" The 10 Rules of the Clowns", A Music-dance-theatre piece about Clowns

Gunda Gottschalk: Komposition, sowie Konzeption Geige / Improvisation
Simon Camatta: Schlagzeug / Improvisation
Sebastian Gramss: Kontrabass / Improvisation…
Matthias Muche: Posaune / Improvisation

Four « clowns », each of them with a very personal background:
Jean Laurent Sasportes: Visual directing, dance and clowning
Mieke Stoffelen: clowning
Felix Bürkle: dance and juggling
Luise Kinner: acting and clowning

and a string sextet from the Schoenberg Ensemble of the Music conservatory of Wuppertal, featuring:
Sebastian de Jesus Lara Franco - Cello
Robert Wheatley - Cello
Catarina Rodriguez - Cello
Enrique Carlson - Violine
Christine Schäfer - Violine
Miriam Bathe - Violine

--  direct link to Video Trailer
--  direct link to Press Reviews
--  direct link to Photos Exhibition. ------- Photos Exhibition 1  ------- Photos Exhibition 2   ------- Photos Exhibition 3

------------ About the " 10 Rules of the Clowns "

Gunda Gottschalk is a very interesting and famous musician of the improvised international music scene. I enjoy very much working with her and, since many years, we had many different cooperation experience together (« Romeo and Juliet », many various improvisation performances, W.I.O. Wuppertal Improvisation Orchestra).
In 2016, Gunda told me that she had the big desire to create a dance-theatre musical piece about clowns. The musical part will be based on the music that Nino Rota wrote for Fellini’s movie « The Clowns », but very open to improvisation. The text «  the ten rules of the Clown » will be our guide-line, but at this time it was just a vey vague idea. If this idea will come to reality, I was supposed to do the directing and choreography, and be as well one of the clowns..
So two years later, after an intensiv and hard work of financial and facilities support searching, Gunda announced me that it was so far and the « big desire «  could become possible.
The puzzling side of the story for me, was that I will only have five rehearsals day possible with all the four clowns together!.. We had a few meetings and rehearsals before this final week, but, because of everyone’s schedule, it was impossible to have even one of those meetings with the four clowns and the four musicians together. So no need to tell that this was very different of my usual way of working and I was quite worried before the last week began.
Well, so strange as it felt for me, the ideas and scenery material that we all proposed came quite spontaneously and I could quite quickly get a timeline of scene which finally matched very well with one another. From that point, the evening slowly took form and life.
I learned from that experience, that sometimes it is good to trust the intuition and let things happen.
------- Jean Laurent Sasportes

Die 10 Gebote des Clowns - The ten Rules of the Clown - (Hervé Langlois)
1. Everything will be fine.
2. To find the freedom, you should look for the restriction.
3. You should always be her now, and never be late.
4. You should not be sure of anything, but should never doubt.
5. You should say yes to all, also when you say no.
6. You should live without protection, and open your arms to all what comes.
7. You should always be relaxed, alive and elegant.
8. To find the big thing, you should search for the small.
9. You should never stop half-way.
10. You should be loudly thrilled about all.