Clown workshops
Fraser is a popular clown teacher at Circus Schools and Theatre Festivals worldwide and for twelve years was the regular clown tutor at The National Centre for Circus Arts in London. In 2009 he rewrote the clown module unit for the UK BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts. Now resident in New Zealand he juggles his year performing and teaching around the world.
Since the pandemic he has been working in schools and running evening classes for adults in Wellington. He concentrates on rhythm and play and specialises in teaching effective methods of how to give great feedback. Fraser has a huge library of clown books and clown related films which provide an invaluable resource for every class.
School clown workshops
All his workshops are based on rhythm and play and he teaches how to craft improvisations into comic routines. For younger students he uses lots of simple physical games that are about connecting, responding and listening to each other. He encourages playful strategies that embrace failure as much as success and the students quickly learn how to make room for their friends to succeed. In Wellington he has been working closely with a school counsellor delivering confidence building workshops for young people.
“With our year 6 and 7 tamariki, Fraser led a series of workshops designed to cater for all children and also be loads of fun. Through interactive drama games, comedy gags, and physical theatre, children became more confident about expressing themselves non- verbally, and also interacting with each other. We were especially pleased to see children on the margins stepping up and wanting to get in amongst the action.”
Charles Bisley
Associate Principal
Kelburn Normal School Wellington NZ
References
“With the support of my amazing school Rāroa Normal Intermediate School in Wellington, I approached Fraser to combine our areas of expertise to develop a skills/confidence group for intermediate age students, which he embraced! The groups have run in 2020 and 2021 for six consecutive weeks. Fraser is talented and brilliant to work with. The wide variety of theatre skill based activities Fraser facilitated, enabled students to build or find strengths, push themselves, be challenged, make new connections, build social skills, build confidence and most importantly have a truck load of fun! I hope to collaborate with Fraser again in the future.”
Viv Dalrymple
School Counsellor/Kaiwhakamahereora
Rāroa Normal Intermediate School Wellington
“I have been teaching for a long time and can not recommend Fraser Hooper’s clown class for kids highly enough. Fraser has the rare ability to truly captivate children as he is highly knowledgeable, clear in his teaching, funny and calm. With very few props he breaks down complex clowning concepts into manageable steps and then gives ample opportunity for the children to practise these skills. His workshops are hands-on from beginning to end and my class loved every minute!”
Ruth Cooper Deputy
Principal & Year 7 – 8 Teacher
Kahurangi School Wellington NZ