LAUGHING BODY: the Art of Care

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Aug 28-Sep 4, 2026 | Hillsboro, WV

2026 REGISTRATION IS OPEN! Register Now >

The Experience

We invite you to spend a week dedicated to reflection, play, and rediscovering the joyful and creative potential of our body and of our inner Nature (our soul, while basking in the wonderful outdoors of the Gesundheit Institute in beautiful West Virginia.

It’s a week dedicated to the art of care, as a way to better understand ourselves, discover our body, explore Nature, and reflect on the different facets of care.

We’ll take in nature and learn the art of forest bathing, communal living, sharing, and explore how to better take care of ourselves and of others through play, water activities, clowning, meditation, and group reflection.

It’s an invitation to rediscover our inner and outer Laughing Body, and better appreciate the Art of Care. No experience is required!

 

 

Themes

 

Art of Care: As a way to better understand ourselves, discover our body, and reflect on “Care”.

Living in Community: A week dedicated to exploring the possibilities of communal Living.

The Laughing Body, the Listening Body: An invitation to rediscover our inner and outer Laughing Body. The body jumps and plays, senses and appreciates itself and its environment. It’s an invitation to explore our bodies through listening and interacting with nature. This workshop focuses on tuning in with one’s awareness and one’s connection with the natural surroundings.

Earth and Walking Meditation: A celebration of our union with nature, and how we care for it, along with the environment and others. A focus on our awareness and the intelligence of nature.

Humanitarian Clowning 101: An exploration of your sense of curiosity, vulnerability, silliness, joyfulness, and simple clown techniques.

Extraordinary and the Ordinary: humor and clowning in all environments, being in the present, wonder/imagination, and mindfulness. We will learn how to build and organize a volunteer clown group.

 

 

Who is offering this?

Facilitators and presenters include:  

Ginevra Sanguigno , clown Gin Gin 

Ginevra is a clown , dancer and actress from Italy. Since 1990 has used theater, clowning, dance, as a vehicle for social change and deep connection between people around the world. In Italy she works primarily as a humanitarian clown in hospitals and other facilities. She holds training workshops for new volunteers regularly, in Italy and world wide. Together with Italo and Patch Adams she founded Clown One Italia NPO in 2000. Since 2003 has coordinated and organized humanitarian clown missions around the world with the Gesundheit! Institute.

 

Jorge “Chicle” Latorre 

Chicle is a comedian and clown born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. In his teenage years, he discovered that he suffered from a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which makes his skin more elastic, his bones flexible and he can even dislocate an eye. He discovered his clowning skills while volunteering at a children’s hospital in PR. In 2014 he went on the First Morocco Clown Tour with Patch Adams and met other amazing clowns to play and give joy. That was the start of many clown tours around the world to spread, love and laughter everywhere. He has stood out in the artistic environment thanks to the combination of his condition with skills and techniques learned in theater, comedy, clown, improvisation and dance. Chicle is a Puerto Rican who wants to help, bring love and joy to this world that needs it so much. – @chicleclown

 

Mariko Kanemoto : 

Mariko lives in Tokyo, Japan. She participated in her first clown tour in Russia in 2003, and has been working with clowns both domestically and internationally for 21 years. In November 2025, she invited clowns from eight countries around the world to Japan for the first clown tour there. At Gesundheit Institute she has been holding workshops with Ginevra for about 10 years, before the COVID-19 pandemic. She is really looking forward to returning to Gesundheit for the first time in about five years.

 

General In

Early Bird Price | $1250. Price increases to $1500 after May 1st. This covers tuition, room, board and transportation pick up & return. Scholarships are not available. Be Prepared to pay your $700 deposit to confirm your participation.

Where? | The program takes place on the Gesundheit Institute’s 320 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with mountain trails, waterfalls, extensive gardens, and a lake. Gesundheit’s project-in-progress is a  unique model of holistic health care that will serve as an inspiration for us to coax each other to dream big—in our personal lives, in our community involvement, and in our contributions to global peace and justice

Facilities | Gesundheit lies on a pristine tract of farm and mountain land in rural West Virginia. The dacha, with its onion domes and Russian architecture, serves as a residence and meeting place, and has won awards for its unique design.

Meeting Spaces | Gesundheit Institute offers many unique meeting spaces and classrooms. There are quiet spaces for meditation or study and large rooms to house workshops and classes.

Accommodations | Accommodations are in dormitory-style group settings. There are laundry machines at Gesundheit that you can use. We offer very slow WIFI (cannot download, cannot use skype, sorry!). Clean sheets and towels are provided.

Travel | Please meet us in West Virginia and arrive by the early evening of the first day of the workshop. You can plan to leave Gesundheit on the last day. (we will only be providing breakfast on the last day)

⇒ Gesundheit staff will shuttle people to and from the train station in White Sulphur Springs and the airport in Lewisburg on start and end dates only. 

 

 

Questions ?

Please Contact: coordinator@patchadams.org