Joe Dieffenbacher Teaching Clown in Spain

Joe Dieffenbacher, former director of the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco and the former clown teacher at the Dell’arte School, is teaching some workshops in Spain.  And I’m attending some of them!

I’ve written about Joe before multiple times, see here to see the list, and I’ve known Joe a long time, but I don’t think I’ve ever taken a workshop with him.  I’ve seen a bunch of his work (when I was at Dell’arte he was the janitor of the school, and using the facilities to create shows– later when I took master classes there, he was the master clown teacher there, and  performing on the stage with his solo shows and also with a revival of his incredibly funny street troupe Los Payasos Mendigos.

I later saw him (by surprise) performing with a video game/dance rave aimed at teenagers in Chicago.  Oh, and I saw him on the television as part of the London Olympics.  He’s been all over, he’s constantly working, He recently wrote two books about clowning, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with him and learning as much as I can from him.

Video of Los Payasos Mendigos  (Joe has the mohawk)

Joe Dieffenbacher In Barcelona: February 3-5

Joe Dieffenbacher teaches a workshop on physical comedy and slapstick February 3-5 in Barcelona at Espai Piluso

His class in Barcelona is this weekend February 3-5 at a small studio in Poble Sec (Espai Piluso, which is dedicated to clown and circus arts.)  It’s about 15 minutes from my apartment, but I didn’t even know it existed!  Looking forward to start going (and performing) at shows there as well. It’s a 16 hour workshop over 3 days, and Joe will also be performing a show on Sunday evening in the space.  (I’m not sure if it will be Paper Work or Yes, No Balloons.  I’ve seen conflicting information.  It doesn’t matter, really.  Go see it, you will be glad you did!)
To register for the workshop at Espai Piluso, visit here: https://www.espaipiluso.com/taller-intensivo-slapstick-joe-dieffenbacher/

To purchase tickets for the show, Reserve tickets here.

Joe Dieffenbacher In Zaragoza: February and March

Joe teaching three one week modules in Saragosa Spain

In Zaragoza, Spain, Joe is also teaching a set of three intensives one weeks over the next 3 months.  (Well, next 2 months– the first one was last week)

I won’t be able to make the first two, but I’m happily in attendance for the last module March 20-26.

The classes are meant to be taken as one class separated by some time to rehearse and practice what you’ve been working on.  It’s a really smart model that maximizes the idea of student and creation and invention- you can get energized by something at the class, but if you don’t go away and work on it, you can miss out on the growth.

I’m sorry that I can’t participate in the way it was intended, and am hoping to use the workshop I take with him in Barcelona on the same principle- to take what I work on in that workshop and bring it to Zaragoza for further refinement.

If you’d like to attend the workshops in Zaragoza, visit https://www.ciacirteani.es/escuela-de-clown-y-comedia/.   It’s in Spanish, but you can use chrome and google translate to see the page in English.

STUDY WITH JOE DIEFFENBACHER ONLINE

If you can’t make it to Spain, Joe is teaching online, including an invite only class on February 11, a class for Clown Spirit called The Clown and The Camera.

Joe also is teaching free slapstick classes online Youtube on his youtube channel

Here’s the intro video from that.