Whenever Alex Lee mentions Clown Cardio, he is met with some confusion.
“People will say, ‘What is that? People dressed like clowns chasing after you?’” Mr. Lee, a 42-year-old technical writer who lives in Los Angeles, said after a recent class. No one’s wearing face paint or red noses — nor are they necessarily chasing anyone (more on that later) — but this hourlong session, which costs $20, incorporated a bicycle horn, mini circus tents from Ikea and carnival-style popcorn boxes.
Jaymie Parkkinen, who founded the class at Pieter Performance Space in Los Angeles, compiles theater games usually reserved for improv warm-ups and turns them into aerobic exercises with clown-themed props: a game similar to blob tag, wherein the tagged link arms and chase everyone; a more chaotic version of musical chairs; a circus tent version of Capture the Flag; disorderly dance competitions.
When Mr. Parkkinen wants to expand the class’s repertoire, he visits Los Angeles’s Central Library and peruses the performance section; recently he was inspired by exercises found in a 1920s book for vaudevillians.
