THERE was a time when you could be sacked for clowning around at work. Now, companies are encouraging employees to go on training courses to learn how to do it properly.

It’s good news for people such as Yo Yo Allon, a French clown who’s lived in London for the past five years. “I’m not just a clown, I’m a performer,” he says, explaining that while he has all the circus skills, he’s equally at home on the stage.

CHA, a workplace communications consultancy, booked him to teach staff skills such as three-ball juggling. Why? “Because,” Allon says, “this kind of exercise is valuable in the workplace. If you’re frustrated, just juggle for five minutes; it helps you to move into another state because you’re using a different part of your brain.”

Allon also taught them how to play the diabolo (where you spin a grooved “ball” on a string) and plate-spinning. “It’s quite easy once you get your co-ordination going,” he says. “Three-ball juggling is the most difficult, so it helps to have easier things as well. The main thing is that everyone gets two hours of fun and a bit of exercise — while learning something. They get a sense of achievement out of it. Even if they can’t juggle three balls by the end of the session, they know the basics so they can keep on practising. It boosts morale and self-confidence and helps them to relax from the stresses of work,” he says.

Yo Yo doesn’t dress like a clown. “I don’t want to give the impression that it’s all silliness,” he says. “What we do demands a lot of work.”

These demands were felt by a group of 16 to 19-year-olds who were being encouraged to take risks as part of the entrepreneurship element of a youth-enterprise programme. The course, run by Head for Business from the Albany Theatre in South London, booked Allon to teach them balancing on a tightrope, unicycling and stilt-walking. “They are kind of dangerous,” Allon says. “Well, certainly more dangerous than juggling three balls.”

Andrew Mitchelson, manager of the youth enterprise programme, was impressed with the risk-taking Allon encourages. “Yo Yo is bright, funny and energetic. He got everyone to do something they hadn’t been able to previously. His approach is all about having a go, making a mistake, laughing about it, then trying again.”

DATA FILE

STEVE SMETHURST

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