(from the Greek pantomimos - an actor who plays with the help of some body movements, literally - everything reproduces by imitation).
1) The art of expressing feelings and thoughts through facial expressions and gestures.
2) View of the theatre. performances, accompanied by music, in a range of arts. The image is created without the help of a word, by expressing. movements, gestures, facial expressions. Such P. were already known in Dr. Egypt and Dr. Greece; in Dr. They were very popular in Rome. Muses. the accompaniment consisted of the singing of the choir and the playing of instr. ensemble. During the Renaissance, especially in Italy, P. allegorical were common. content. They were included in the performances for different. adv. sideshow celebrations, later began to be included in the advent. theater. performances, having played a certain role in the formation of the genres of opera and ballet. Since the time of J. J. Nover, ballet has become an important element of ballet art; used in ballet in organic. combined with a dance (the so-called effective dance) or a story game scene. P. were also used in decomp. nar. representations - Wed-century. mysteries, performances of commedia dell'arte, fair theater, harlequinades. Elements of the harlequinade have found application in the circus, silent and sound films. Near composers of the 20th century. P. were created in the form of otd. op. or parts of major musical scenes. works (P. "The Birthday of the Infanta" by Schreker, 1908, "Daphnis and Chloe" by Ravel, 1912, ballet-P. "The Miraculous Mandarin" by Bartok, 1918-19, "Cardillac" by Hindemith, 1952).

References: Broadbent R. J., A history of pantomime, L., 1901, N.Y., 1964; Simon K. G., Pantomime, Munch., (1960); Marceau M., Ihering H., Die Weltkunst der Pantomime, Z., 1961; Dorcy J., Jacot M., Pantomime, Lausanne, (1963.

Watch value Pantomime in other dictionaries

Pantomime- pantomimes (from the Greek pantomimos - representing everything, depicting without words) (theatre). Theatrical performance, in which the characters express themselves not with words, but with facial expressions, ........
Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

Pantomime- and. Greek expressive body movement, mute explanation, transfer of feelings or thoughts by the face and the whole body. | A kind of ballet, a dramatic spectacle without speeches, a silent game; pantomimic, ........
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Pantomime J.- 1. A theatrical performance in which the characters express themselves through facial expressions, gestures and plastic movements. // Corresponding genre in theatrical art.........
Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova

Pantomime- -s; and. [from Greek. pantomimos - reproducing everything by imitation]
1. Theatrical performance without words, in which the feelings and thoughts of the characters are expressed by gestures, facial expressions .........
Explanatory Dictionary of Kuznetsov

Pantomime— Borrowed from French, where pantomime goes back to the Latin pantomimes, derived from the Greek pan (pantos) "all" and mimos - "mute".
Etymological Dictionary of Krylov

Pantomime- (from the Greek pantomimos - lit. - reproducing everything by imitation), a type of stage art in which the main means of creating an artistic image are plastic, gesture, facial expressions.
Big encyclopedic dictionary

Pantomime- - a kind of performing arts, in which the main means of creating an artistic image are plastic, gesture, facial expressions. Letters. - all reproducing by imitation.
Historical dictionary

PANTOMIME- PANTOMIME, -s, f. Representation by means of facial expressions and gestures, without words, the game of mimes. || adj. pantomimic, -th, -th and pantomimic, -th, -th.
Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

The ancient art of pantomime - the art of talking about many things without uttering a word - is now experiencing its second youth. More and more amateur studios and pantomime groups are emerging in our country.
The author of the book, head and teacher of pantomime studios R. E. Slavsky, talks about the specifics of this shkusov, introduces the expressive means of pantomime and the principles of building its libretto.
The book contains rich material for training sessions that help develop the necessary technique and instill skills of independent creativity. Not only future mimes, but also representatives of related arts - amateur actors of drama, cinema, ballet, circus and variety art will find a lot of useful things on its pages. Practical mastery of specific techniques of pantomime will allow them to further develop mimic expressiveness and plasticity of the body.

