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Man has coexisted with gestual language since man is man. The need of expresing their experiences and their discovers has always been accompanied by gestural language. Later on cultures incorpored this language in their writings or pictograms. (Egipcians, Aztecs, Hebrews). Gestures and movements have been used by different religions and cultures in ceremonies and dances. This way, rise up the actor wich was in one, dancer, singer and mime. Among Greeks and Romans we find the etologists who before the tragedies they represent a moral themes related show from that time. As Peter Roberts quote in his book 'MIME The art of Silence', the theme sudious indicate that the first man in doing pantomime in Rome was the greek artist Livius Andronicus, he was so pupular that because his many representations loose his voice and recurred to gestures to get to know his poetry. Mimes luck depended of the Emperor's mood. Augusto de Roma enjoyed his slaves mimes, Tiberio killed them and Calígula made them come back to send them out later. It is known that near the Roman Empire end, mime begins a decadence and it sees himself forced to represent the most polemical themes of society, their need of cause emotion is so big that men execution turns to be fun. 'Mime had converted into a nauseating show'. It would be necessary depuration of christianity to end with that unstopable gesticulating orgy.' Peter Roberts. After all mime did not die. Artists spread through Europe and begin to act in public sites and between this artistis, we find mimes. When they realized that they could not be erradicated, Catholic Church publicly claims possession of the theatrical situation. The Medieval Mysteries are originated. Nowdays mime is linked to the Comedia dell'Arte, wich was a improvised comedy by actors in stablished characters, Joker, Colombina and Pierrot 1576, an italian group of actors instaled in Paris, achieving an unmesurable success in consecuence of their critics to autority. The use of text is turn into an outlaw practice and they appeal to gestures to keep on with their work. France welcomes this new style and creates a local tradition. Jan-Gaspard Deburau, son of the acrobats of the Funambules Theatrer substitutes in 1819 the actor who play Pierrot, by not limitating himself exclusevely to make audience laugh he atracted audience attention inmediately because he integrated elements and situations that made a story. In his epitaph is read 'Here lies the man that said all truth without saying any word' Charles Deburau, his son, continued with the mime tradition, like this, new names as Louis Rauffe, Severin, Charles Dullin and Etienne Decroux were joining. The last one is consider as the father of modern mime because he dedicated his life to investigate body movement and to rediscover mime. Creating Theories, ilussions and a mime school were later on came out Marcel Marceau, Jean-Louis Barrault, Frederik Vanmelle and Peter Roberts among others. Now days there are mimes all over the globe and it seems like, even though they're always on a side, mime tradition sees a continuity light thanks of all of those who dedicate their lives for this to be so. |
