“The Josephine Baker Exercise” the great Clown exercise for Women… and anyone.
The Josephine Baker Exercise is situated in my method’s chronological template The Four Articulations for Performance,
The final section of The Four Articulations is whereThe Josephine Baker Exercise occurs. That final section named The Path of Honor. There are 9 exercises in The Path of Honor starting with: The Laurel & Hardy; The Buster Keaton: Charlie Chaplin the Entertainer; The Lucille Ball/Vivian Vance Exercise; then comes The Josephine Baker Exercise; etc.
Each exercise demands physicality and acting. Each exercise demands complete concentration and creative involvement by the actor. Each of The Four Articulations exercises are valid and valuable for movement, creativity, acting, clowning, teaching, directing, and for generating new material.
Photo. Paris workshop with Ira. An improvisation for four.
I am currently in a process of writing a few blog/essays on this site, as well as an article to be published in a few months. The list of 100+ blog/essays and each link is provided at the end of this one.
In this blog/essay’s case, I am in the midst of reading a biography of Josephine Baker. The author interviewed over 400 people who either knew Josephine personally or knew of the various places and events of significance in Josephine’s life and career. Yesterday while reading there were two performances mentioned and I wanted to see if there was any footage of those two. There isn’t. However I did find a fine short conversation with Josephine and an TV host. That conversation is below at the end of this blog/essay.
The book and the video motivated me to write about The Josephine Baker Exercise.
The book is “Naked at the Feast” by Lynn Haney in 1995 and my copy is the republished version of 2002.
The Josephine Baker Exercise is by intention non-verbal. Not that an actor can’t speak if they felt so inclined. In my work I do not have rules. I always have explicit structures and instructions. Those are all in the book Clown Secret’s chapter 2. With any of the exercises, ideally – once an actor is very familiar and has tried the exercise perhaps six or a dozen times – can then stretch the parameters of structure and instructions. After ‘stretching’ perhaps six or a dozen times, then, I highly recommend that an actor return to the pure structure and instructions as originally proposed. By such practice the actor’s insights about themselves and their instincts and creativity will explode their very own intellectual limits.
Each exercise in The Four Articulations is deceptively simple just as is ‘nature’.
Photo. Ira Seidenstein in soiree at end of teaching and directing a workshop.
The Nature of Clown
After spending 3 hours with Sweden’s great clown Nils Poppe at his home I made a saying “If you can tell me where a wildflower comes from then I can tell you where a Clown comes from”. A great clown such as Nils Poppe is an act of nature. Each, wildflower and great clown, come from a deep nature source. That source is also cosmic. As far as my method is concerned, its purpose as I see it is to ‘align one’s stars’ in a very grounded way. The Four Articulations is a direct conduit for that purpose. The Four Articulations template is a major tool to learn or practice “How To Think As A Clown“. I also refer to The Four Articulations as “How To Think As A Clown“.
The Josephine Baker Exercise reminds of her greatness as a Clown, Woman, and Artist. It also reminds of her deep source as a person. We don’t imitate her in the exercise. We emulate her. We honor her. She, in essence via this exercise thus honor’s us as we emerse ourselves in the structure and instructions.
The specific instructions are provided step-by-step in the bookClown Secret, chapter 2. That chapter provides the step-by-step instructions for each exercise of The Four Articulations for Performance. The book is available electronically online in one minute. The book is available via online booksellers as print-on-demand in paperback, or via ebook.
The Josephine Baker is the only one in The Four Articulations which intentionally uses a ‘clown nose’. There are a few Auxilliary exercises which use a ‘clown nose’. Each of the ‘clown nose’ exercises has a different dramatic premise. Each uses a ‘clown nose’ in a different way. That is a cult buster ploy to break the ‘cult of clown’.
The Josephine Baker Exercise is uniquely situated to allow the actor to discover how pathos in Clown operates. It is also for the viewers benefit to witness the Art of Pathos. When you get Clown Secret via Kindle ebook or print-on-demand and if you want to learn the exercise for yourself, or to share with colleagues, or to teach or use for rehearsals or creating material you are welcome to write to me after you have tried it via the given instructions in Chapter 2. My email is
The Path of Honor, and, the Auxilliary sections of The Four Articulations also have specific exercises referencing women clowns. However, ALL exercises can be done by anyone. Note that as mentioned elsewhere in my writings I suggest that the Art and Field of Clown is based firmly on a “Matriarchal/Patriarchal Lineage of Clown.”