To tell a lot, sometimes speech is not required. Movements, gestures, facial expressions can be so expressive that the actor is able to excite or make his audience laugh by recreating human characters and stories in front of them - without a single spoken word.
“You are an amazing person. I can hear what you're doing, not just see. It seems to me: your very hands speak, ”the ancient Greek writer Lucian exclaimed when he saw the pantomime actor.
This is not simple art. It has thousands of years of tradition, its own history.
Beggars, disenfranchised, having not only the right to life, but also the right to die (even before the end of the 18th century they were forbidden to be buried in city cemeteries), folk comedians roamed the world. Their theater halls were the marketplaces, their auditorium was the crowd gathered around the barrels, on which boards were laid. Under the open sky, it is difficult to hear the words - much more expressive in this case were the movement, the gesture. There was one more circumstance: folk actors were by their very nature seditious, they hated the police, traders, the rich. Buffoons of all nations ridiculed the oppressors hated by the people. And it was much safer to do it without words.
Wandering comedians were hounded, beaten into stocks, the Fathers of the Church issued special verdicts against their ideas, they were whipped and branded, but their merry art could not be destroyed. The love of the people overcame harsh laws and the fear of the afterlife.
Thus, passing from century to century, pantomime not only existed, but also developed. She migrated from the squares to the circus arena; not only talented clowns appeared, but large pantomime performances began to be staged at the holidays. At the beginning of the 19th century, the clown Joe Grimaldi became so famous in England that they began to call him the Michelangelo of buffoonery; the great tragic actor Edmund Keane studied facial expressions with this comedian. Dickens wrote the life story of Grimaldi. In Paris, on the stage of the small folk theater of the Rope Dancers, a completely new type of pantomime comedian appeared. Gaspard Debureau created the mask of a sad loser, a kind but clumsy fellow in a spacious white robe, with a face smeared with flour. The image of Pierrot became a type, artists painted him, poets dedicated poems to him. Debureau applauded Balzac, Heine, Beranger; famous dramatic actors came to this theater to study. When Debureau died, they wrote on the monument: "Here lies a man who said everything, although he never spoke."
So, the mime is able to tell a lot without uttering a word. He alone can show on the stage a whole company of people of various characters, create the impression that it is raining and the wind is blowing, play alone on a bare stage a circus program: ride a non-existent horse, lift weights that do not exist, walk on a smooth floor, like on a tightrope ... He can become fat or, conversely, skinny, portray two boxers at once, or be on the edge of an abyss ...
And he is able to do all this without partners, scenery, props and props. His material is his own body: arms, legs, head... All this should have a special expressiveness, be able to show non-existent, inspire, amuse.
This art requires a special kind of observation and imagination. To play a scene without objects, one must not only know their forms perfectly, but also be able to imagine these non-existent things with perfect clarity at the moment of performance ... However, playing without objects is only a particular art of mimes. Like any actor, the mime finds material for himself in life; he must have not only a dexterous, trained body, but also sharp eyesight. He must be able to see people, as they say, "through and through", notice the essence of human characters and manifestations - he will have to express them only with gestures, facial expressions.
In one of his articles, Charlie Chaplin spoke about his mother, about her special gift: “She was an exceptional mimic. When my brother Sid and I were still kids and lived in a dead end of one of the blocks of London near Kensington Road, she often stood for hours at the window, watching the street and passers-by, grasping their movements, shortcomings, she accurately conveyed them to us with her hands, eyes, expression faces. Looking at her, watching her, I learned not only to reproduce feelings with the help of gestures and facial expressions, but also to comprehend the inner essence of a person. Her powers of observation were exceptional.
I will give just one example. One morning, through the window, she saw one of our neighbors: “Bill Smith is barely dragging his feet, his shoes are not polished, he looks hungry. He probably quarreled with his wife and leaves the house without breakfast. Look, he’s going to the bakery to buy himself some bread.” In the afternoon, I accidentally found out that Bill really had a great quarrel with his wife ... This ability to observe people is the greatest and most valuable thing that my mother taught me; I began to vividly notice all the small and funny features of people and, imitating them, make people laugh.
In a short story - a lot of valuable thoughts. Let people who are carried away by the art of mimes think first of all about the fact that this art, like any other kind of creativity, begins with the ability to peer into life. Of course, the mother of the great comedian, first of all, had the gift of observation, and this talent developed because the material for mimic scenes was at hand, perfectly familiar. A simple woman was aware of the affairs of the whole quarter; life and way of life, the characters of people and their relations were so well known to her that by the details, by the stroke of behavior, she guessed what had happened. Reproducing in the most distinct form, as if seeing these features through a magnifying glass, she created mimic fragments of biographies, pictures of the everyday life of a poor street.
Chaplin not only inherited, but also developed this talent. Charlie became an acrobat, a dancer, learned to walk on a wire, juggle; he mastered to perfection many kinds of skill of movement; he was so musical that he was able to compose music for his films himself. However, there were acrobats much more dexterous than Chaplin, dancers even more virtuosic and clowns funnier than him. And yet he became one of the greatest mimes of our time (the character of Charlie was created by him back in the days of silent films). His silent art, with amazing humanity, told about the life of a small man in the capitalist world, about illusions, a good heart and the inability to succeed in a society based on self-interest and oppression.
Many excellent pantomime actors were also known to our theaters and cinemas. Pantomime performances were staged by Vs. Meyerhold and A. Tairov; M. Tarkhanov amazingly played the silent scenes in "Hot Heart" and "Dead Souls". In the production of "Forest" Igor Ilyinsky - Arkashka played the traditional mimic scene of fishing; E. Garin, even before his work in the cinema, became famous for the art of pantomime; such actors as S. Martinson, Ya. Zheymo, N. Kuzmina came out of the experimental schools of the twenties, where special attention was paid to pantomime.
For many years, the dance-comedy number “Pat, Patachon and Charlie Chaplin” was popular on our stage - funny scenes performed by masks of silent movie heroes. Pata was played by Nikolai Cherkasov, Patashona - by Boris Chirkov, the future Maxim.
Pantomime was an excellent school. She developed humor, observation, taught to masterfully control her body. A person is attracted by many things in art: he loves music and singing, the depth of comprehension of life and a funny joke ... And, of course, it is natural for a person to get carried away by the elements of movement, the skill of expressiveness of the human body, the ability to convey a whole world of thoughts and feelings without saying a word. After all, it is not for nothing that there is a proverb: silence is golden.
How to study the eloquence of silence, this book tells, written by a talented variety artist, who has been engaged in the art of mimes for many years - R. Slavsky.
G. KOZINTSEV, Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR

