Welcome to the Movement for Clowning Hub!

This hub explores the embodied dimensions of clowning through movement, breath, physical theatre, presence, and body awareness. It brings together recordings, reflections, and learning resources that investigate the body as a source of expression and discovery.

Inside, you’ll find explorations of embodied clown practice, movement improvisation, the poetry of movement, physical theatre practices, somatic approaches, and the relationship between body, space, rhythm, and presence.

The hub offers both inspiration and practical insight for anyone interested in the physical and embodied foundations of clowning, performance, and creative practice.

Masterclasses

Below are four incredible masterclasses from leaders in Healthcare Clowning!

Olivier Hugues-Terreault

Olivier is a healthcare clown, performer, and facilitator who co-founded Dr. Clown in Montreal, and helped pioneer healthcare clowning in Canada through improvisation, empathy, and compassionate play in care settings.

Watch Olivier's Class

Patrick van den Boom

 Patrick van den Boom is an internationally recognized healthcare clown, performer, and trainer known for his work bringing improvisation, presence, and compassionate play into healthcare environments.

Watch Patrick's Class

Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday, known internationally as Slappy & Monday, are a comedy and healthcare clown duo who use physical comedy, music, and improvisation to entertain and educate worldwide. They are co-founders of The Laughter League, bringing therapeutic clowning into hospitals and camps, while also training performers and helping establish clowning as a tool for connection, wellbeing, and care.

Watch Dick & Tiffany's Class

Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday, known internationally as Slappy & Monday, are a comedy and healthcare clown duo who use physical comedy, music, and improvisation to entertain and educate worldwide. They are co-founders of The Laughter League, bringing therapeutic clowning into hospitals and camps, while also training performers and helping establish clowning as a tool for connection, wellbeing, and care.

Watch Dick & Tiffany's Class

Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday, known internationally as Slappy & Monday, are a comedy and healthcare clown duo who use physical comedy, music, and improvisation to entertain and educate worldwide. They are co-founders of The Laughter League, bringing therapeutic clowning into hospitals and camps, while also training performers and helping establish clowning as a tool for connection, wellbeing, and care.

Watch Dick & Tiffany's Class

Raquel Gendry

Raquel Gendry is a healthcare clown, performer, and educator best known for founding Narices Rojas Ecuador and training hundreds of medical clowns who have impacted hospitals and communities across Latin America. She has also collaborated on hospital clown research with the University of Southern California and currently works as a hospital clown in France while directing Les Grands Nez Rouges.

Watch Raquel's Class

Olivier Hugues-Terreault

Olivier is a healthcare clown, performer, and facilitator who co-founded Dr. Clown in Montreal, and helped pioneer healthcare clowning in Canada through improvisation, empathy, and compassionate play in care settings.

Watch Olivier's Class

Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday, known internationally as Slappy & Monday, are a comedy and healthcare clown duo who use physical comedy, music, and improvisation to entertain and educate worldwide. They are co-founders of The Laughter League, bringing therapeutic clowning into hospitals and camps, while also training performers and helping establish clowning as a tool for connection, wellbeing, and care.

Watch Dick & Tiffany's Class

Embodied Practice in Search of the Clown

 Embodied practices such as breath work, release techniques and grounding can hold the key to unlocking and sustaining the flow of emotion that makes clowning so powerful (and hilarious!).

This panel talk brings together 4 artist-pedagog-creators, each with 20 plus years of experience, to speak about the role of embodied practice in their journeys as clowns and clown teachers. In clowning we often value being “honest” and “vulnerable” on stage. The clown shares openly with the audience precisely what most of us try to conceal.

How do we enter this state of open honesty? How do we sustain contact with our audience while feeling all that the clown feels? How to we exit this state and return to our life offstage? What effect does this have on us when we get there?
 

Clownversations

Below are some amazing Clownversations with leaders in Healthcare Clowning! Scroll to see all of them.  

Articles

Below are some research articles about healthcare clowning. 

This research summary examines the integration of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit (CCU) into pediatric hospital care, drawing comparisons between clown doctors and traditional shamanic healers.

This study examines perceptions of therapeutic clowning in a children’s hospital in southern England. Overall, the findings suggest that therapeutic clowning is widely valued as a supportive practice that enhances emotional wellbeing in pediatric care settings.

This meta-analysis examines the role of hospital clowns in the care of ailing children, drawing on a 7-year research project conducted in Sweden. The study utilized qualitative interviews with 51 individuals, including clowns, medical staff, children, and parents, to gain a deeper psychological understanding of these encounters.

Elder clowning is a psychosocial intervention in long-term care that uses empathic, adaptive clowning to build connection with people living with dementia, supporting wellbeing across cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioural domains through meaningful interpersonal engagement.

This summary reviews empirical research concerning the effects of humor and laughter on physical health, as discussed by Rod A. Martin.Overview of Research Findings

This study explores the role and impact of clown doctors in an acute pediatric hospital setting, where admission is often stressful for children and families. Using observations, interviews, and focus groups with children, parents, staff, and clown doctors, it provides a detailed account of their work. 

Welcome to the Movement for Clowning Hub!

This hub explores the embodied dimensions of clowning through movement, breath, physical theatre, presence, and body awareness. It brings together recordings, reflections, and learning resources that investigate the body as a source of expression and discovery.

Inside, you’ll find explorations of embodied clown practice, movement improvisation, the poetry of movement, physical theatre practices, somatic approaches, and the relationship between body, space, rhythm, and presence.

The hub offers both inspiration and practical insight for anyone interested in the physical and embodied foundations of clowning, performance, and creative practice.

Masterclasses

Below are four incredible masterclasses from leaders in Healthcare Clowning!

Olivier Hugues-Terreault

Olivier is a healthcare clown, performer, and facilitator who co-founded Dr. Clown in Montreal, and helped pioneer healthcare clowning in Canada through improvisation, empathy, and compassionate play in care settings.

Watch Olivier's Class

Patrick van den Boom

 Patrick van den Boom is an internationally recognized healthcare clown, performer, and trainer known for his work bringing improvisation, presence, and compassionate play into healthcare environments.

Watch Patrick's Class

Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday, known internationally as Slappy & Monday, are a comedy and healthcare clown duo who use physical comedy, music, and improvisation to entertain and educate worldwide. They are co-founders of The Laughter League, bringing therapeutic clowning into hospitals and camps, while also training performers and helping establish clowning as a tool for connection, wellbeing, and care.

Watch Dick & Tiffany's Class

Raquel Gendry

Raquel Gendry is a healthcare clown, performer, and educator best known for founding Narices Rojas Ecuador and training hundreds of medical clowns who have impacted hospitals and communities across Latin America. She has also collaborated on hospital clown research with the University of Southern California and currently works as a hospital clown in France while directing Les Grands Nez Rouges.

Watch Raquel's Class

Olivier Hugues-Terreault

Olivier is a healthcare clown, performer, and facilitator who co-founded Dr. Clown in Montreal, and helped pioneer healthcare clowning in Canada through improvisation, empathy, and compassionate play in care settings.

Watch Olivier's Class

Masterclasses

Below are four incredible masterclasses from leaders in Healthcare Clowning!