Friday, November 10th 2017

Dr. Be Bopper & Dr. Dazzle

No wonder I have yet to know what it’s like to perform on all the floors scheduled in a single full day of Clown Rounds from beginning to end.  Each new partner brings a treasure trove of talents, tendencies and style.  Discovering these in each other is a massive part of this work and I am on a vertiginous learning curve.  Being new and learning new partners takes TIME.

Today’s treasure is Dr. Dazzle, who could not be more positively kind, supportive or delightful.  She LOVES music and singing, LOVES children and LOVES play.  She’s  adorable, kind, silly, fun and is definitely in love with this work.  And boy did we discover some adventures today.  For example:

Our attempts to play in the doorway were met with grumpiness from the adorable four year old girl in bed, while her six year old sister is not pleased either.  Going out on a limb that maybe “Frozen” is in their realm, I offer up my best “Reindeers are Better Than People;” a funny lullaby which -wouldn’t you know- ends up lulling Dr. Dazzle to “sleep.”  There she stands with her head drooped forward, snoring, and I have an idea.  I stage whisper to the girls the little known fact that Dr. Dazzle can be hypnotized.  I suggest some commands, and sure enough this little voice peeps out from the bed, “Wake up, Clown!”  Dr. Dazzle comes to life and I demonstrate instructing her to touch her nose, hop on one foot and… the girls are off to the races, squealing giggles with their new found power.  “Stop touching your nose!  Put your foot back down!  Stop smiling!  Frown!  Smile!  Take off your hat!”  Who knew Dr. Dazzle is so fabulously obedient while hypnotized?  She drops back into a snore, they hit her with “Wake up Clown!” once more, and she mysteriously feels quite refreshed without any awareness of recent happenings, wink wink.  Silly clown.

I don’t remember exactly how we beat our retreat this time -although exits are an  important part of the work- but as far as I can tell, putting two little girls 100% smack-dab in charge of the whole situation for a few transcendent moments was everything to me.

♦