FEATURES OF MIME
Pantomime, like all other forms of art, reflects life in artistic images. But at the same time, pantomime occupies its own, special place among the performing arts, has its own specific means of expression. You can’t confuse it with either drama theater or ballet, although in some ways it looks like them.
What do the works of a mime and a drama artist have in common? First of all, their subordination to some general laws of acting. There are many similarities in the method of creating an image. The final task is the same - an emotional purposeful impact on the viewer. Yet drama and pantomime are different. The dramatic actor acts primarily with words, while the work of the mime is silent.
Silent, as you know, and ballet dancers. Both the dancer and the mime "speak" the language of the plastic movement. Doesn't this mean that the essence of their creativity is the same? No, there are far more differences between ballet and pantomime than there are commonalities. Ballet is impossible outside of musical images, without the dance plasticity corresponding to them. In pantomime, the action, as a rule, is free from time signature and rhythm. Pantomime is often performed without music at all. If music becomes a necessary component of this or that pantomime action, then it plays not the main, but a subordinate role in it.
So, we see that pantomime differs significantly from both dramatic and ballet theatres? And it differs primarily in the way of expressing their ideas. For a mime, silent plastic action
the main means of expression in the creation of artistic images.
Is every silent action a pantomime? Far from everything. Let's imagine that we are watching TV. There is a drama theater performance. And suddenly the sound was gone. Meanwhile, on the television screen, the actors continue to move, gesticulate, in general, act. Is it a pantomime? Of course not, because in this case we will obviously lack lost words, the silence of the action will not turn out to be organic, artistic.
Pantomimic construction requires a specially selected action.
In this sense, pantomime has features close to silent cinema (it was not for nothing that mimes were the first actors in cinema). Especially in the use of soundless speech, soundless laughter and crying. It is sometimes said that a mime supposedly should neither move his lips nor open his mouth, but this is not true. The practice of the best pantomimists shows that skillfully applied silent speech in certain cases more fully reveals the character of the character. The temperamental monologue of the tragedian by Marcel Marceau* or the accusatory, full of ostentatious pathos speech of the prosecutor in the pantomime "Tribunal" by Z. Lichtenbaum* superbly sharpens the characteristics of the characters. Pantomimists often resort to such a technique. Silent speech helps the mime to more clearly outline the images of those actors who, "talking", seem to reveal themselves. This technique allows thickening of colors, or, in other words, some exaggeration.
In general, thickening, concentration of action are characteristic of the entire structure of pantomime. The gestures and facial expressions of the actor can also be underlined. They will not look deliberate when the performance technique is high enough. The mime constantly resorts to exaggerations for the sake of greater expressiveness of the action, artistry of characteristics. A similar exaggeration is characteristic of caricature. It is interesting to note that the cartoonist becomes a true master of his own
*Famous French mime
*Israeli mime, awarded the first prize at the First International Competition of Pantomimists in Moscow
only when he has mastered the technique of ordinary drawing to perfection. The same can be said about the pantomime artist: the use of artistic exaggeration requires him to work out the plastic expressiveness of the body.
Comprehensive readiness for independent creativity will give the mime the right to freely resort to exaggeration without the risk of falling into a cheap trick. It is extremely important to take this into account, because pantomime by its nature belongs to one of the most conventional arts. And the more conventional the art, the more technical skill it requires.
What is the convention of pantomime? It is not easy to answer this question.
Here, a mime with a traditionally whitewashed face plays a simple story, telling how his hero serves as a salesman in a china shop. The buyer arrives. He needs a vase. No, not this one, but that big one. Cautiously, afraid to break an expensive thing, the seller carries a huge vase in front of him. However, the buyer did not like this vase, just as he did not like the second, and the third ... and the fifth, which the seller took out from the topmost shelf, where he climbed up an imaginary ladder.
The actor told this story without uttering a single word, only with facial expressions and gestures. There seems to be a clear deviation from life's authenticity: why does the actor "talk" in silence, in absolute silence? Why does he have such lifeless makeup? What does his all whitened face mean? Or why does he have a wordless dialogue with a partner who is not actually on stage?
But the audience, carried away by the silent action, does not have such questions. They do not arise - due to the conventions of the genre recognized by them. The artists, as it were, agree with the audience that the silence on the stage, non-existent partners, imaginary objects - in short, the whole system of conventionality is perceived by the audience as a special, completely natural form of art. It is in this unspoken agreement that one of the conditions for the artistic impact of pantomime on the audience is concluded. Spectators who are little acquainted with this kind of art have to be gradually introduced into the nature of the genre. That is why Marcel Marceau usually begins his performances with the so-called "style exercises" (exercises that demonstrate technical virtuoso techniques: "tug of war", "climbing stairs", etc.). With their help, he, according to him, gradually and unobtrusively brings the audience to the perception of complex plot plays.
Let's say that someone is late for a movie show or a drama theater performance. After a few minutes, the latecomer will still be able to orient himself in the course of the ongoing action and in the development of the plot. If the viewer is late for the pantomime, then in most cases he will not understand anything in its further movement. The mime is addressed to the viewer, who is able to supplement with his imagination what is not told to him, who is able to mentally develop artistic hints. The conventionality of pantomime is based on complete trust in the creative imagination of the viewer. This feature is perhaps the most valuable feature of the art of pantomime.
