Clowning with Kindness

Name: Clowning with Kindness
Start: 2025-09-21T00:30:00+10:00
End: 2025-09-21T06:30:00+10:00
Location: Eddy Ct, Abbotsford VIC 3067, Australia

Schedule

Sun Sep 21 2025 at 12:30 am to 06:30 am

UTC+10:00

Location

Eddy Ct, Abbotsford VIC 3067, Australia | Melbourne, VI

https://www.trybooking.com/DFATG
This is a new workshop offering from me, Amaya. It’s a synthesis of my last ten years of curious enquiry into the wonderful world of clown. I love this work! I believe clowning can be a gateway to healing and transformation — it certainly has been for me. In clown I found a place where my weird, awkward, queer, neuro-spicy self not only made sense, but, even better, made people laugh and helped me see myself, others and the world in a different light.
I want to share that joy and curiosity with others — to offer a space where you can explore, play, and maybe find a different perspective too. I am not sharing from the place of “the expert,” but rather as a fellow adventurer and passionate guide in realms I enjoy.
Unlike traditional clown trainings — which can sometimes feel boot-campy, harsh, or judgmental — this workshop leans into kindness. We practice unconditional positive regard, celebrating quirks, mistakes, and vulnerabilities as clown gold. Through grounding movement, embodiment practices, witnessing, and dialogue, we create a space where your inner idiot can breathe, stretch out, and revel in play. And let’s not forget — it’s really fun. Fun is good. Good for you, us and the world.
We live in this intense culture of overstimulation, disconnection, and relentless pressure to perform and produce. Clowning offers another way: a practice of softening, of remembering our interdependence, of choosing play even when things feel hard. In times of crisis and urgency, laughter and pleasure aren’t luxuries — they’re acts of resistance. To gather in kindness, to be silly together, is to reclaim our shared humanity and return to the world more resourced, more tender, more alive.
This workshop is designed to feel inviting for beginner clowns, but truly, there’s a beginner in all of us. Whatever your background, we’ll benefit from the mix of life and clown experience in the room.
https://www.trybooking.com/DFATG
Logistics:
Duration: 6 hours with a 1 hour lunchbreak and some tea breaks ( for balance!)
Location: Djerring centre, Eddy Ct, Abbotsford ( Next to Collingwood town hall and near Collingwood station and library)
Cost: Mob tix: $0, Low income: $50, Those who are able: $70. No one turned away for lack of funds, please email to discuss. You choose your price point! No questions asked.
What to bring: Comfortable clothes, curiosity, and a willingness to explore. No prior experience required.
Food: I invite you to bring food to share for a shared picnic. There is a microwave onsite. Please bring solo food if that’s what you need to do too. There are some eateries nearby if you want to purchase food. Bring water and snacks for yourself. I will provide tea and biscuits!

About your facilitator, Amaya (They/Them):
Amaya is an artist of life living on Wurrundjeri/Woiwurrung country. They began their clown journey in 2015 at the John Bolton Theatre School. They were part of queer comedy troupe POPOMOCO. Amaya has studied clown/ physical theatre with Giovanni Fusetti, Matteo Destro, Clare Bartholemew, Deanna Fleysher, Alicia Gonzales and Paul Bourke, among others. They are currently being mentored by Anne O’Keefe of Alchemy Dance. Nearing completion of a Masters of Social Work at RMIT, Amaya maintains a strong passion for social justice, trauma-informed practice, and creating spaces where play, connection, and kindness flourish. They are also a parent of a small clown maestro.
This workshop will be taking place on stolen land. I would like to acknowledge the traditional and ongoing custodians of this land, the Wurrundjeri and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respect to Elders, past, present and emerging. I commit to do all I can to continue the process of restorative justice and decolonization. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.