Friday, July 6, 2012

Wow, a Balloon!

I've been thinking a lot about balloons.

My brother told me I should just make a video of me making balloons.  No clowning, just blowing up balloons.  My niece and nephew were much younger then but what he was saying, they love balloons, they never tire of seeing a balloon.

I think of Curious George floating away with a balloon, one of my very early favorite stories.  The 21 balloons, I loved that book so much in 4th grade I read to my children.  The movie UP.  Shrek has one of the funniest scenes of all time when Shrek blows up a frog and Fiona blows up a snake and makes it into a balloon dog.  The image of a balloon seller in Central Park.

We love balloons.

I'm around balloons so much, I could care less about them.  I'm around other clowns that forget what an incredibly special thing a balloon is.  We talk a lot about, cutting off a balloon line.  If we make a very cool balloon, will it get us in trouble when the line gets out the door?  What are the best brands? How do we deal with angry parents?  

We seem to have lost that bit of magic.  I've been thinking a lot about balloons, about Curious George Floating over New York.  About Fiona blowing up a snake and making it into a balloon animal.

If you want to get to the basics of clowning, think balloon.  Just one simple red balloon.  Maybe yellow, your choice.

What can you do?  It's happiness, love, peace, surprise, joy all in one round hunk of latex.

I'm thinking the very essence of clown is hidden right there.  Everyone knows you can blow up a balloon, give it to a child, make it float, use it to decorate, over inflate it and make it pop, forget to tie it and let it fly around a room, make it sound like a fart, let it inflate you, fill it with helium and lose it in the rafter, fill it with water and throw it.  Every 5 year old knows exactly what a balloon will do.

All these things from a child's toy.  A toy every person knows how to play with.  That little magical toy that costs a nickel, can fool you.  It can fool me, while I'm blowing it up and endlessly, endlessly fascinate us.

That's clowning.  So so simple.  So So magical

Wow, a Balloon!

2 comments:

  1. YES! Almost everyone loves a balloon. I ALWAYS pause when I see balloon artists, have made many balloon sculptures, and yet, you are right. Just a little simple balloon can bring joy. And don't forget bubbles!!! Another captivating little activity.

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  2. As a clown, what can you do with one balloon? One bubble? We, who have seen it all, can stop and admire a skill but what is it that the 5 year old in us will stop, leave our world of mortgages, house cleaning and the need to get the oil changed and just smile? Aaargh, you're making me want to write! Next post bubbling in my head right now.

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