Buffoons (the first actors in Rus') got into an imaginary boat and rowed with non-existent oars, “moving” from place to place. The skill of the actors and the charming conventionality of the genre helped the audience to believe in the truth of the action. If the Tajik masharaboz or Uzbek kyzykchi*, according to the plot of the scene, needs, say, a tree, then the conditional language of pantomime, which has been established from time immemorial, helps to solve this problem simply and boldly: the trunk of the tree is a person, the branches are his hands. How much more expressively than any scenery or props will show masharaboz, how the “sawn tree” will collapse, how, gradually processing, it will be turned into a log! Nowadays, when in one pantomime it was necessary to depict statues of stone lions, known to everyone who knows Leningrad, the conventionality of the genre prompted a simple and witty solution: two mimes, standing on all fours, took a characteristic pose, each hand leaned on an imaginary ball - and now before us:
With a raised paw, as if alive, there are two guard lions.
*Central Asian Folk Memes-Comedians.
The lions in this scene played by no means a passive role. They are the main characters of the satirical sketch: it was with their mighty paws that the bully was punished.
You can cite as many examples of appeal to artistic convention - it opens up the widest, truly limitless scope for the actor's creativity.
The image in pantomime is always revealed in development, which can be presented in an extremely "condensed" way. In numerous versions of the pantomime "Human Life", staged by French mimes, Polish, Czech and ours, the alternation of all stages of human life - from childhood to old age - takes place over the course of some six to eight minutes. The question arises: is a drama theater or cinema not able to tell about the whole life of its heroes? They can. But there, the audience observes the development of character with intermissions, or, in cinematic terms, "with interruptions." For example: in the first picture (or in the first frames, if this is a film), the hero is seventeen years old. In the second, which opens after a break (interruption), he is already, say, twenty-five. The playwright showed us the internal changes that had taken place during this period with the hero, the costume designer and make-up artist actively helped the external transformation of the actor. And so from episode to episode.
Otherwise it happens in pantomime. There are no “interruptions” in the development of the image, the action goes on continuously, concentrating time to the maximum and with it - changes in the character and age of the hero.
At the center of each pantomime is a man, his life, his struggle, his happy moments and his sorrows. This is not always the so-called "struggle of characters", the hero can also fight with the forces of nature. If the protagonists of the performance are representatives of the animal world (mimes have long turned to fable allegory), then even then the pantomime tells about a person. Take, for example, the pantomimic fable "The Rooster from Our Yard": the foppish Heartthrob Rooster gives his heart to one or another gullible hen. As a result, the deceived chickens give the womanizer a thrashing.
The content of pantomime can be infinitely varied. It can have a profound effect on the audience, on their feelings and thoughts.
The main character of the Soviet pantomime should be our contemporary, he is the main object of attention of the performer.
At first glance, it would seem that the conventionality of the pantomimic language narrows the possibilities of artistic depiction of life. But actually it is not. The art of pantomime is by no means limited to the reproduction of only some simple subjects. Pantomime can also display the heroism of historical achievements, create images of the builders of the future. But she does it in her own way, generalizing the phenomena, finding her own means of poetic comprehension of reality.
And here's something else very significant: pantomime is not threatened by the danger of didactics, the danger that often lies in wait for the drama theater when reproducing heroic material. At the same time, it should be noted that there are plots - and there are many of them - that cannot withstand the "load" of silence. When they try to squeeze them into the boundaries of the genre, the boundaries begin to break. It turns out as if molten metal was poured into a tea glass. A mime must have a special flair to be able to select from the diversity of life "pantomime-resistant" plots.
Pantomimic construction, as already mentioned, requires a specially selected action. As in a song there cannot be a single superfluous syllable, so in a pantomime there is not a single non-obligatory gesture. Pantomime requires action warmed by the truth of life and logic. It must be strictly subject to four indispensable conditions.
The first condition and the most basic: pantomime must carry a certain idea. Only a clear, precise and emotionally expressed thought can breathe life into pantomime.
The second condition is the correct choice of the circumstances of the action that justify the organic nature of silence. The viewer should not notice the silence. Otherwise, it will seem to him that he sees something like the gestures of deaf-mutes.
The third condition is the clarity of the action. For all its conventionality, every pantomime must be perfectly clear. Pantomime is not a crossword. You can’t force the audience to guess hard what the mime wanted to say.
The fourth condition: the idea of ​​pantomime must contain a reason for emotional play, so that the mime has the opportunity to express himself in a vivid action. Such an occasion will be some event that prompts the hero to take active actions.
The concept of pantomime can be based on both original librettos, invented by the mime himself, and literary works.
The plot of pantomime can also be given by the artist's drawings. Mime Lichtenbaum brilliantly embodied the pantomime Tribunal based on Daumier's drawings. Leningrad mimes created two pantomimic suites: "At the Vernissage" by Bidstrup and "Adam and Eve" by Effel. However, no matter where the idea of ​​the production comes from, its implementation must strictly obey the four indispensable conditions for the construction of pantomime. Neglecting even one of them will make the performance inferior. It should be borne in mind that what has been said applies to all forms of pantomime, even a small sketch.
The art of pantomime is distinguished by great genre and style diversity. Here, for example, is a dramatic short story: the story of how a hungry black boy, a shoe shiner, in a futile search for work, indulged in dreams of food and new shoes (pantomime "Only a Dream"). But the pantomime "Rooster from our yard", according to the genre - a satirical fable. It is replete with many eccentric tricks and farcical situations, embodied in an acutely grotesque key.
Pantomime requires a clear implementation of the idea in a certain stylistic key: The inner well-being of the performers must always be fine-tuned to the appropriate “style wave”*.
