Beyond Knowing It All

By Randy

The famed UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, who led his collegiate team to numerous national basketball titles said this: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” Oh, that statement sometimes hurts.

I remember when I first began my clown adventure. I clowned for a few years, with strong praise coming from my audience. I thought, after a few years, that I had really attained a level of expertise. Granted, I was connecting with my audience for the most part, but there was so much more to learn that I was totally unaware of.

I remember watching a parade in Minneapolis. A clown was there that had on flesh-colored make-up! I was astounded. “All clowns aren’t totally white?!” What a shocking revelation that was to me at that time. I thought I had known it all, and I didn’t even know that auguste clowns existed.

The next year I attended my first UW-LaCrosse Clown Camp. I loved it and I hated it. I primarily hated it because it was a rude awakening to me to see how much I really did not know. That hurt. But, though the statement is quite over-used, it’s still true: “No pain, no gain.”

I had to put myself into a place that would challenge me if I was going to grow any more. I had to get past “knowing it all,” and truly become a student going beyond the standard answers and digging deeper in the depths of principles, concepts, patterns and reasonings. I’m still digging there.

I decided that I no longer wanted to have a “puddle” to draw from. Let me explain: I realized that I had a broad base of knowledge. I could cover a little of almost every topic, but I could only go about an inch deep! I was clowning, and TEACHING, from my puddle of knowledge. (To those who attended my early classes, I formally apologize.) The richness and the strength of performance (and teaching) comes from having depth; a depth of knowledge, a depth of character, a depth of understanding, and a depth of experience.

Your audience may enjoy splashing in the puddles for a while, but the true adventure is taking them out deep enough where you & they can swim!

After now clowning for twenty-six years, I continue to look for learning opportunities where I can grow, and stretch (ouch!), and learn. I used to look for material and concepts and bits of business that I could add to my current paradigm. Now, I've found that often I'm learning things that don't even FIT my paradigm! I'm learning NEW approaches that others are using. There are times that I find others are doing it better, and make more sense, than the approach I had held fast to for so many years.

An example of this would be the training time I was able to spend with Avner Eisenberg and Julie Goell at the Celebration Barn Theatre. Honestly, it was painful to realise how little I knew. And that was after clowning for more than twenty years!

I'm now convinced. To continue to grow in our artform, we must reclaim for ourselves humble and teachable attitudes. If you “know it all” then you aren’t exposing yourself to the vast amount of learning opportunities that are available through books, tapes, videos, online and conferences. I encourage you to avail yourself of learning opportunities and absorb solid clown material that will challenge you to think, learn and grow.

To find out more about the training opportunities that I'm involved with, go to www.RandysInfo.com or check out www.nextstepworkshop.blogspot.com