggle with different items such as balls clubs rings and more. Their props are usually brightly coloured to give them more visual appeal as there is nothing more eye-catching than seeing a juggler keep 3 or 4 different coloured balls in the air at the same time. Some jugglers also involve the audience in their routines making the show audience participative and fun for the whole family. It is also not uncommon to see jugglers who combine elements of magic into their show as well. As with magic shows juggling shows require the audience to appreciate the skill that the performer is exhibiting. Younger children may not fully understand or realise a jugglers skill while older kids may tend to get bored after a while seeing the same performer attempt to juggle different things. However a good performer will be able to make his her routines entertaining enough and engaging enough to suit most kids of different ages.

Puppeteers or Ventriloquists add an extra dimension of fun to any party. Kids love to see a funny looking puppet animal telling stories and cracking jokes. Puppets also make the entire show look bigger as it appears that there is a cast of performers rather than just one performer doing the show. This is one of the main reasons ventriloquist shows are a hit at parties.the classic image of a ventriloquist is usually of a performer sitting on a stool with a wooden dummy on his or her lap performing with that character throughout the show. However many ventriloquists these days perform with brightly coloured foam or latex puppets instead and they usually have more than one puppet character in the show.

This adds an element of variety to the show which is crucial for keeping kids engaged. Some performers also add more interactivity to the show by getting the puppets to interact directly with the kids and crack impromptu jokes with them. A ventriloquism puppet show is versatile enough to entertain almost all kids and even adults. Younger kids will be captivated by brightly coloured talking puppets while older kids will be able to appreciate the jokes and interact with the puppets. A ventriloquism puppet show is something that can be a fun for the whole family. The good news is that these days you dont just have to settle for one or the other. There are professional birthday party entertainers who provide multi-dimensional performers. So the next time your kid has a party consider looking for a magician , a ventriloquist, a clown or a expert juggler... the choice is yours!

Clowning Around - The Essence of a Clown

"Comedy has had no history, because it was not at first treated seriously." – Aristotle

Where does one begin to find the essence of the clown? This is a figure so well recognised by all of us and yet, what do we really know about our white-faced friends? For instance, did you know that the first week in August has been declared International Clown Week? In honour of this larger than life character, this archetypal human expression, we went digging around for a few facts about these farcical folk.

The English word ‘clown’ comes from the Old Icelandic, klunni, which denotes a clumsy person. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a clown is “a familiar comic character of pantomime and circus, known by his distinctive makeup and costume, ludicrous antics, and buffoonery, whose purpose is to induce hearty laughter. The clown usually performs a set routine characterized by broad, graphic humour, absurd situations, and vigorous physical action.”

Clowns do all that and then also a little more. They heal, they scare, they mock, they amuse. White faces; red noses; painted smiles absurdly exaggerated; wee little hats with a daisy sticking up; braces barely bolstering puffy pants... They tumble from tiny cars and trip over their outsized shoes. They know every trick in the book and they live for a roar of laughter from the crowd. They fool about and clown around and mostly we don’t think much about them.

Yet, they are the keepers of the sweet spot on the human psyche – the part that sees the absurdities and tells the truth, the part that is not afraid of being hurt or embarrassed or of showing emotion. Clowns represent at the same time our greatest vulnerability, fragility even, and the robustness that enables us to get right back up again every time we fall. Similarly, they hold the dichotomy of our innocence, the child within that never grows up, as well as the wisdom that enables us to see through the farce.

Clowns have always known what educators are only cottoning on to now: humans learn best while laughing. Clowns are never mean: the joke is always on them. When they make elaborate and conspicuous plans to make fun of someone else, the joke always backfires. Sometimes literally. Clowns are courageous: in ancient times at the royal court, clowns (or jesters) were the only ones who dared to contradict or criticise the king. Clowns are multi-talented: not only can they tickle the funny bone but they often juggle, walk tightropes, ride unicycles or tumble from trapezes while doing so.

