The Price I'm Paying

Happy New Year!

With PUSH Physical Theatre it is probably no surprise to you that we do a lot of physical training. Of course, shows are no exceptions either. So before going into Christmas break we hit it hard preparing for all those sweets coming our way.

This is where the story begins, because with a week of company class left I decided it would be fun to go sledding. No problem there, except for the fact that I tried a little jump with a cheap snowboard. The jump wasn't packed down all to well and when the snowboard hit, it stuck... I didn't. Flying through the air I had very little time to reposition and I ended up landing on my left shoulder breaking my collar bone. The rest of the night was spent in the Emergency Room with a couple friends.

As far as training and performing is concerned, not being able to use my shoulder sets me back quite a way. I'm hoping everything is ready to go by the end of January. I appreciate your prayers during this time of healing.

Alternative Circus Examiner

Merry Christmas!

So I just started writing online about Alternative Circus. Reviews on shows, books, movies, as well as local happenings. I'll be updating a couple times a week. Let me know if there is something you want me to write on! You can always get a hold of me at BenComedy.com@gmail.com

There are already a couple of articles up. The latest discusses the recent TEDx conference in Rochester, NY. PUSH just happened to be the closer! (...and I work for them!)

The video was just posted online and you can view it and read my articles at:
http://www.examiner.com/alternative-circus-in-new-york/ben-christensen

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving was great and so was my Black Friday shopping. As I was out finding the deals I realized that I could offer my own. So here's the scoop. For the rest of December I decided to throw in a free Cross and the Clown magazine (featuring yours truly) for any orders from www.bencomedy.com/store.

Sadly this offer does not include the t-shirts and only lasts through December 31, 2010.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that you will have a merry Christmas! Perhaps I'll see you at a show this December or in the coming year.

Ben

Minnesota Shows in October and What's New for November

So I've just put up a couple of new pictures on the facebook page. You can see my favorite here as well. I had a great time being able to see friends and family again as well as hit the stage in front of a group of new people.

This next week I will have my PUSH debut at Penn State. I have been training and rehearsing with the group for almost 2 months now, so we will see how it goes. Today the lighting designer for the show sat in on rehearsal. A little more tweaking and we should be good to go.

If you happen to be reading this and you are in the Pennsylvania area the evening show is open to the public. It will be the evening of the 9th.

PUSH

So here's the update. You probably read all of the circus posts (and if you didn't, I auditioned for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Baily Circus in August). The audition went well and I made it through Clown College (with a bunch of others), but got cut out in the contract negotiation phase of the auditions.

Instead I have officially moved out to New York where I am working with PUSH Physical Theatre. By doing this I am able to continue to offer all the past programming previously available when I was not with PUSH (although most of my time is now spent training and performing with PUSH).

So what does PUSH do? That's tough to say. Modern dance, gymnastics, mime, and a blend of other physical disciplines all under the banner or theater. You can see video and pictures at www.pushtheatre.org

Sick!

So I have an interesting story. I mean, hopefully most of what you read on the blog is interesting, but this was too.

My friend Don Bursell, who you may have seen perform with the LOL Show that my father and I were also apart of, was scheduled to do a show in Wisconsin this past week. In fact he had been scheduled in this particular spot for the past 17 years. That means I was 6 years old the first time he did a program for them!

Anyway, Don called me the day of his show, because he got the flu, and he got it bad. Now if Don could have done it I know he would have. In fact, I don't know if he has had to cancel a show in the last 20 years. Luckily I was available and was able to fill in. We had a great night, but even though we were able to work everything out with the hosts, the audience wasn't exactly sure why I was there. In the end I won them over and we all had a great time.

So Don. Get well!

New T-Shirt

These new t-shirts have just been released. Order by Wednesday and enter the promo code: SEPTSHIPFREE to receive free shipping! A total of only $12.95!

BenComedy.com T-Shirt Design by BenComedy
Shop zazzle for a different tee zazzle

Lifelight!

I just got home from Lifelight in Sioux Falls, SD. If you are not familiar with Lifelight they run one of the largest music festivals in the world. Check them out at www.lifelight.org.

I did a show and packed the tent. Thank you everyone who came out and saw the show! The fun part was that my whole family was there. A good time for a family reunion at the farm. Maybe I'll see some more of you there in the years to come.