* A sense of style is well developed by the following technique, which we use for educational and training purposes. We take any scene from pantomime and solve it in various stylistic keys, not only in form, but also - which is much more important for us - in terms of internal action. At the same time, we strive for an organic fusion of the “sense of form” and the “sense of truth”.
Pantomimic action unfolds in time and space. However, the action does not always fill the entire space of the scene. Marcel Marceau in the pantomimic suite “Boyhood. Maturity. Old age. Death" does not move at all. Meanwhile, the audience gets the feeling that the actor fills the whole scene. In the stylish pantomime Running in Place, the mime creates the illusion that he is running from one end of the stage to the other; in fact, the whole "running" takes place literally on the "patch". And when the mime performs “climbing the stairs”, one gets the impression that he is acting at the level of the fourth or fifth floor, although in fact the performer does not even leave the floor for a meter.
Skillfully managing the space of the stage, being its owner - this is another of the important tasks that a mime must master.
But pantomime, as already mentioned, also develops in time. Bearing in mind that a stage second is equal to a minute, and a minute is equal to half an hour, the mime is obliged to cherish every moment of his stay on the stage.
The body of the mime speaks. In one perspective it is eloquent, in another it is less expressive. Walk around the sculptural group or monument - and you will find the most advantageous angle for the review. The mime must develop the ability to find the most expressive angles of his body for a particular mise-en-scene.
The internal and external technique of the mime is complex, he has to solve various artistic tasks. A beginner, of course, will have to start his studies from the basics, learn not only the alphabet and grammar of pantomime, but also the general basics of acting.
People who are already familiar with the skill of a dramatic actor will, first of all, expect a detailed study of the specific features of pantomime.
The author of this book sees his task in acquainting both of them with the basics of pantomime art, to convey his experience as a performer and teacher. The terms used here are also born from practice - they should be considered only as conditional, educational terminology.
In the training and education of a pantomime actor, there are many similarities with the generally accepted system of training a dramatic actor. It also requires: the development of attention, fantasy, observation, rhythm, the ability to determine "through action" and "super task", proper communication with a partner, work on the image, the art of reincarnation. These are common features. But there are also specific features, which will be discussed in more detail.
So, you have decided to seriously master the art of pantomime.
Where should you start?
Since, speaking generally, pantomime is a high plastic expressiveness multiplied by the skill of an actor, the education of a future mime should include, firstly, training the body, developing its plastic culture, and secondly, mastering the elements of acting skills.
The mime needs to learn how to evoke in himself the correct stage feeling, which gives rise to a sense of truth, develops a perfect internal technique. And this, of course, is not easy.
The usual picture. A newcomer comes to the studio. You talk with him - all the answers are sensible, reasonable. But then he began to sketch. Where has natural gone? On the legs like heavy weights, hands like cast iron, movements are angular, muscles are tense. He starts to try - even more enslaved ...
Why is this happening? Yes, because the beginner does not yet know the ABC of acting. In order to study it, you need a lot of time, you need hard work.
Learning a mime begins with sustained attention training. Stage attention, in short, is the absolute concentration on the task that you are currently performing. A beginner's attention is always scattered, unconcentrated. Circus performers can serve as an example of well-developed attention. About a circus gymnast or a juggler, you can say that he is "all the attention."
Sustained attention is extremely important for a mime. It is necessary to distinguish between genuine attention and imaginary. You can appear attentive, pretend that your attention is focused on something. And that's no good anymore. Such attention is false, and it immediately becomes noticeable. Only genuine, consciously controlled, developed attention will allow you to easily and quickly join the creative process.
At the same time, it is necessary to develop the ability to achieve muscle freedom. An actor with stiff muscles will not become a real mime. First, studio students learn to quickly and accurately detect muscle tightness in themselves and each other. This is how constant self-control is brought up. If a student has learned to easily determine which muscle group he has enslaved, then, vigilantly controlling himself at home, at work, on the street, he eventually gains muscle freedom.
In the work of a mime, fantasy and imagination are of paramount importance. The future mime will have to actively develop his imagination. The actor's imagination at rehearsals and performances should be directed to a specific action and task, inspired by the idea of ​​the work.
Just as a gold digger peers intently into the sand being washed to see if any grains sparkle in a special way, so a mime, among a multitude of impressions, must select the grains necessary for purposeful creativity. Selected observations are either accumulated for the future, or immediately used in specific work on the image.
A real mime, no matter where he is - on the street, in a tram, at home, in the cinema, whatever he does - is obliged to see everything and, as they say, “wind on his mustache”. Life is full of impressions, only know how to peer...
Observations and findings require careful selection and critical analysis from the mime. For not everything interesting and unusual can be shown from the stage, especially by the silent means of pantomime.
However, no matter how fruitful observation is for creativity, without a developed imagination, the mime will achieve little. Observation only collects impressions, while imagination transforms them into visible images. With his imagination, the mime continuously “revives” the proposed circumstances of the play, as if he sees them with his own eyes with the inner eye of the artist, “illustrates” them, in the words of Stanislavsky.
Here is what Stanislavsky wrote, and this is directly related to the work of the mime, although he does not use it! sounding word:
“... Each of our movements on the stage, each word must be the result of a faithful life of imagination.
