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The following quotes are from the mime artist Samuel Avital

(Sam dedicates his art to God for the purpose of giving joy and faith to others.)

      Clarity

  • The first step in mime is to be understood.
  • It is important to make things simple, not complex.
  • In the midst of confusion there must be clarity.
  • We have to fight for light (clarity), because there is too much shadow.
  • Communication through movement
  • We are in the process of learning to think movement. 
  • You do an action the action does you. You ride the horse, the horse rides you.
  • Words can lie. The body cannot lie.
  • Even slight movements reveal yourself.
  • The mime artist must vibrate with gesture as do the strings of a harp. He must be lyrical or almost musical, and transform mere gestures into a bodily movement that touches the soul.
  • The mime has the ability to embody the essence of a reality and let it shine through motion clearly.
  • We live to communicate.
  • Freezing – lack of motion
  • A mime artist knows how not to move.
  • Freeze is a movement that takes us beyond words.
  • Even in standing still, there must be fluidity.
  • It is important to relax the parts of the body not being used in a movement.

      Mime Philosphy

  • Mime is more than art, it is a way of life. It requires a spiritual as well as a physical awareness.
  • You must live your revelations.
  • If you find the process of revelation, you might cause it (the next time).  (seek and you will find)
  • Ideas are wonderful but they can turn to gold or ashes in your hands.
  • The student of mime must have an ideal within his heart he strives for.
  • Mime finds new ways to communicate ancient truths. It centers around universal situations (war, peace, love, etc.)
  • All art springs from spiritual reality.
  • If you Mime begins where words end.

      Standard of Excellence

  • A true artist must be in complete control of himself before performing for others.
  • When working a piece, begin on your own level of excellence and build on that.
  • Learn how to use the tools available to you.
  • Only through disciplined work, one begins to realize spiritual reality, and this development will lead and assist the student to rise above all mediocrity, not only in his art but also in his life.
  • Do not be satisfied with mediocrity.
  • Stagnation occurs when you feel there are no higher levels to reach for.
  • Are you communicating or just playing?

      The Audience

  • A little window in you needs to be aware of the audience.
  • The function of any performing art is to touch and move the audience (to make them mad, sad, or glad). It brings spiritual enrichment.
  • Laughter is release from tension for the audience and the performer.
  • Be Aware - Observe
  • A mime artist mirrors things from observation.
  • People imitate animals to learn about themselves. They see a certain characteristic in that animal that they have.
  • You can get lots of ideas from watching children. Ask them what they want to see and then do it.

      Methodology

  • What is learned must be applied immediately or it will soon fade.
  • Nothing (no one) can (or should) harm you here. (everyone should feel safe to expose their emotions and true being.)

 

Marcel Marceau:

(French Mime Artist, b.1923. He was the world's most famous mime and creator of Bip, the white-faced clown.)

  • Mime is the drama of the human being in his most secret aspiration. In identifying ourselves with the elements that surround us, the art of mime makes visible the invisible, makes concrete the abstract.
  • What sculptors do is represent the essence of gesture. What is important in mime is attitude.
  • A magician makes the visible invisible. A mime makes the invisible visible.
  • I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth. I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish.
  • In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people.
  • Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?
  • To communicate through silence is a link between the thoughts of man.
  • Life is a cycle, and mime is particularly suitable for showing fluidity, transformation, metamorphosis. Words can keep people apart; mime can be a bridge between them
  • “The way you give is better than what you give.” (a performance)
  • Much silence has a mighty noise.   A Swahili saying