Partial Itinerary

Hey y'all,

Just finished up a couple of LOL shows with DonB! and Randy Christensen. And now on to the next thing. As you may have read, I did audition for Ringling Brothers Circus. I'm not exactly sure what will come of it yet, but for now I am planning on the following shows in September. I have also put some contact info of the local spots in case you want to come catch a performance.

9-1 Milwaukee, WI. revkev6701@tds.net
9-4 Lifelight - Sioux Falls, SD. www.lifelight.org/festival
9-11 Elk River, MN. Christina_Tamayo@usc.salvationarmy.org
9-16 Eagle Magic FCE Meeting- Burnsville, MN.

Celebration Barn

I just finished up 2 weeks of training at the Celebration Barn. There were 14 students and it featured training by Avner Eisenberg and Julie Goell. It was by far the best training workshop I have ever been to. There were students from the USA, Canada, Brazil, Columbia and Portugal. It was a great time, but it's good to be home.

Another Ringling Article

There was another article written and I'm the first thing in the video. Here it is.



www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/run-away-with-the-circus-ringling-bros-holds-clown-college-aud/19577889

Circus!

Hey everyone. The last couple of months have been crazy. I did a kid's camp in New Hampshire, trained at the Celebration Barn in Maine (more to come on that!) and auditioned for Ringling Brothers Circus in New York.

The auditioning process was really interesting. I flew into JFK that morning, took a cab to the show, auditioned, grabbed a hot dog, and flew back to Portland, ME. The audition included an hour movement workshop, a time of Q&A as well as a time to show a prepared 3-5 minute routine.

While there I saw a few familiar faces and met a ton of new clowns. Here area a couple of pictures, but if you want to see any video you will have to check out the Wall Street Journal at:

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/08/02/for-aspiring-clowns-circus-audition-is-no-laughing-matter/

I'll find out what they thought the end of this month.

Camp Season!

Hey y'all,

Last week is was in the Black Hills of South Dakota at the Assemblies of God District Kid's Camp with my family. We did all the services and had a great time hanging out, teaching, and... you guessed it. Juggling! Here's a video of us juggling a little ways off the beaten path. Thankfully we didn't come across any bear or cougar.

Only about 10 days until I'll be joining the Northern New England district for kid's camp in New Hampshire. Still getting ready, it's going to be a great time!

Commercial

You may remember that I filmed a commercial earlier this year. Well, it has officially been released and here it is!

Ponderings of a Fool Training

I had a great time last weekend in St. Louis training for the Ponderings of a Fool show with Jaime and Vanessa. Here is a blog exclusive video clip.



And just for fun another clip that I will not be performing in the show, but it was sure a lot of fun!

A Magical Night in Chi-Town

Last week I drove to Minneapolis and met up with DonB! and Mike Norton. From there we loaded up and headed to Chicago, with a very important stop at Steak and Shake in Rockford.

After arriving in Chicago we set up our table in the dealers room and started looking at what everyone else brought. Before doors even opened I had already bought a head turner and had it stored under our table.

It was a great time. 40 tables full of magic tricks, some big name magicians walking around (Brett Daniels among others), and more magicians than I could count. After it was done, we packed up and made the 8 hour track back home. A long day to be sure.

Ronald McDonald

So after the WCA convention I flew to Denver where I was able to teach at a One Way Street Puppet Festival. Following the festival I was at Discovery Church of Parker before meeting up with Ronald McDonald. I have toured with him for one week and have one to go. We have been up to Alliance, Nebraska and down to Colorado Springs, CO. I'm doing some puppets and crowd warm-up at school shows and "on-lot" programs. It's been fun!

World Clown Association Convention

I just spent a week in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was my first time visiting the neighboring nation and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone was friendly and accommodating.

My father and I traveled to the WCA convention with Janet and Larry Tucker (my faux-grandparents). I was able to make a lot of new friends like Eric Zander (former Ringling clown), Uncle Fishy (Edward from Malaysia), Greg (MN) and Martin (India). I was also able to hang out with some old friends as well.

