16th January – 23rd January 2025 inclusive
(arriving 15th and leaving 24th advised)
Join us for this pioneering course in Senegal and experience West African culture, music and dance. An 8-day workshop to cultivate links with the local culture through working alongside Senegalese participants and offering collaborative performances in the local village or school.
This course works through clowning to take a playful look at some of the conflicts that inhabit our lives, – our own inner struggles, our relationships, our families and our communities. By using clowning and improv with a European and an African participant group we will explore what different cultures and cultural practices have to offer us in understanding, experiencing and resolving conflicts, the different styles and avenues through which we each express anger, sadness and resolve disputes and what our inner clown has to teach us about ourselves.The workshop offers an exploration of our cultural differences around laughter and play, and the clown as expressed in African and Western culture.
Held on the seafront in lush Casamance in southern Senegal, between rice fields and the beach, our workshop space is a round house, simple but comfortable and beautiful, surrounded by a ten-acre grounds with trees and vegetable garden. We only work in the morning leaving you free to visit the region or go swimming at the beach in the afternoon. At night you fall asleep to the sound of the sea, and in the morning you wake to the sound of birds in the bush – or a rooster. It takes five minutes to walk to the beach. Here you will experience an Africa you will never forget.
We are hoping six participants from Senegal will join a group from Europe and North America, but places are strictly limited to 8 from the West, so early booking is recommended!
Click here for pictures of the venue
Facilitators:
Juliet Millican
Juliet Millican is an educator, facilitator and social activist, who works with conflict mediation and conflict transformation in different parts of the world. Trained initially in Freiran approaches to experiential and participatory teaching and learning, she has worked in community and non formal education in Egypt, Senegal, Gambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and India. She has also experimented with puppetry and performance as an educational tool in different cultural settings and lives at Laughton Lodge, a community in Sussex, where she also makes puppets and grows food.
Vivian Gladwell
Vivian is the founder and director of Nose to Nose and has given hundreds of workshops around the world. He lives both in the UK and France where he started clowning in 1978. He speaks French and English fluently.
Vivian began teaching in 1988 as part of the Lifeways Festival at Emerson College – UK. He trained as a facilitator with the Bataclown in 1990 and joined their team in 1991 also working as a modern day Court Jester (Clownanalyst).
He created Nose to Nose UK in 1990, Nose to Nose of North America in 2006 and Fool View, the Social Clowning group and has trained facilitators in the UK, the USA, Germany and Italy – view history.
He continues his role as ambassador for the work by researching the applications of clowning in the context of teacher training, medicine, conflict management, ecology and intercultural work in many countries (South Africa, USA, Senegal, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Italy, Germany, Norway…)
He holds clowning as a social playground for exploring our humanity.
Course fee:
£450 with an early bird price of £390 until 1st November 2024
Accommodation and food costs: 45 euros / day
(if you wish you can arrive earlier and stay on after the course at the same rate)
Accommodation price includes 3 meals a day. Rooms are simple & comfortable, single or shared.
ACCOMMODATION SHOULD BE BOOKED VIA www.sesiboubaksempe.com
The Guesthouse will arrange taxi pickup at Banjul airport (see below) when you have booked. The taxi costs 160 euros return. The price remains the same for one person alone, or sharing.
Payments to be made once there, including taxi money, in EURO CASH.
(there are no nearby banks, so do bring euro cash with you.
FLIGHTS: to BANJUL AIRPORT, capital of THE GAMBIA (2 hours drive)
There are very reasonably priced direct flights with Tui, from London Gatwick Airport, also Manchester & Birmingham. There are also direct flights from Barcelona. Check out other airlines such as Brussels Airline.
British, European, US and Canadian citizens do not need a visa for a stay of less than 90 days in Senegal https://senegal-embassy.uk/visas/
Other national citizens should check status and apply for a visa online
PLEASE NOTE: The border between the Gambia and Senegal closes at 19.00. If guests arrive with a late flight, we can help to book an overnight stay at the Woodpecker very close to the airport. You can contact Anne Berit by e-mail anne.fikerud@hadeland-energi.net for more information.
To confirm your place on the course, please pay the course fee online. This is non-refundable unless we are able to find someone to replace you.
NOTE : After booking you will receive an information pack containing medical and other advice, but please also consult travel advice on: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/senegal