1st Edition

Mime Handbook A Handbook for Mime Corporel

By Amos Haas, Frits Vogels Copyright 2022
196 Pages
by Routledge

The Mime Handbook covers the theory of mime corporel (Corporeal Mime) and explains the technique through dozens of clearly illustrated exercises. It provides an overview of the work and life of Etienne Decroux (1889-1991), founder of the ‘mime corporel’ and father of modern mime. Building onto Decroux’s mime corporel, additional concepts are introduced on the use of space in physical theater and... Read more
Preface, Part 1. Theory, 1. Etienne Decroux, Creator of Mime Corporel, 2. The Body as Instrument, 3. Articulation, Contre-poids, Dynamo-rythme, 4. Space, 5. Mimography/Composition, Part 2. Exercises, Introduction, 1. Foot and Leg Positions, 2. Zéro, 3. Transport of the Weight, 4. Gammes, 5. Multiples Dessins, 6. Annelé and Ondulation, 7. Contradiction, 8. Shifting Weight, 9. Compensation and Rétablissements, 10. Reducing the Base, Combined with Articulation, 11. Turning, 12. Eyes and Focus, 13. Hands and Arms, 14. Contre-poids, 15. Descentes, 16. Effondrements, 17. Displacements: Marches et Pas, 18. Dynamo-rythme, 19. Space, Chapter 20. Figures, Glossary and Index, Bibliography

Biography

Amos de Haas (Amsterdam, 1965) has extensive and international experience in studying, performing and training mime corporel in the theater. He was a student at the Mime School in Amsterdam and subsequently trained in Paris in the early 1990s with Decroux’s last assistants, Steven Wasson and Corinne Soum. Amos de Haas worked with the Frits Vogels at Grif Theater for eight years, taught at the Antwerp Mime Studio and the Mime School in Amsterdam. Currently, he is a teacher at the Moving Academy Performing Arts. Frits Vogels (Bloemendaal, 1933) came into contact with Etienne Decroux’s mime corporel in the 1960s, through his work with Jan Bronk and Wil Spoor. He is the founding father of site-specific physical theater in the Netherlands and the Mime School in Amsterdam. He is internationally renowned as artistic director of ‘Bewth’ and ‘Grif Theater’. In 1994, he won the Dutch mime lifetime achievement award and is still active today as president of the advisory board of MAPA (Moving Academy for Performing Arts).