A couple of people I was looking forward to seeing were Arthur Pedlar and Alan Whitely. Sadly they were not able to make it from the UK because of the volcanic activity and ash in the air over Iceland. Because they did not come I volunteered to pick up a couple of their classes and I was able to teach at the first convention I attended!

The guest entertainer and lecturer was Avner "the Eccentric" Eisenberg. Not enough can be said about this man. He is a thinker, a teacher and an incredible performer. Don't believe me? Check him out at www.avnertheeccentric.com

Thank you to all those who made me feel at home. I loved every minute of it and I hope to see you again soon.

Ministry Promo Video

Here is a new video. Shane Christensen shot it at the Melrose, MN High School. Special thanks to Tri-City Christian Center and Pastor Bob Bernard.

L.O.L. Tour Fundraiser

Don Bursell, Randy Christensen and myself are hitting the road again this August. Last summer we performed the L.O.L. Tour in Wisconsin and Illinois. We had standing ovations and everyone was able to Laugh Out Loud. Look for it this year in Minnesota and North Dakota (possibly more locations)!

New Book!

Hey everyone. My first book was just released! Well, second if you count the basic clown book that I wrote in 2nd grade.

It is entitled "Juggling Ministry Routines" and contains 11 Bible based routines complete with references and additional thoughts. I would like to say a special thanks to Del Wilson for an idea accompanying a routine I wrote around the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Another thanks goes out to my parents for encouragement and letting me run countless ideas past them.

If you are interested in a copy you can get it off the online store. www.BenComedy.com/product

Cloquet Road Trip

I hit the road last Wednesday to start a long journey to Cloquet, MN. It is only about 4 hours from where I live, however there were a lot of stops along the way.

Wednesday night I was able to hang out with DonB! and Mike Norton. They both are local entertainers who travel and perform all over the place.

Thursday I made my way up to Two Harbors, MN to hang out with my old roommate, Addison Houle. Incidentally Two Harbors is an hour past Cloquet, but it was a good excuse to visit. Friday night we went rock climbing. It was a blast, but since I'm not used to it my forearms and hands were really sore the next day. Furthermore that happened to be the day of my first program.

I shortened my practice session before the program and made sure to get in some extra stretching. I was still a little worried that I would not be too sharp in the juggling area. Once I walked on stage the adrenaline kicked in and the show went great... so did the juggling.

Thanks to everyone in Cloquet! It was a blast!

Tenative 2010 Partial Itinerary

March 20-21 Cloquet, MN - Cloquet Gospel Tabernacle
April 3-4 - Mora, MN - Mora Assembly of God
April 23-24 - Denver, CO - One Way Street Puppet Festival
May 26-30 - Las Vegas, NV - Tour with Adam Cope
June 23 - Bismarck, ND - Evangel
July 12-16 - New Hampshire - NNE Kid's Camp
July 23-28 - St. Louis - Ponderings of a Fool
August ? - L.O.L. Tour

A Weekend With the President

Last weekend my church was able to host Del Wilson, the current Fellowship of Christian Magicians president. I had to leave one evening in order to do a birthday party and when I returned we decided to get a few pictures since I was in full clown. I thought I would put them up here for everyone to see. Enjoy!

Mayhem in Maple Grove

Last night I did a show in Maple Grove at Life Church. It was an interesting evening. It started as I was walking in after a couple of hours in the car. I noticed that my right hip had tightened up and I had some pain when moving it. After setting up I took extra time to stretch out and really made sure I was loose. Once the show began adrenaline kicked in and I didn't even notice.

I had also failed to notice that during my club routine I cut my thumb with a fingernail. As I reached out to take a dropped club from an audience member I realized that my hand was smeared with blood. Luckily, I don't think that they noticed. I wiped it off quickly and continued, stopping to wipe it off a second and then third time before moving onto 4.

The audience was great to play with and I was able to share the Gospel with everyone. Now I'm off to do a birthday party in Olivia and then nurse my wounds this evening.

Found Video

I recently found this video of my Father and I plugging the kid's stage at the Sonshine Music Festival this past summer. We were juggling in front of somewhere around 11 thousand people.



You may also be interested to know that I have a Lasik Eye Surgery scheduled for next week Thursday. I am nervous and excited, but it seems that the pros outweigh the cons. Please keep me in your prayers.