Mediaboss Marketing

Updated January 19, 2017 09:14:28

Two married clowns who met while performing and teaching children in an Afghanistan circus are now capturing the imagination of families in Melbourne with their latest project about growing up.

New York-based couple Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone met in Kabul while performing and setting up a circus project to train Afghan adults and children in the art of clown skills and comedy.

"Two clowns meet in Afghanistan - it sounds like a joke," Bloom said.

"You hope in a country that has so much struggle that such a project can succeed and continue, so I went back on and off for about three months every year to train Afghans and then they took over and it's still running."

The couple also worked in other conflict-ravaged areas around the world.

The pair initially trained adult performers to use comedy to spread awareness about important social issues like land mine dangers and malaria prevention.

Gelsone said because she was female, she was able to teach acrobatics and circus skills to girls, who were not usually permitted to use the gyms.

Bloom said he was inspired by the children's determination.

"My favourite part of working there is that ... five years into it the children who were learning circus skills and performing in schools around Kabul came and said, 'Hey, we don't want to just do juggling and acrobatics, we want to do educational shows for other school kids," he said.

"The best part about circus and arts is that it lets you dream, it lets kids have a childhood.

"A man I worked with said, 'sometimes laughter is more important than food' and by the last year I was working there, I understood why kids might not eat but come to the circus.

"Because they want to have fun and dream of a better Afghanistan."

The pair is currently in Australia performing their show Air Play at Melbourne's Arts Centre.

They use giant balloons, billowing plumes of silk, confetti and umbrellas to weave a story of young siblings growing up.

"We call it a visual poem of childhood," Gelsone said.

"The audience is so participatory that the story that they see is also a little bit of them."

Bloom added that it was about a brother and sister, or two friends, growing up together and leaving - a rite of passage within real families.

"But our story is open to interpretation: someone came to our show and said, 'It's so contemporary, you're bringing everything with you in your suitcases, it's about immigration!' so that was her story," he said.

"We like the audience to come and sit and meet us half way with their imagination."

Topics: community-and-society, melbourne-3000, vic, afghanistan

First posted January 19, 2017 06:33:17

Read the original:
After clowning around in Afghanistan, Social Circus performers bring latest Air Play show to Melbourne - ABC Online