INSTRUCTORS:  Chad Damiani, Juzo Yoshida, Amrita Dhaliwal

Being present. Connecting to audiences. Trusting your impulses. Using your entire body to tell stories. These are cornerstones of physical arts work and invaluable tools for any comedian. But before you can put these techniques into practice, you have to commit to tuning your instrument. No different than a basketball player doing layup drills or a ballerina working a bar. This four-week class focuses on exercises to get you out of your head and make you more fearless, free, physical and emotionally available.

This class will also be a pre-requisite for future classes offered by the Nerdist physical arts program — including Chad Damiani’s Improv For Clown.

TEACHER BIOS

Chad Damiani is a writer and performer. His team Jetzo combines clown, improv, music and audience interaction. He also performs in and co-produces The Murge – a cutting-edge, circus-style improvised spectacle, created by former Cirque Du Soleil superstar John Gilkey. Chad is a graduate of UCB,  has studied improv with Miles Stroth and Rich Talarico and continues to train idiot work with Gilkey.  He’s taken clown and buffoon classes with Virginia Scott and Deanna Fleysher (Naked Comedy Lab).  Before coming to LA, he spent five years working for World Championship Wrestling – which gave him with a unique perspective on how to improvise stories through movement.

Juzo Yoshida is an actor and improviser. He’s currently one-half of the team Jetzo with Chad Damiani – a fusion of clown and improv that plays all over Los Angeles, San Diego and festivals across the country (where they often teach workshops as well). He has studied clown with some of the great masters – including Paola Coletto, Aitor Bassauri, Norman Taylor, John Gilkey, David Bridel, Virginia Scott and Phil Burgers.  Juzo is also a graduate of IO and studied improv privately with Rich Talarico. As an actor, he’s been featured on national commercials for Priceline.com, Adobe, and Comcast and starred in films Funny or Die’s “iSteve” with Justin Long and Gus Van Sant’s “Sea of Trees” with Matthew Mcconaughey.

Amrita Dhaliwal is an actor, improvisor and teacher from Chicago. Her work has spanned multiple stages: from theatre to film to clown. Amrita has a unique blend of extensive training in Improvisation, Physical Theater, Viewpoints and Meisner, which gives way to as one review said, “Yarn for your heart’s kitten”. She has trained with Black Box Studio, The School for Theater Creators, Second City  Conservatory, iO, UCB, Nerdist, Annoyance, various Clown and Bouffon masters from around the world, and many more. Additionally, Amrita has been described in the classroom as a teacher who “manages to squeeze out the essentials, without diminishing the dynamic or power of the technique” and “she gets straight to the point, draws the truth right out of the pumping vein”. She can been seen performing regularly in LA in The Murge – a cutting-edge, circus-style improvised spectacle, created by former Cirque Du Soleil superstar John Gilkey.