Pantomime / Mime with Katja Grahl

In my classes I teach the basics of mime and mime corporel according to Etienne Decroux.

• Techniques of pantomime and mime
• Presence work
• Playing rhythm
• Space - the concrete and the atmospheric space
• Partner and group work
• Designing your own scenes
• Improvisation
• functional body training

• Because it is one of the most beautiful arts on earth.
• It gives us endless freedom and unlimited possibilities on stage - if we learn to use them.
• Mime trains our body perception and our posture in space.
• The pantomime / mime increases (stage) presence
• Mime trains our thinking and imagination.

Mime continues the tradition of its origin. It often tells everyday stories in a light-hearted, entertaining way that speaks directly to us the audience.

Mime aims to express human conflict situations, conditions, feelings and emotions. It provides us with an abstract narrative that takes place on different levels.

The roots of mime lie far back in antiquity. Over the centuries it has undergone many changes. From the Roman pantomime to the fairground theatre to the Commedia Dell'Arte. It was very much characterised by artistic feats and dance, by jesters and jugglers. In the 19th century, Jean Gaspard Deburau developed the figure of the poetic and melancholy Pierrot from the Commedia figure "Pedrolino", an image of pantomime that we are still familiar with today.

Many famous stage characters have developed from this, such as Chaplin's Tramp or Marceau's Bip. In the 20th century, pantomime broke away from the pure imitation of reality and developed into a more stylised form. Etienne Decroux created his movement geometry, the Mime Corporel, and thus laid the foundation for a fundamental renewal of mime and pantomime.