Helena Escobar 'La Bleda': It is necessary that children have a model, even if it is only to break it when they become teenagers

Like penguins is an autofiction show, in which I tell the story of Helena, who is me. In it, I explain why I became a clown.

Why did you become a clown?

— When I was very little, when I was only one year old, I had to be operated on because I was born with a hip dislocation and malformation. Since babies move by instinct, they had to put me in a full-body cast, from my neck to my feet, leaving only a few holes to pee and poop.

Phew...

— During my childhood I had to keep repeating operations that forced me to have my whole body in a cast and I also had to wear braces, all this so I could walk well when I grew up. What I lived through was a tragedy and what the clown does to save himself from what makes him suffer is to turn it around. Over time you can turn around the things that make you suffer, you can tell a painful story with humor. This is one of the reasons that push me to become a clown, and to help people.

Being a clown makes you a mother in a different way.

— Yes. I am very positive. Very cheerful. In all children I see their clown soul. All children are clowns, they are little souls of art.

Clowns, like children, are vulnerable creatures.

— In clown there is a concept which is the flop moment, when someone is at their lowest, it is the moment of helplessness, which is when the audience sees themselves reflected and laughs the most. Over the years, being a clown has been very useful for me to face difficult situations. It is a brutal medicine. I have been able to help friends in tough situations because I always, always, always know how to bring out a smile.

Laia is the daughter of two clowns. When she was little, did she see you perform?

— When Laia was very little and we would take her with us to perform, she really didn't have a good time. So we preferred to leave her at her grandparents' house or with friends. When we perform we are working and, to do it well, we must be focused, which is very difficult when you have a small child who is constantly demanding your attention. There was also another factor. She would see other children approaching us, coming to tell us things after the show had finished, to take photos, to ask questions, and she experienced this as if she were being excluded, as if other children were taking her parents away from her.

Will you choose your trade?

— She has not yet found her vocation, but I do not think she will choose the world of show business. It is very hard for her to be in front of people. Perhaps she will have a creative job, that is true, but she is shy, with a very special and precious sensitivity, an inner sensitivity, an oriental sensitivity.

What are we not quite doing right, mothers and fathers?

— I am no one to say how things should be done. There is no single formula. But when no rules or limits are imposed, the child is very lost. You see children who lack an education, a culture, and that really is a problem for the child and for those around them. It is necessary for children to have a model, even if it is only to break it when they become teenagers.

How do you solve problems at home?

— When things don't go well, we stop the machines. Crisis cabinet. A meeting and we try to put things back how we think they should be. Laia gives her opinion, but sometimes it doesn't coincide with mine or her father's. We also have a psychologist who has helped us on this path and more or less we are getting by.

Over the years, what has been the most complicated moment?

— The most complicated part was when she arrived home. Adopting her when she was one year old forced us to adapt to each other. It forced us to always be attentive and it was emotionally complicated. We overcame it as she grew older and she understood that we could not always be there for her. School helped us and also that she started to have little friends and parents with whom to share experiences.

What makes you laugh together?

— When we went to China to pick her up, Laia had all her emotions blocked. She was a girl who did not laugh, did not cry, did not manifest any emotion. Her father, since he is a clown, had in his mind that he had to make her laugh at any cost. He tickled her, made faces, everything, but he did not succeed. Now that she is older, when we remember it, it makes us laugh.