If you said a word or did something on the stage mechanically, not knowing who you are, where you came from, why, what you need, where you will go from here and what you will do there - you acted without imagination, and this piece of your being on stage , small or large, was not true for you - you acted like a wound up machine, like an automaton.
If I ask you now about the simplest thing: "Is it cold today or not?" - you, before answering “cold”, or “warm”, or “didn’t notice”, mentally visit the street, remember how you walked or drove, check your feelings, remember how passers-by wrapped themselves and raised their collars, how crunched under snow on your feet, and only then will you say this one word you need.
At the same time, all these pictures may flash before you instantly, and from the outside it will seem that you answered almost without thinking, but there were pictures, your feelings were there, they were also checked, and only as a result of the complex work of your imagination you and answered.
Thus, not a single sketch, not a single step on the stage should be performed mechanically, without internal justification, that is, without the participation of the work of the imagination.
Attention, muscle freedom, imagination, faith in the truth of their actions are best developed by exercises with non-existent objects. Stanislavsky included these exercises in his system of training the actor. For memes, “non-objective actions” are especially necessary. Experience has shown us some subtleties, some "secrets" of this case. The reader will find on the pages of the book a description of the exercises and techniques developed by us. They are arranged in increasing difficulty. These exercises and techniques will prepare
*TO. S. Stanislavsky, Collected works, vol. 2, Mm "Art", 1954, pp. 94-95
actor to independent creativity. We try to deeply master exercises with imaginary objects, or, as Stanislavsky called them, exercises for the memory of physical actions. Acting with non-existent objects, persistently practicing external technique to virtuosity, we achieve the authenticity of the action.
What is the difference between depicted and actual action on stage? The difference is huge, it's not hard to see.
Have the beginner mime find something hidden in the classroom. But limit your search to, say, three minutes. Then invite him to look for the same thing again, hidden in a place already known to him. In the first case, all the actions of the student will be genuine, consistent, productive, logical. He will search for a thing for real, not feigning a search, but striving to find a thing at all costs. And in the second - the student will do the same actions, but they will turn out to be depicted.
An actor with well-trained psychotechnics in each repeated performance brings freshness to the perception of everything that happens on stage. The partner’s remark, heard many times, will be heard as first uttered, a familiar event will be perceived as just happened. Without this, there would be no genuine performing arts.
The mime, equipped with internal and external techniques, will be able to freely acquire true inner well-being every time. And it, in turn, will help to find expedient and productive actions. And here's something else to be noted: a trained actor who acts with conviction, sincerely, does not even think of checking himself - is he acting correctly, in accordance with the laws of acting? With this actor, everything comes out as if by itself, subconsciously. And yet authentic.
Complicating and complicating the exercises, doing them with “liberated” muscles, with due attention, with real faith in the proposed circumstances, the student will approach the etudes. An etude is already a small finished scene. It has an event, a through action. And if so, then there must be the attitude of the hero to the event, his assessment of a certain fact. It can be instantaneous or extended over time. Everything here depends, firstly, on the degree of significance of the event itself and, secondly, on the character of the hero and his through action.
Here is the simplest example. Walking through the forest, you saw a hare. His appearance on your way is an event. A series of thoughts will flash through your mind: what to do - whether to chase after him, to catch him? leave it alone? The process of deliberation will be the "assessment of the fact." Then you will commit this or that act: either you start hunting for the animal, or you go further.
Events can be incomparably more complex, more dramatic, their assessment is not so simple. In the pantomime "The Porcelain Seller", the assessments of events, gradually layering on each other, encourage the hero to do things with ever-increasing internal tension, which ultimately leads him to a kind of rebellion. The more important the actual fact is for the life and struggle of the hero, the larger, more active and more complex will be both the assessments and his subsequent actions and actions.
Exercises with imaginary objects are included in the etudes as an integral part. But already as a part subordinate to the event, conditioned by it. Now the action with non-existent objects becomes more complicated, acquires new qualities.
The action of each etude develops in specific proposed circumstances. The actor must know for sure what it is - the proposed circumstances. This is where a trained imagination can provide an invaluable service.
Let's assume that the action of your etude develops in the kitchen (let's take only the beginning of the etude). Morning. You are in a good mood. You must prepare breakfast. Today, a person dear to you wanted potatoes "in uniform". Singing, you wash the potatoes and put them on the fire. These are some suggested circumstances.
And here is a similar action, but in other proposed circumstances. Same morning, same kitchen, same potato cooking. But now the action takes place in the family of the unemployed. Three potatoes are the only thing left in the house for the whole family. In these proposed circumstances, you will enter the kitchen in a different way with a different mood. In a different rhythm. You will wash your precious product in a different way. The attitude to objects will be different. Another assessment of the event.
Boiling potatoes can occur in many other proposed circumstances. And in accordance with them, your behavior, attitude, assessment will change dramatically every time. The logic of thoughts and the logic of feeling also change. And everything taken together will be subordinated to a new through action.
So, no matter how small an etude is, it will always have its own through action. A through action is the main action of a work, penetrating it from beginning to end and expressing its super-task, idea. Each performer of the role, whether in a simple sketch or in a pantomime performance, has his own through action directed towards a specific goal. To achieve this goal, all the thoughts of the character, his will, his actions will be directed.
Learning to determine the through action of the work as a whole and the role is the main task of the future performer.