"Wearing underwear on the outside of your clothes can turn a tedious trip to the store for a forgotten carton of milk into an amusement park romp." – Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams

The exact origins of the clown are lost to us but this archetypal character has sprung up in all cultures and nationalities across the face of the earth. John Cech, a clown expert, points out: “The Zunis of the American Southwest had a name for this creature: he was called the Contrary. He appeared at all the most sacred festivals, dressed in a striped costume and wearing a cone-shaped hat. His job was to make fun of serious things, to call attention to the absurd, impossible side of our experience and thus to complete a kind of cosmic circle. He reminds us of that other shadowy, tricky, wobbly side to our nature. He was supposed to do what you aren’t supposed to do – fall down, eat the wrong things, say the wrong things, behave the wrong way.”

Across the globe, clowns came to entertain and gently confront in many different guises and under many different names. There is the Arlecchino, or Harlequin, from Italy; the Pierrot from France and that most intrepid of the species, the Rodeo Clown from the United States.

Clowns are also differentiated by their type of costume, make-up and performance. The whiteface clown, one of the most well-known of modern clown types, uses make-up to exaggerate their facial features and expressions rather than modify or conceal them. The grotesque clown, on the other hand, uses exaggerated make-up and costumes, such as a large nose and a skullcaps to dramatically alter his or her features. The character clown adopts a specific common character, like a butcher, a policeman, housewife or hobo. The Auguste clown is self-important and displays every appearance of dignity. Auguste clowns often work as part of a duo and their counterparts always get the better of them. Since the Auguste clown so obviously thinks of himself as smart, superior and wise, when the joke is on him it is doubly funny.

"I remain just one thing, and one thing only – and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician." – Charlie Chaplin

As an expression of the human psyche, the archetypal clown is associated with three major characteristics: making people laugh, making them cry, and wearing a mask that covers the clown’s own real emotions. “The Clown reflects the emotions of the crowd, making an audience laugh by satirizing something they can relate to collectively or by acting out social absurdities. In general, the messages communicated through a Clown’s humour are deeply serious and often critical of the hypocrisy in an individual or in some area of society. Because of the mask he wears, the Clown is allowed – indeed, expected – to cross the boundaries of social acceptance, representing what people would like to do or say themselves,” says Carloline Myss in her book, Sacred Contracts.

Psychologically speaking, the clown of course also has a dark side, which finds expression in cruel, personally directed mockery or betrayal, specifically by breaking the confidences gained through knowledge from the inner circle. This shadowy clown type is in reality distressed by his or her unconscious lack of power and is often driven by greed or an inordinate desire for fame. It is this dark aspect of the clown that sometimes inspires a phobia, known as coulrophobia. Most discussions on this inordinate dread of clowns seem to agree that the most fear-inducing aspect of clowns is the heavy make-up that, accompanied by the bulbous nose and weird hair colour, completely conceals the wearer’s identity.

"Everyone who goes to a job he doesn’t like is a lot weirder than I am.” – Dr. Hunter "Patch” Adams

Performing clowns, however, portray the good in this archetype. They are, for the most part, honourable folk with pure intentions and a firm grasp on integrity. Within the clown community there even exists an informal code of conduct that also protects the individual clown’s informal right to a costume, makeup and other unique performance attributes that must not be infringed by other clowns. In Britain, in recognition of The Code, each clown has their own clown face painted onto an eggshell and no two eggs can be alike.
One of the best known and most benevolent modern day clowns must surely be Hunter “Patch” Adams, whose story was told so eloquently by Robin Williams in the movie, Patch Adams. A qualified medical doctor, Adams became increasingly convinced of the relationship between wellness and environment and, subsequently, the healing power of laughter. Adams still works tirelessly to provide better, more affordable healthcare in an environment more condusive to healing.

And so, if you are looking for a reason to become festive this August, why not let your inner clown come out to play? Since laughter remains the best medicine, you would be doing your mind, body and soul a kindness. Heaven knows, we take life so seriously – fretting about anything we can lay our weary minds on. In honour of the ancient tradition of fools everywhere, this August, let us clown around a little.