Dagen Julty-"Sacred Clowning"

Today's wonderful person, who unapologetically lives their bliss, is Dagen Julty, hailing from Western MA. He is a professional clown, a musician and a childrens entertainer, and one hell of a fun person. This guy knows how to seriously not take life so seriously! Learn why clowning is so important and what is so sacred about it. In 1993, on his 40th birthday, Dagen decided to change his entire life. "I needed to get back to the basics: children, music and nature." And so he graciously left a good life, a good job (as an interior designer) and a great apartment in New York City and moved to Woodstock, NY, where discovered his “inner clown”, Happy Dan the Music Man. Over the years Happy Dan has entertained infants, toddlers, school-age children, teens, adults, senior, and people with disabilities in a wide variety of settings – classes, workshops, parties, schools, libraries, parades, camps and theaters. In 2002 he traveled to Central America as a street clown where he was greatly appreciated. In 2003, when he turned 50, Dagen got the message that he needed to go further in his expression as a clown. Having found fulfillment in his work with children, he now wanted to bring his message of fun, joy and creativity to adults as well as to children, not an easy task. Since then, he has been developing an adult clown character and seeks to create a clown theater troupe as a vehicle to getting the attention of the busy, distracted and often pessimistic adult population. Dagen also teaches private music lessons, conducts clowning workshops, lives in an alternative community in the woods of Western Massachusetts, does volunteer work for community arts-related projects and continues his work as Happy Dan the Music Man, sometimes barely making a living but always blessed with enough to thrive as a human being in these dramatic, promising and changing times. If nothing else, Dagen is deeply grateful for being alive here and now.