Pantomime is a special kind of art, a peculiar way of communicating with the outside world and other people. Translated from this word means "the one who depicts everything." Thus, pantomime is a type of theatrical performance in which the main meaning of what is happening is conveyed by gestures, and not by words.

The origins of "silent" art

Such art arose in ancient times and was part of pagan rites and rituals. The theater of pantomime appeared in the Roman Empire in the era of Augustus. Later, in the troubled medieval times, the church imposed a ban on pantomime, but the latter continued to exist in the art of wandering jugglers, mimes, minstrels and buffoons.

This flourished in the Renaissance in the impromptu commedia dell'arte, in the productions of wanderers. The first pantomime is a love (everyday) melodrama, harlequinade, which by the 19th century had become the favorite genre of theaters-booths in France.

Theater of the New Age

As a theatrical ballet, pantomime first appeared in 1702 at London's Drury Lane Theatre. Throughout the 18th century, it was performed as an interlude in comedies and tragedies. As a dance, pantomime became part of the ballet-drama of J. J. Nover.

As a separate pop number, the "silent" scene was actively developing in music halls and miniature theaters in Europe at the end of the 19th century. Later, a pantomime school arose in Marseille, headed by L. Ruff. For the first time, an actor who will eventually gain world fame, the best comedian of the silent genre, Ch. Chaplin, enters the stage of the London theater. In Germany, M. Reinhardt was engaged in this type of art.

In the second half of the 20th century, non-objective pantomime appeared - a kind of story using non-existent, imaginary objects. The mime of our day must have perfect control over his body. He must be versatile: a juggler, an acrobat, a dramatic artist, and at the same time be well versed in the language of ballet. Moreover, a good mime is, first of all, a philosopher who is able to instill certain moods, thoughts, experiences in other people with the help of gestures alone.

Types of pantomime

There are several main types of "silent" art:

Dance (originated in the rites and rituals of ancient people, pagan tribes, is still preserved among many peoples);

Classical (the origins can be observed in the spectacles of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations; poetry, music and action are harmoniously combined in it);

Acrobatic (includes juggling, jumping, various tricks; takes its origins from the oriental theater, is actively used in the circus);

Eccentric (used in the circus, based on some kind of comical situation, special props are involved in the scene).

Circus pantomime also includes battle, zoo pantomime, water and adventure extravaganza with mass scenes and special effects. The last view is the highest level of skill.

There are two types of this type of art: solo pantomime - the work of one artist, and theatrical, with the participation of a team of actors, using scenery and a script.

Genres of pantomime

According to its genre, pantomime is a comedy, tragedy or drama, fairy tale or myth, pamphlet or short story, pop miniature. In a word, everything is subject to her. Comedy is characterized by a satirical, humorous approach. The conflict or struggle of the characters is resolved specifically. Ch. Chaplin is recognized as a brilliant comedian-mime of all time. In tragedy, the story ends in disaster. Tragic pantomime is marked by seriousness, expression of contradictions, conflict.

Fairy tale and myth, as a rule, tell about some fictional heroes and characters, often endowed with incredible abilities for magic and sorcery. A "silent" production can also be in the nature of a pamphlet, expressing a denial of the existing principles of life, the political structure of the country, it can have features of ridicule, exposure. In the case of the performance of the short story, the mime tells with the help of gestures about some lyrical plot. It can be a pantomime - the game of one actor, or a whole team of mimes.

