Draft:Nalle Clown

Nalle Laanela
Born	Peter Alexander Laanela 27th August 1972 Montreal, Canada
Other names	Nalle The Great
Known for	Playing Gordon in 'Gordon & Penny' and Nalle in 'Nalle Katastrof'
Website	clown.nu

Nalle Laanela (born Peter Alexander Laanela), known professionally as Nalle Clown, is a Canadian - Swedish clown and author. He is most known for playing the lead roles in 'Nalle Katastrof' and 'Gordon & Penny', both series on Utbildningsradion.

Career

Clowns without borders

During the Bosnian War, Nalle collaborated with Payasos Sin Fronteras (Clowns Without Borders), a humanitarian organization providing free performances for children affected by war. Inspired by this experience, he founded the Swedish branch of the organization, Clowner utan gränser (Clowns Without Borders Sweden), in 1996.

Stockholm University of the Arts

Between 2011 and 2012 he taught a masters program in physical comedy at Stockholm University of the Arts. This lead to the publication of his book ‘The Clown Manifesto’, where he presents the ‘Nalleslavski Method’ to help artists create comedy across language barriers.

Nalle has taught stage production at Medborgarhuset in Stockholm.

Nalle the great

In 2000, Nalle helped found Burnt Out Punks (formerly Circus Arts AB), a contemporary circus company, mostly focused on pyrotechnics. He played the character ‘Nalle the Great’, who emceed the show while dressed in drag. Nalle also played the same character in the burlesque circus dinner show ‘Moulin Noir’ that lasted from 2005 - 2015.

Nalle Clown

After Burnt Out Punks ended, Nalle turned to children’s circus. He has produced and starred in several shows that have toured in various schools and theatres around the Stockholm area - such as ‘Fjärilar’, ‘Elefant’ and ‘Cirkus Spektakel’. Nalle also starred in two educational series produced by Utbildningsradion: Gordon & Penny, designed to teach children English, and Nalle Katastrof, which introduced societal norms to young audiences.