MiMe

When you think of a mime you usually think of the person in the box with black and white makeup [Kind of like this picture]. A great example of a mime would have to be Marcel Marceau. He does everything a mime is supposed to do. He acts out the entire scene with no dialogue and with his movement gives you an idea of what is going on.  This type of art is close to dance but is not at all the same. Dancers dance with sound of the music, rythm, and the way they move whereas mimes are more focused on telling a story and setting a scene with their body language.

History

The Mime is said to be one of the oldest forms of expressing yourself.  During the time where there was no set language or when they were getting a language together they used the term mime to show what they needed or wanted at the time. So in the beginning it wasn't even started as a form of entertainment or theater it was just a way they communicated. After a while it then started to be seen as theatrical and really started in ancient greece. Their performances were similar to the ones we have now with mimes. They acted out scenes with really exaggerated movements and no dialouge. It all began in the theatre call Dionysus. The actors that performed in these shows would wear white masks and would perform for a crowd of 10,000 during the day. At times they would perform in honor of their god Dionysus who is also known as the god of theatre. The most intricate form of mime is called hypothesis. Hypothesis focuses more on showing the audience who that character is rather than spending a lot of time on developing a plot. The christian church did not like the mime's performances, but as time went on the church began to relax and in a way accepted these acts.

This is a picture of Etienne Decroux.  Unlike Marcel Marceau who did illusionary mime he did statuary mime. He was called the father of mime in france.  1928 is when he started to really get into mime .

This is a piece by a mime called MiMo chipsa. He seems to be doing a traditonal mime routine. He really sets the scene and after a while of watching you really understand and see the whole picture.

Work cited

Anderson, By Jack. "Etienne Decroux Is Dead at 92 - Master of Modern French Mime - Obituary - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 21 Mar. 1991. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

Felner, Mira, and Claudia Orenstein. The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2006. Print

"The History of Mime." Tripod - Succeed Online - Excellent Web Hosting, Domains, E-mail and an Easy Website Builder Tool. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.