Clown Jam!

Clown work is for any dancer, actor, artist, and being who is human. 

Clown helps you battle your fears and identify and combat your inhibitions as an artist; we’ll target the masks, walls, and defenses we all put up thanks to years of relentless socialization, and we’ll try to lower them. Clown is based in the pursuit of the Clown in all of us: you as the “little one”, the child who wasn’t yet socialized, who wasn't so afraid to fail, the artist with a desire to uncover the messy, the beautiful, the passionate, the mysterious, the vulnerable, and the funny with an intense curiosity. There’s no politeness, no apologizing, no judgement. 

In the Clown Jam, we'll dive headfirst into a series of large and small group, partner, and solo exercises--all designed to get you out of your head and into your body and heart. Get ready to play!

Wednesday, March 5

6-8 p.m.

Professional dancer discounts available**

Justin Cimino received his BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. As an actor, he has performed Off-Broadway and in many other productions in NYC. Justin teaches acting and movement in the BFA Acting Program and Commercial Dance Programs at Pace University. He has directed and taught clowning and devising at NYU Tisch, Columbia University, The Studio/NY, The Public’s Shakespeare Initiative, Terry Schreiber Studio, Smashworks Dance Company, and Terry Knickerbocker Studio. Justin has workshopped his own solo work with Austin Pendleton at the Director’s Company. Justin is the former Artistic Director of Zara Aina, a nonprofit organization that brings devised theater and clowning to at-risk youth and adults in Madagascar and the United States. He was hired by UNICEF to use Zara Aina’s theater work to mobilize communities in Madagascar to fight polio. He has also brought Zara Aina’s work to rural Southern Alabama, building several original pageant-style shows with community members ages 4-84. Justin has devised and directed several productions for his theater company Pigeonholed, of which he is the Founder and Artistic Director. Justin is a recipient of a SUCASA grant from the Queens Council on the Arts, for which he devised an original theater piece with senior citizens. He has devised/directed productions at TheaterLab and The Tank, as well as 3AM Theatre and The 14th Street Y.