Clown around with Les Bunheads & Friends
At some point or another every kid has dreamed of running away from home to join the circus. That’s exactly what Sudbury native Janie Pinard did….or more accurately went to clown college but kind of the same thing! After dedicating years studying dance here in Sudbury and working with YES Theatre both on stage as a core returning cast member and behind the scenes as choreographer she’s moved on to bigger stages after attending L’École de Clown et Comédie Francine Côté in Montreal. Pinard and her partner in crime Vanessa Kneale joined their backgrounds in dance and love of clown comedy to create Les Bunheads which is now giving the performers the opportunity to perform all over the world and even landed them on an episode of America’s Got Talent! The duo are bringing their latest show Les Bunheads & Friends to Sudbury August 5th for a one night engagement at le TNO, we sat down with Pinard to get all the details!
Tell us more about Les Bunheads and where it all started?
Vanessa Kneale and I met during a Slapstick Workshop at L’École de Clown et Comédie Francine Côté in Montreal. We instantly clicked and it was love at first slap! One of our teachers James Keylon, saw our chemistry and precision together and suggested we create a ballet number with slapstick in it. From that moment… Les Bunheads were born! Vanessa and I both have dance backgrounds so our clown numbers have a lot of physicality in them.
When The Beast and Sharprock (our clown names) meet, there is competition between them. Not only do we do parodies on how serious the dance world can be, we also make comments on how women can be so cut throat with each other. Being two alpha-females ourselves, we show the audience what some women keep bottled up inside.
Les Bunheads are known for being over the top expressive and we aim to break the illusion of being just “pretty women” on stage. Women in comedy are rare enough as is… we are tired of having no voices!!
Les Bunheads was recently featured on an episode America’s Got Talent, tell us about that experience
There was an America’s Got Talent scout in Montreal when we were performing and we had no idea that we would be eligible to be on AMERICA’s Got Talent… because we are Canadian. But, there we were, at a private audition in front of producers and we were then invited to audition in front of the Judges in Los Angeles! Les Bunheads was still a new clown duo, we felt like we had nothing to lose and we thought that having some visibility on Television wouldn’t hurt either. Being on America’s Got Talent was eye opening to the “reality tv” type shows. We realized that things aren’t usually as they seemed on television.
Performing in front of a giant audience was really overwhelming. We felt a little misunderstood because in our 90 second performance, the audience and people watching at home didn’t know if we were fighting for real, or if it was part of the act. (The fact that the fighting looked real to people is already a huge accomplishment for us). It was super interesting to read all the positive comments on twitter! At the end of the (long) two days of filming, we ended up meeting some truly wonderful performers and we’re able to say that we talked to Simon and Mel b. a freaking SPICE GIRL!
Les Bunheads & Friends is going on tour! Tell us about the show and where we can catch a performance.
This show was created last summer for the Montreal Fringe Festival and it was a big hit! Vanessa and I wanted to play our numbers and decided to build a show around Les Bunheads to make that happen! So, we decided to approach some of our most talented friends that all went to clown school with us to join in!
This show is a variety-cabaret style show. We have Improv, Burlesque, a One-Man Band, Mime, Slapstick and Dancing in our show. If you’re a fan of comedy, we think that there is something for everyone. It is an English show with a bit of French and it will be presented at le TNO. Le TNO has given us so so so so much help and support to bring this show to my hometown. They are all for helping new talent and supporting local artists. Merci le TNO!!!!!
Catch Les Bunheads & Friends in Ottawa on August 3rd, Sudbury the 4th and Green Bay Lodge on the 5th. Tickets are going fast! In fact, our Green Bay Lodge show is already sold out.
Where can we find more info and follow Les Bunheads?
You can find more information on our Les Bunheads find us on facebook, instagram and twitter! For more details about our upcoming shows subscribe to our event Les Bunheads & Friends!
Jessica Lovelace
Jessica Lovelace is a Public Relations and Communications grad, musical theatre enthusiast, lover of live music and part-time unicorn tamer. Some have said that the Big Dripper from Sub City is a regional delicacy and the perfect end to a Sudbury Saturday Night – Jessica is definitely one of those people. No, the hair is not a perm.
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