Milan Sládek

Mime Artist Milan Sládek is still very productive and busy nowadays, just so you know, Prof. Milan Sládek just had his 70-th birthday last 23 February 2008 (www.milansladek.com)

And He is performing on the 2-4 December 2008 in Jakarta :
Salihara
Milan Sládek's Solo „Comédie humaine“
&
Goethe
Ein Leben für die Pantomime / Life for Pantomime/Mime

Just imagine..... a performance without dialogues, just counting on body movements / gestures, and facial expressions, sometimes accompanied by music.
Now, just when you think "Hey, that doesn't sound so hard"
Remember when you were trying to tell something to your friend from afar and he couldn't understand you even when you used gestures, facial expressions and he still didn't understand when you try to silently pronounce the words to him. Well... try performing on a stage where the audience have to understand the storyline, or evoke their feelings and make them feel sad or happy.
Doesn't sound so easy , does it ?

Or if you had to mime an animal .... say a horse, How can you let people know that you're a horse, instead of a pony or a cow or other four legged mammals ?

What gestures or body language that will differentiate these animals and how can other people guess right away, that you're miming a horse ?

If you've been in a Theater workshop, and you must mime, you'll surely know that miming is not as easy as you think it is :)
You definitely have got to be observant and it seems like you have to practice often in front of a mirror :)

Here you can take a peek of Milan Sládek preparing his "mask" :), it's actually an ad of Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP) or Slovak Gas Industry, but the ad is good to watch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOrMY1ibNww


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image : Milan Sládek
http://www.milan-sladek-festival.de/english/index.html