While I was in Buenos Aires, I did a little interview with Alegria Intensiva, and you can read it here, IN SPANISH! You can find it in it's original version here.
¿Creés que existe un lenguaje del clown universal? ¡Sí! Lo he visto claramente en mi visita a Buenos Aires y también en varios talleres de clown internacionales en los que he participado. Claro que habrá algunas diferencias en estilo -lo de llevar maquillaje o no, por ejemplo- pero definitivamente hay lenguaje de clown universal. ¡Nos podemos entender por todo el mundo! Hay reglas de clown muy específicas como ‘ser auténtico’, por ejemplo, que son intrínsecas del arte de clown, son universales y muy difíciles de encajar. ¿Observás un criterio común entre la ONG en la que trabajás y Alegría Intensiva en lo que respecta a la tarea del clown de hospital en ámbitos vinculados a la salud? Hay muchas similitudes entre el trabajo de Hearts and Minds y Alegría Intensiva y muchos de las ONG’s que vienen de la filosofía del Big Apple Circus en Nueva York. El corazón del trabajo está en usar el arte de clown para hacer conexiones valiosas con los seres humanos que pasan tiempo en un hospital (sea niño internado, padre, hermanos, enfermera, doctor…) para mejorar la experiencia del niño, mano a mano con los profesionales de salud del hospital. ¿Considerás importante la formación de los artistas que desarrollan este tipo de tareas? Para mí, la formación de los artistas es imprescindible. Trabajar en los hospitales es una tarea muy complicada. Aparte del trabajo artístico que hacemos, tenemos que ser muy respetuosos del entorno hospitalario — las reglas de control de infección, por ejemplo, los ritmos del trabajo, dónde detenerse, dónde no, qué niños se pueden visitar, quién necesita estar en la sala ahora… Yo no podría confrontarme con todo eso sin tener un alto nivel de formación artística. Incluso con formación artística y en cómo comportarme en un entorno hospitalario, mis primeros meses en el trabajo de Payasa en Hospital fueron muy duros. Me da miedo pensar que haya gente haciendo este trabajo sin la formación adecuada. Tambien está el tema de la formación de Clown específicamente. La técnica de improvisar, escuchar profundamente, la disponibilidad a cualquier juego, la disponibilidad del cuerpo, al juego, el ‘Sí’, cuando juntamos todo esto (y mucho más) se convierte en una herramienta muy poderosa, y específica. No se trata de buenas personas que quieren ayudar a los niños enfermos. Somos artistas de clown que podemos ayudar por las habilidades que hemos aprendido. ¿Qué piensás sobre la supervisión del trabajo de los artistas? La supervisión de los artistas es súper importante. Es extremamente difícil mantener y desarrollarse como artista solito. Los artistas profesionales están acostumbrados a tener un director. Bueno, no podemos tenerlo todos los días, entonces las parejas en Hearts and Minds hacen una crítica al final del día -hablando de las visitas, de qué les ha gustado, qué podrían mejorar. Pero tener un ojo artístico afuera es imprescindible e importante para mantener un nivel alto y para asegurarse de que estamos haciendo lo que decimos que estamos haciendo. Por eso nuestra directora artística nos hace visitas en hospital con regularidad. También es muy importante la supervisión emocional de los artistas. Tenemos que asegurar que nos mantenemos sanos y felices en el trabajo. Mi supervisión con Hearts and Minds es el único tiempo en que puedo hablar del trabajo y realmente ser entendida. A veces pasan meses antes de que me doy cuenta de que un niño, o una situación, me han afectado. A veces no me doy cuenta de que me he visto afectada hasta la supervisión, y a veces no sirve hablar solamente con mi pareja. Cuando trabajas con niños tan enfermos y vulnerables, y cuando lo haces en una manera abierta, auténtica y honesta a veces hay que hacer un poco de limpieza emocional. También lo veo como una buena manera de apoyar a mis compañeros, verlos afuera del hospital, hablar del trabajo y de las dificultades o los éxitos artísticos. ¿Qué impresión te llevás del trabajo de Alegría Intensiva, tanto a nivel artístico como en relación al capital humano? Tengo la impresión de que son como unos rayitos de luz pasando por los pasillos de los hospitales de Buenos Aires, llevando música y risa y ternura a mucha gente que lo pasan muy mal. Está claro que Alegría Intensiva tiene mucha integridad artística. bueno, mucha integridad en general. Son muy respetuosos del entorno en que trabajan, y he visto muy buenas relaciones con los profesionales de salud con que se relatan. Hacen un trabajo importante, rodeado de gente haciendo trabajos importantes.
