Mumbai: 15 Indian artists to perform at clown festival

Its tough to put a number on how art can touch ones life It could be a mellifluous beginning to the day setting you in the mood to sail through the rest of it It can be therapeutic when you decide to work on that unfinished canvas And when sustained over a period of time engaging with the arts can be empoweringRupesh Tillu has seen the trajectory unfold in his work with the children of sex workers in Kamathipura A part of Clowns Without Borders Sweden CWBSE a nonprofit organisation that takes performances to those living in adverse conditions the world over the actordirector first staged an act for the kids in 2012Swedish director Susie Wimmer seated with her Mumbai teamThrilled they requested for an encore and when the team returned with another performance they asked if their mothers could watch it too The following year the partner NGO requested the team to teach clowning skills to the kids and this time the mothers were in the audience while the children performed Earlier this year six of these young girls were chosen to perform at a festival in Poland followed by a tour in SwedenKids from these backgrounds carry a lot of rage within But clowning and humour have such power that you find the strength to fight your circumstances without getting angry And when you learn to laugh at yourself nobody can laugh at you says Tillu Seeing the success of the Kamathipura project he decided to take the art of clowning to other cities in India The result is the monthlong Laughter Per Kilometre project a collaboration between CWBSE and Tillus Red Nose EntertainmentRehearsal in progress at the Matheran residencyThe project will pan out in four stages the first of which is underway in Matheran where five trios of artistes selected from Mumbai Pune Delhi Kolkata and Chennai have been brought together for a 20day residency Two master clowns trained in physical theatre clowning or mime with decades of experience from Sweden one each from France and Germany and Tillu are heading the trios to direct five performances which will be staged at the Internal Clown Festival of India in Mumbai The festival will feature expert talks on clowning while in the first half of the second day underprivileged children from Versova will be invited to watch the showSome of these artistes have limited or no background in clowning and fall in the age group of 22 to 45 years The idea was to have a diverse group explains Tillu Theatre artiste Ankita Nikrad who is part of Tillus Pune team adds Most of us dont know each other nor are we familiar with the languages others speak But that isnt a barrier The language of clowning binds us The residency begins with a common session led by one of the directors It is followed by a mime class after which the group breaks into their respective teams to work on their actsThe Laughter Per Kilometre teamWhile the team from Delhi will bring together clowning and music in their performance the Chennai artistes will put up a clown war against mosquitoes Tillus team will present a clown perspective on Kalidass Shakuntala Every director has their own approach We focussed on working together as an ensemble first and once that happened the playfulness just came Because naturally we are all playful Its the societal conditions that make us serious people he sharesStage three of the project involves the artistes returning to their respective cities to perform with an array of NGOs in a period of seven days For the final stage Tillu with his colleague Vijay Sharma will travel to these cities to conduct evaluation workshops and seminars to chart out a path for bringing more kids under the fold of the initiative mdash something that Nikrad is most excited about These 20 days have really helped us hone our acts We dont want to perform at a grand level but we want to keep reaching more people through frequent performances she saysInitiatives such as these should run on their own affirms Tillu The idea of making India laugh needs to go on foreverOn December 8 and 9 4 pm to 10 pm AT Harkat Studios Andheri WestLog on to insiderinEntry Rs 200 onwards Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates