BEING MEXICAN WOMEN CLOWNS A special with women clowns from Mexico By Darina Robles1 and the Rede de Palhaças Mexicanas (Mexican Women Clowns Network)
“Sometimes life is not easy”, it is one of the recurring phrases of my clown, Atanasia. I know, like Atanasia, that life is sometimes not easy, but it is wonderful. Atanasia and I know that being a woman clown is sometimes not easy, but it is wonderful. I started to want to be a woman clown in the year 1999 thanks to a book I found in a French library: “Clowns et Farceurs”. When I read the book, my heart was beating fast, I realized, and I wondered laughing: Do you want to be a clown? My heart beat stronger than ever, and with complete astonishment I promised it earnestly: we’ll be woman clown. Returning to my hometown, Mexico City, I did not know where to start. I felt like an apprentice woman clown thrown into space flight. Would I find my clown in outer space? In Mexico I did not know any clowns, I only had the presentation card of the children’s party clown Mágico Margarito who when heard from me: “Margarito, I want to be a clown!” contacted me with the clowns movement of children’s parties. At the same time, I found workshops for clowns at festivals and other workshops that would complement my training as a woman clown. I conducted an investigation into indigenous communities in my country, about their scenic art and humorous characters. Little by little I would meet the few people who were like me in Mexico in the quest to be a clown. I started participating in the spring movement of hospital clowns. In the journey of finding my clown, I would be happy to survive the challenges of navigating a profession under construction. I ignored it when I was told that women can not make people laugh; I was not discouraged when I was told that I should have studied Bachelors degree in circus or theater, rather than art history, to be a woman clown; I resisted when my father refused to accept that I was a clown and introduced me to his friends as a ‘clon’. In 2004, I was able to carry out my intuition that, after all, I could be a professional woman clown. I started training at École Philippe Gaulier. With my master Philippe, I found my woman clown, Atanasia. She was not in 70
Palhaçaria Feminina Magazine