Clowning around: Award-winning clown 'alley' offers workshop with a professional clown
Indian River Colony Club is “the place patriots call home,” but it is also the home of award-winning clowns. IRCC’s Colony Clowns snapped up the “Alley of the Year” title at the 40th annual World Clown Association convention this year. For the clown-challenged, "alley" is the term given to a grouping of clowns.
“Every year, the World Clown Association presents an award to that one special clown alley that stands above the rest,” noted the World Clown Association website. “It is not given lightly to just one alley.”
Colony Clowns have hearts as big as their noses and feet, for they volunteer to entertain at nursing homes, daycare centers, the Red Nose Reader program for underprivileged youth and more.
“We perform from the heart,” director and founder Louise Carnesale said.
Carnesale, who is officially registered in clown books as LuLu, got hooked in the world of pratfalls, balloon art and bubbles after wandering into a clowning class in a New York community college. The former nurse, social worker, Air Force vet and mother of 14 has been an amateur clown since 2014, performing at local hospitals and a facility caring for children with AIDS.
She directs 30 to 40 IRCC clowns ranging in ages from 65 to 90.
Riding high on their recent award, the Colony Clowns will host the crème-de-la-crème of clowns, Singapore-based Edmund Khong, for a two-hour workshop at 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 10.
“Edmund chose us to come here as he wanted to meet the Alley of the Year,” Carnesale said.
After leading a private workshop in Miami, Khong is headed to Viera as the final stop on his current tour. His class will cover subjects such as "basic bubbleology," "walkaround comedy magic" and "visual silk." What is that, you may ask?
Bubbleology is entertaining with bubbles, life-size to small. Walkaround comedy magic involves working the room, going around to engage all members of the audience. Visual silk involves using silk cloths as part of the show.
Anyone interested in clowning is invited to attend the event, because as Cole Porter once noted, “all the world loves a clown…and you’ll always have the last laugh.”
For the IRCC Colony Clowns, clowning is a noble art.
“Clowning is more than just dressing up,” Carnesale said. “It’s learning to play a character and do it well. It’s putting smiles on faces, and knowing we send them home talking about all the fun they had.”
If you go
Clowning workshop with Edmund Khong
Where: Indian River Colony Club, 1936 Freedom Drive, Melbourne. Attendees are asked to enter through the community's main gate off Murrell Road and proceed to Colony Hall.
When: Sunday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m.
About: Clowning skills, including basic "bubbleology," walkaround comedy magic, and visual silk
Admission: $20
Info: 321-600-4790
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Clown skills like 'bubbleology' and 'visual silk' taught at workshop
