Judging from the many roots of theatrical presentations, it may be quite challenging to discover where the art of pantomime has truly begun. Some says that it dates back from the ancient times, while others say that France has surely brought it to life. Nevertheless, plenty of individuals would still want to learn this art even if they barely know where it is rooted from.

Learning how to do pantomime may seem to be more difficult than what it initially seems because of the need to use actions, movement, and facial expressions to do all the talking for you. When thinking of an entire script of a production, you will instantly think of how difficult this might be if you can never use words to send messages to your audience.

In mime, the face and body expresses the emotions and mood. Wherever you are, mime has already been used to send ideas and thoughts to people. Since people are used to words as their means of communication, there is a need to practice and perfect the skill in pantomime to make it appear real, believable, and it should be clearly understood by the audience.

There are a few basic facts that you need to be aware about when learning the artistry of pantomime. This includes being able to manage and control one’s initial reaction to speak. Since it is but human nature to express feelings and thoughts through words, training how to be comfortable by actions will help you become a better pantomime artist.

The mirror is your best friend when it comes to mime as it allows you to assess the best movement and facial expression to use. You can practice and try all types of expressions to showcase different feelings, reactions, and attitudes. The usual feelings should be the first ones you can concentrate on like happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and many others. Once you have finally mastered these feelings in front of the mirror, you can test it in front of a small audience.

Taking one action at a time is the best way to become the best in this art. In being able to learn the basics, you would be able to work your way to more and more skills in the future. There are some basic actions that pantomime artists should know and this involves pulling a rope, throwing and catching a ball, opening a door, climbing, leaning, and walking. You can try working on these actions by knowing how each action occurs with the real thing and then, eventually, try to practice without the actual object pretending to be holding, touching or stepping on an imaginary object.

After continuous practice, you will definitely be able to master the artistry of pantomime. This also means that you are ready to put together the facial expression and the actions of your body. In combining the two, you would already be able to tell a story which you can try with a small audience or in front of an acting partner.

Some people might think that mime actors are funny and have the easiest job in the world. Of course, it is a given fact that mime actors simply portray roles without having to memorize lines like that of what actors and actresses on television and film do. However, similar to the award winning actors and actresses that people look up to today, mime actors also have a heavy burden on their shoulder. Learning to do mime is never an overnight ability that one can learn just by attending some lessons or reading about it. Mime acting dates back to many decades ago that has definitely been considered as one of the main aspects of dramatic acting.

In learning mime, actors are tasked to demonstrate feelings without having to say a single word. Because of this challenging task, very few mime actors have been able to make it big in the industry today. Mime acting requires actors to reflect and immerse oneself into a character. Just like on television and film, actors need to express the thoughts and ideas of the role that they are playing even if it is through mime. The movement, facial expression, and actions are the only means of communicating with the audience making it such a difficult task to do.

Imagine sharing an exciting experience to a friend with a simple wink or nod. This is the way that mime actors perform. To ensure that they would be able to send messages across correctly and effectively, mime acting takes years to perfect and requires an overwhelming talent for an actor to grasp each concept. Specific goals and actions adhere to actual feelings and thoughts – something that every mime actor should master. All thoughts must be felt by the audience in an extremely genuine manner.

What is special about mime? Regardless of what people regard to, whether it is in real life or in movies, presentations require a deep meaning inculcated into the hearts of people. Most people will certainly agree that even in other aspects of life such as love and career, one would usually look for cues that would affirm what they do. Most of the time, people would look for visible reminders that they are being appreciated. When connecting this to mime acting, what people see is always more important than what people will hear. In the same way, we also believe that actions speak louder than words. This is the main aspect that sets mime acting apart from all the others as it is able to touch your heart without any word being uttered.

Other than the fact that learning mime is such a challenging task, people may start to think what makes it so special compared to other acting genres. Basically, acting should make one feel the truth and beauty in life and in mime acting, the audience will definitely feel this in their heart. Moreover, it is a great feeling to understand and read emotions that comes from actions rather than in words.

Acting is a diverse world because of the many different genres that can be put together or learned apart. Most actors try to learn and apply various genres in order to create an acting technique that is truly theirs to set them apart from all the others. The industry of pantomime is a very complex form of artistry making only a very small number of actors to be able to become successful in this technique. Although small in number, a lot of these actors have made significant contributions in the acting industry. Pantomime is not just a random way of performing it was initially created to encourage performers to search for a deeper sense of their talent by acting without words. The most common means of performing the art of pantomime was made visible on the stage. One of the more popular mime artists was Marcel Marceau who had become famous for his character, Bip, the Clown. He has performed in countless countries and the biggest stages which were all standing room only crowds. This also led Marceau to many television appearances and his own show, Meet Marcel Marceau. With all the recognition that he has received, Marceau truly opened big opportunities to mime artists around the world. With the impressive performances of Marcel Marceau, television and film welcomed many mime artists to its industry. Etienne Decroux was Marceau’s counterpart in the film industry as the art of mime entered the world of motion picture making. Because of the minimal technology that people had during the earlier days of film making, mime was one of the first means to entertain. Since earliest motion pictures can accommodate very little dialogue or entirely none at all, it demanded highly physical acting allowing mime to become a big hit. Soon, developments came to play in the technology of film and television. But this never stopped most of the more popular pillars of pantomime to emerge. These pillars included Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton whose life and career are still very well known in the acting industry many decades after they have died. Out of these three pantomime artists, Charlie Chaplin may be the most documented and popular. Because of his creativity, he has become an extremely popular television and film personality making him enjoy an exhilarating career for over seventy five years. The American Film Institute also recognized his contributions to world of acting as he was ranked as the tenth greatest male screen legend. This also pre-empted a book that shared his life and achievements in his career which was entitled Chaplin: A Life. The modern pantomime still follows the path that Chaplin and other mime artists have created in the past. Mime artists have a bigger world and an endearing audience with which they could share their talent. These performers do not need to stay on the streets just to be noticed but they can already venture into the world of television and film acting; thanks to the ingenious contributions of the pillars of the industry of pantomime.