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Also in the BBC Horizon documentary, a lovely reminder of the benefits of laughter.
Sophie Scott (you can watch her TED talk here) explained that when we laugh, we are 'accessing and ancient, evolutionary system that mammals have evolved to make and maintain emotional bonds and to regulate emotions'. She explained that we are 30 times more likely to laugh when we are with somebody, and that we are more likely to catch laughter when we know the person laughing. We use shared laughter in stressful situations to help us to physically relax, and to show that, 'if we can laugh together, we will be ok'. The benefit of laughter when you are sick and in hospital, or living with dementia, or with complex learning disabilities is instinctively clear - we know for ourselves that we feel better and more relaxed after a good, spontaneous laugh. Robin Dunbar's research (you can read his paper here) has gone further to explain how laughter releases endorphins, which raise our ability to ignore pain. "When laughter is elicited, pain thresholds are significantly increased, whereas when subjects watched something that does not naturally elicit laughter, pain thresholds do not change (and are often lower). These results can best be explained by the action of endorphins released by laughter." Researchers believe that the long series of exhalations that accompany true laughter cause physical exhaustion of the abdominal muscles and, in turn, trigger endorphin release. (Endorphin release is usually caused by physical activity, like exercise, or touch, like massage.) Other academics sited in the programme were: Robert Provine, author of 'Laughter: A Scientific Study' Robert Levinson Jaak Panksep All of the academics on this programme seemed united in their belief that humour helps us cope with pain, stress and adversity, and that we are much more likely to laugh in company than on our own. Good news for us Healthcare Clowns! Last night I watched 'Horizon: Jimmy Car and the Science of Laughter' on the BBC. A really interesting look at why we laugh, what its function is for us as individuals and as a society, and - and this is what I really loved - what makes things funny.
Peter Mcgraw explained his theory on what makes things funny, and I think it is exactly why hospital clowns are funny. there is a diagram to prove it. Mcgraw's theory is that humour occurs when: 1. A situation is a violation (something seems wrong) 2. A situation is benign 3. The two things happen simultaneously He gave an example in relation to physical comedy: 1. Falling down the stairs and hurting yourself (a violation, and not funny) 2. Walking down the stairs (benign and not funny) 3. Falling down the stairs and being unhurt (a benign - violation, and funny!) "A Benign-Violation points out what is wrong with the world and comments on it in a way that is acceptable to the audience." In his TEDx talk, Mcgraw explains the nuances of how to reduce a 'Violation', and why some people find things more funny than others. Basically, everyone's Venn diagram is different. So in relation to Healthcare Clowns, it might look like this: 1. A doctor in a hospital (benign - not funny) 2. A clown in a hospital (violation - not funny) 3. A Clowndoctor in a hospital (benign-violation - funny!) OK, a clown in hospital might be funny - but my point is that the parody of the 'Clowndoctor' makes the humour a lot stronger. Our flexibility and ability to improvise means that from interaction to interaction we are able to temper the benign-violation to suit the individual and the situation - to lessen or increase the violation to make it funny for that person. For example, a visit with a young child who is a bit shy might look like this: 1. A beautiful song (benign - not funny) 2. A squeak/sneeze/pop/bump (a violation - not funny) 3. A beautiful song interrupted by a squeak/sneeze/pop/bump (Benign-violation - funny!) Whereas a visit with a child who has been in hospital for a while, and is familiar with her surroundings might look more like this: 1. Sick bowl on the table (benign - not funny) 2. Clowndoctor using the sick bowl (violation - not funny) 3. Clowndoctor wearing the sick bowl as a snazzy hat (benign-violation - funny) 4. Drip stand (benign - not funny) 5. Clowndoctor messing with the drip stand (violation - not funny) 6. Clowndoctor introducing herself to the drip stand as a fellow doctor (benign-violation - funny) Breaking it down like this makes it seem like we are making active, intellectual decisions whenever we do anything, but really, the training that we have means that finding the appropriate 'benign-violation' comes quickly (most of the time!) and 'instinctively'. (and by instinctively, I only mean that that is the way it feels when it works, and this comes from training and experience, not some sort of magic aptitude). So basically, Healthcare Clowns go around hospitals, healthcare units, care homes and dementia units creating benign-violations wherever they go! In fact, Clowns ARE benign-violations! Before we even DO anything! The reason that I came to Buenos Aires in the first place was the law that was passed in August last year, 'Incorporando al sistema de Salud la labor del payaso de hospital' (Incorporation of Hospital Clowns into the Health System). From the UK it seemed extremely exciting - were hospital clowns really so valued by society that their presence in hospitals should become law? Was this something that had been campaigned for by children, parents, doctors, healthcare staff? Had hospital clown organisations in Buenos Aires been lobbying parliament?
None of these things (my experience of the integration and perception of healthcare clowns here has been very similar to that at home). So why was it approved, or even tabled in the first place? Apparently, nothing more than a last minute project of Ruben Dario Golia at the end of his term in office - having watched Patch Adams, and fallen in love with the concept, it was an uncontroversial and populist move. An easy law to get passed. But far from celebrating, Alegria Intensiva instinctively saw it as a potential disaster for Hospital Clowning. They made sure that they were involved with the consultation process, and got to a place where they were at least happy that it was 'sensata' (sensible). It now ensures that Hospital Clowns should be fully trained, professional clowns who have further training in the specifics of healthcare clowning, and that they are paid. For Alegria Intensiva and other hospital clown ONG's working in similar ways in Buenos Aires, it was important to protect the professionalism of Hospital Clowning. They saw that a law that didn't have this at its heart would surely open the floodgates to undertrained people, and however good their intentions or big their hearts, this could only be damaging for the reputation of the profession. Even in its current state, Mariano Rozales (Director, Alegria Intensiva) maintains that the law would only serve 'para que la gente nos odie', (to make people hate us), 'When the basic priorities of society are not being met, the hospital clown law would only serve to destroy the profession'. Healthcare trade unions are fighting all the time for adequate resources and working conditions in the province of Buenos Aires. Any law that appeared to prioritise Clowns over healthcare staff would be a disaster, however well they were doing their job. As it happens, soon after the law was was approved, but before the regulation process, the Government changed hands, and when the new Governor came into power, they declared the sate of Buenos Aires to be 'quebrada' (broken). The Hospital Clown law of the province of Buenos Aires is currently so far down the list of governmental priorities it will likely never see the light of day. And as far as Alegria Intensiva is concerned, that is cause for great relief. What would a similar law, or endorsement from Government mean for us in the UK? When I first heard about it - compulsory Hospital Clowns! - it seemed like the pinnacle of societal acceptance. After all, government approval should come as a response to the needs and wants of it's people. But of course, a law being passed, that has not come from that place, is at best, meaningless, and at worst, damaging. As it is, Hospital clowns in the UK do have access to children's hospitals, and have done for over 10 years. Being in hospitals is not the issue. It is more the general, societal view of what we do as a profession, a tool in the box of other integrational healthcare therapies, that I am personally interested in increasing. |
AuthorI am a therapeutic clown and performer. Writing here is part of my wider practice and maybe some of my thoughts will trigger some thoughts of your own and I hope that helps. Archives
September 2024
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