Today we worked with Gregg Goldston at the mine workshop. It was awesome. We learned how to create invisible walls and tables, walk invisible dogs, push and pull invisible carts and then put what we learned together to create a fun little skit. Although mime mostly has to do with the way you control your body, it also has a lot to do with what you do with your face. Goldston taught us that the expressions in your face are key to having the audience "see" what you are creating. When you mime a wall, the wall becomes more solid if you actually focus on where you are going to put your hand. The audience follows your line of vision and create the wall for themselves. It's the same with everything. It all has to do with your face. These are very useful tips when performing in general. You need to learn to project your energy out to the audience and keep your face visible.
I noticed something interesting happen during class today. We all fell silent, and we didn't need to be today. This is rare for a group of usually loud Stacies. Mime is supposed to be silent, but I don't think we were keeping ourselves quiet. Goldston said that the reason mime became a silent performance was because whatever soundtrack, words or sound effects the audience is thinking in their heads is better than what you can come up with, because everyone thinks differently.
You are starting to see that although you are learning mime, you are learning the techniques required to perform with your body in any performance context.
ReplyDelete