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**************** CONNECTIONS - training workshops at Sutton Courtenay, near Oxford **************** CLOWNING - A WAY TO BE TRUE Sunday 3 October with Sharon Usher Through the clown archetype we can rediscover that inner quality of innocence, simplicity, wonder, creativity, spontaneity and play . The clown is the innocent truth teller, the naïve yet imaginative dweller-on-the-edge, and the heartful fool that makes all our big concerns tiny and the inconsequential huge. The clown is the modern day fool at courtı, making the undiscussible discussible in truthful, light and kind ways that enable deep shifts to happen with ease. Clowning is also a great way to have fun! During this day we will experience the emergence of our inner clowns and explore how that constellation of beingı can throw light on usually unexpressed or ignored dynamics and collective energies. Come dressed for free movement, with soft shoes if you have them. Sharon lives and works in The Sutton Courtenay Abbey community and is an organisational consultant and clown. Her background has been in client-centred consultancy, gestalt in organisations, community building and process oriented approaches to group work. She has also trained in the sacred art of clowning with Didier Danthois and in clown improvisation with Vivian Gladwell. She sees the clown as a personal liberator and as a vital energy in todayıs organisations. LET'S MAKE AN OPERA! Sunday 24 October with Richard Morton A re-staging of the special event postponed from last February in which groups will work collaboratively to create their own opera on a basic storyline. It will also focus on opera as an art form and how it all comes together. Singers, would-be singers and non-singers are all welcome. This event will combine the creative experience of making an opera with a study of the group and interpersonal processes which that involves. It presents an opportunity for singers and non-singers alike to experience opera from the inside. The group will be offered a ³seasonal² theme on which to build an operatic story of their own choosing and, with coaching and other input from Richard, create a short opera which will be performed later in the afternoon. Although music will thread the plot together, there will be opportunities for mimed and spoken parts for those participating. And, at suitable points, we shall return to review progress and study how the various processes are contributing to the end product. It would be useful to have a range of propsı, so please bring anything you think might contribute, musical or otherwise. Richard, from the unlikely surroundings of a much-loved Yorkshire mining town, describes himself as ³pursuing a journey of artistic discovery which is happily incomplete². His career has taken him from Kingıs College, Cambridge to the Royal College of Music and several years as a principal tenor with Welsh National Opera. He directed three recent major productions of Oxfordıs Opera Exchange PERSON, PAIR, GROUP AND FIELD Sunday 14 November with Gaie Houston Gaie Houston hopes with the help of participants to experiment to find more ways of educating children and adults about the underlying emotionality which largely determines behaviour in different configurations of group. Arguably these skills are underdeveloped, and the fear that results leads to primitive, or at least inchoate responses, in social, professional and political fields. By noticing our responses to different tasks and group sizes, and giving ourselves time to reflect, it is hoped that we can begin to put together some ideas of how to bring this neglected area of education into active life. No special preparation is required, beyond open mindedness, and patience with the facilitator! Gaie first studied group behaviour with NTL (National Training Laboratory) in the U.S., has written the Red Book series, one on leading small groups, and Being and Belonging: Group, Intergroup and Gestalt. NEAREST AND DEAREST Sunday 5 December with Anne Dale Families, like the poor, are always with us. Personally, the family is our first experience of a group, our first source of learning about self, others and the world. It is part of who we are in the world. As a social institution it is variously idealised, vilified, seen as being in need of defence and restoration in crisis or dying. It is one of the foundations of society and it is certainly changing. In this workshop we will experiment with a variety of activities and exercises to look at the families we come from, the families we create and maybe imagine some possible futures. You are invited to bring images of family from literature, art, the media - or from your own life. Anne is a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. She has run, and participated in, groups of many different kinds over many years and currently organises the programme at Cortijo Romero in southern Spain. With a background in sociology, she is particularly interested in the interaction between the individual and society. BOOKING The fee for each event is £40 (waged), £20 (unwaged) when paid on the day BUT only £30 and £15 if payment is received at least 10 days before any event. You can book for all three events for an inclusive price of £60. Please return this slip to: David Jaques, 7 Stanley Road, Oxford OX4 1QY We do not normally confirm bookings. Please assume, unless you hear to the contrary, both that you are welcome and that the event is on. But do let me know- donıt just turn up! I wish to book for the following workshops: Clowning Person Pair Group & Field Nearest and Dearest Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .......... Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Post Code . . . . . . . .. Email. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phone Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I enclose a cheque for £ Please make cheques payable to ³Connections² NB. Because we operate on a break even, non-profit basis, we do not normally return fees in the event that you first book and are then unable to attend. However we do hold the fee over for a future workshop. And if you reserve a place on email that will be taken as a firm booking and you will be invoiced accordingly. David Jaques Educational and Organisational Consultant 7 Stanley Road Oxford OX4 1QY Phone/Fax (0)1865 203255 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%