The primary
focus in the workshop will be to understand how we can go beyond technique to
create an organic presence that speaks beyond the word and engages the
spectator.
It is obvious
that we want the spectators, on some level, to understand what we are doing but
understanding is not enough. At the highest level we want the audience to
experience our performance. Understanding is a cognitive function related to
thinking, whereas experiencing something involves the total being. A total being
experience affects you both emotionally and physically.
Mime
technique incorporates a myriad of elements that all come together to create a
movement. Since Mime is a silent art your movements create the art. Like dance
in that it is movement that creates dance. In Mime when we talk about movement
we are talking about a change in body position. This change in body position
involves a change in Energy, Breath, and Emotional Content (EBEC). A change in EBEC results in a
change in experiential content. You cannot move before there is a change your
EBEC. This change in EBEC causes you to move, so the result is that you are
being moved by an experience that is continually changing. Movement becomes a
result of changes in experience. I refer to this as experiencing and Living Through Your Movement (ELTYM).
The workshop
will explore the elements involved in ELTYM and how they are related to EBEC.
The elements include:
1.
Breath
2.
Counter movement
3.
Energy (Expansive and Contractive)
4.
Movement in Stillness
5.
Stillness in Movement
6.
Impulse (Centered created Movement)
7.
Transformation
8.
Identification (Physical and Emotional)
9. Full Body
Experience (Corporeal mime)
This workshop
is designed to open you up to a new way of thinking about movement and Mime as
an Art Form.
Terry Press