In the short interview below you can bear witness to Josephine’s pure lineage of pathos. Her sense of pathos shares her soul along with joy, humanity, and her inimitable coy playfulness.
Part 2 of Norway conversation below.
Here is the link to my 100+ Blog/Essays
https://iraseid.com/ira-seidenstein-blog-of-100-blogs-title-with-each-link-i-s-a-a-c/
See also I.S.A.A.C. Creative Mentorship link below:
https://iraseid.com/creative-mentorship/
3 minutes video of Josephine Baker 1927. Two scenes.
The following quote is a Comment from a documentary Diana Ross on Josephine Baker – Diva on Diva. via youtube.
5 years ago (edited). I had the immense privilege and the honor to have worked with Miss Baker in 1975 @ Bobino. I was the youngest dancer in the cast . The show was called “ Josephine “ It was based on her life story celebrating her 50 years in show business from her humble beginning in St Louis to her triumphant comeback in Monte Carlo ….She used to call me “ her little page “ (Son petit page )cause of my age ! I just turned 18 th on April 1st 1975. luckily for me I have tons of memorable pics from the show as well as unforgettable stories of this short but amazing Run . ! She was extremely engaged with all of the dancers like a second mother . Wanting to know everyone ‘s names Josephine really truly care about people She was a true legend immensely talented beautiful ,elegant ,generous , humble & kind . She would bring oranges for the entire company saying “ My children you need lots Vit C for strength and energy “ She was so right cause the rehearsals were long and grueling ,,,. Bobino ‘s stage was too small to accommodate a cast of 8 boys 12 girls 3 comedians 1 little girl (who played young josephine ) and 1 gorgeous dancer who performed the famous banana dance ….so they had to transformed the stage by expanding it ; including putting additional seats in the theater and building brand new dressing rooms to accommodate such a big cast all while we were practicing in the lobby of The theater. ! It was bit chaotic to say the list & quite cold being mid -February But no one seemed to care cause it was so exciting to be part of this legendary show ! None of the big Paris music ‘halls like Le Casino de Paris ,Le Moulin Rouge or les Folies Bergére wanted to take the risk producing Miss baker mostly for insurance purposes There were already rumors circulating of her failing health but finally a small theater on Paris left bank called Bobino took a chance …Josephine liked to rehearsed late at night after we were done .She even enjoyed having her favorite dish Spaghetti bolognese around 1 am at a restaurant right across the theater. I will never forget the 1 st time I saw her performing once the stage was finally ready. That night She was in the audience watching us dancing with huge smile on her face applauding many times throughout being so proud of the cast. After all she was watching part of her whole life story in front of her eyes. … In fact during the promotion of the show a French journalist asked her. “ How does it feel to be the starring in a musical retrospective of your own life story ? She replied “ it’s wonderful ..At least i will get to see what they think of me when I am still around !!!! I When we were done the director Andre levasseur said “ josephine c ‘ est a vous “ she jumped on stage and belt a song from the Brazilian number called” Que c‘est bon de vivre” She seemed to be completely possessed by the rhythm of the Afro Cuban sound very reminiscing of “Princess Tam-Tam “ all those years earlier Her moves were so unbelievable. Her body was in perfect shape specially in her Chanel suit !!!! There is No way you would have guessed that this beautiful lady was in her late 60 ‘s. A goddess still !!!! What thrill for me. A true MASTER CLASS ,,,,,,, I ‘ve enjoyed this documentary immensely specially listening the immensely talented Andre Levasseur speaking so kindly about her I just wanted to make few points . We rehearsed the show for about 1 month and half . We actually did more than 4 performances. We started with one week of previews on March 25 th with a special Press night on march 31 st to glorious reviews ! We had another full week of performances with a big opening gala on April 8 th with stars like Grace Kelly Sophia Loren & Alain Delon among many however neither Jackie ‘O ,Diana Ross or Liza Minelli ever attended any of performances . We had another show on the 9 th . She felt into a coma the 10 th and past in the early hours on the 12 th. We were invited VIP at her funeral ..Miss Baker had full military honor at la Madeleine church She reposes at the cemetery of Monaco. I went recently to pay my respects 45 years later. Josephine paved the way for Diana Ross Madonna Beyoncé and many other artists. A true legend. Unparalleled. 
️️️.check Photo of Bobino with La Baker et moi. Just Type. “Josephine and me Cittaroma P “. “