SF’s Ensemble Dynamics Workshop w/ Emmy Winner (Church of Clown)

You never perform alone. Whether you’re working with fellow performers or the audience, every performance is an act of ensemble creation.

In this three-hour workshop, you’ll explore practical tools for strengthening your role within an ensemble. Drawing on techniques from clown, bouffon, dance, and improvisation, we’ll begin with exercises in breath, active listening, and response—tuning attention to the subtle rhythms that connect performers on stage. From there, we’ll explore the dynamics of stepping forward and stepping back, and investigate the beautiful impossibility of mind reading in performance.

Through playful, physical exploration, participants will practice noticing, supporting, and shaping shared moments of performance. The focus is not on controlling the scene, but on breathing with it—building it together in real time.

Participants will:

• Practice techniques for breath awareness, active listening, and responsive performance

• Develop awareness of when to step forward, support, or make space within an ensemble

• Explore physical and improvisational tools drawn from clown, bouffon, and dance

• Strengthen their ability to build shared moments without relying on predetermined outcomes

Gain strategies for collaborating with both performers and audiences in live creation

Slater Penney (they/he) is an Emmy award–winning performer and creator working at the intersection of physical theatre, dance, clown, mime, and puppetry. With training spanning UC Santa Cruz, the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and an MFA in Dramatic Arts from UC Davis, their work blends rigorous technique with playful, imaginative storytelling.

Slater has been performing professionally since the mid-1990s, with appearances ranging from immersive theater and devised performance to international festivals and even TEDx. In 1999 they answered an ad on craigslist for an audition at Tech TV, and one year later they’re getting an Emmy Award for “Body Performance for Motion Capture”.  In 2004 they auditioned with broken fingers for a puppetry gig, and then went on to perform with Liebe Wetzel’s “Lunatique Fantastique” for nearly a decade.  And in 2010 Slater teamed up with ex Cirque du Soleil clown Jaron Hollander to make a ten minute improvisation about being in a submarine, and 4 years later their original work “The Submarine Show” grew to 75 minutes of madcap physical comedy and has toured widely, including a run at the Edinburgh Fringe and beyond.

Slater is known for creating expressive, character-driven performances that often rely on minimal text, exploring humor, vulnerability, and the strange edges of human behavior. Alongside their performance career, they are an experienced teaching artist and facilitator, working with students and communities of all ages and backgrounds to build confidence, creativity, and physical awareness through movement-based practices.

Email Programs@ChurchOfClown.org for code after registering for your first class, or for scholarship/payment inquirie