Pantomime in Russia

Christmas time, various rituals, carnival, as well as all kinds of fair theaters and clowning became the origins of "silent" art in Russia. At the beginning of the 20th century, dramatic pantomime appeared in the work of modernist directors - these are N. Evreinov's "Crooked Mirror", K. Marzhdanov's "Tears", A. Tairov's "Toy Box", V. Meyerhold's "Colombina's Scarf".

The original principles of the old pantomime of the theater dell'arte were rethought, pouring out with something new, accompanied by poetry reading, music and choreography. In the mid-40s of the 20th century, this type of art fades, because the priority is the word - more understandable to the masses, not requiring guesswork. In circus performances, talking clowns have replaced mime comedians. Nevertheless, pantomime truly flourishes in ballet. There are choreodramas and drama ballets, which are based on "silent" scenes, and not pure dance.

PANTOMIME- 1) A type of theatrical performance in which an artistic image is created without the help of a word, by means of expressive movement, gesture, facial expressions. The art of Pantomime dates back to ancient times. Elements of pantomime are present in the rituals and games of various peoples, organically combined with singing, music, and dance. In the theater of a number of eastern countries (China, Japan, India, and others), pantomime is one of the most common types of spectacle. In ancient Greece and Rome, there were independent pantomime performances (pantomime), the performers of which achieved remarkable skill. In the Renaissance, on the basis of a combination of national folk and ancient traditions, pantomime genres were created - sea (Italy), mohiganga (Ispapia), etc. Pantomime occupied a large place in the English genre of masks. The pantomime game was one of the main elements of folk theaters - the Italian comedy of masks, the West European farce, etc. J. B. Molière introduced pantomime scenes into his comedy-ballets (The Philistine in the Nobility, The Imaginary Sick, etc.). In the 18th century in the folk fair theater in France, various types of pantomime plays (parody, comedy-satire, fantasy, folklore) became widespread; buffoonery, acrobatic stunts, and various staged effects were widely used in the performances of these plays. The pantomime of the fair theaters was one of the genres that prepared the appearance of the comic opera, melodrama, and so on. effective (pantomimic) ballet. The art of pantomime flourished in the work of the outstanding French. actor Jean Gaspard Deburau (1786-1846), who performed from 1819 in the Parisian Rope Dancers Theater (Funambule). Deburau transformed the traditional image of Pierrot, making him a folk hero, a poor man who overcomes life's difficulties (pantomime - "The Raging Bull" by Laurent the Elder, 1827; "The Golden Dream, or Harlequin and the Miser" by Ch. Nodier, 1828; "The Whale" by J. G. Debureau, 1833; "Pierrot in Africa", 1842, etc.).

The genre of pantomime has retained its importance in modern art. In contrast to the symbolist and decadent interpretation of the Formalists, progressive theater figures develop the folk traditions of this genre and turn to new socially significant topics. An example of this is the work of the French mimic actor M. Marceau and the activities of the pantomime theater organized by him in 1947.

2) One of the main elements of ballet art. Pantomime is included in a ballet performance in an organic combination with dance (the so-called effective dance) or as a plot game scene. The assertion of realistic tendencies in ballet, the desire for historical, everyday and psychological concretization of images, for the broad implementation of elements of folk choreographic creativity in ballet was associated with the struggle for the use and development of pantomime. The nature and form of pantomime can be extremely varied depending on the content of the ballet.

3) A circus performance of an enchanting nature, in which spectacular performances are united by a certain plot. One of the types of circus pantomime is water pantomime, when the circus arena turns (with the help of special devices) into a pool filled with water.

The section is very easy to use. In the proposed field, just enter the desired word, and we will give you a list of its meanings. I would like to note that our site provides data from various sources - encyclopedic, explanatory, word-building dictionaries. Here you can also get acquainted with examples of the use of the word you entered.

The meaning of the word pantomime

pantomime in the crossword dictionary

pantomime

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Vladimir Dal

pantomime

and. Greek expressive body movement, mute explanation, transfer of feelings or thoughts by the face and the whole body.

A kind of ballet, a dramatic spectacle without speeches, a silent game; pantomimic, mimic spectacle.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

pantomime

pantomimes, (from the Greek pantomimos - representing everything without words) (theatre). Theatrical performance, in which the characters express themselves not with words, but with facial expressions, gestures and plastic movements.

The script for such a performance, as well as the accompanying music.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova.

pantomime

Y, well. Representation by means of facial expressions and gestures, without words, the game of mimes.

adj. pantomimic, -th, -th and pantomimic, -th, -th.

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

pantomime

1. Theatrical performance in which the characters express themselves through facial expressions, gestures and plastic movements.

   Corresponding genre in theatrical art.

A circus performance of an enchanting nature, in which spectacular performances are united by a certain plot.

2. A plot scene in ballet, opera, drama, based on the wordless dramatic expressive play of the performers.

   Acting in a similar scene.

Gesture, expressive body movement, serving as a means of explanation, conversation.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

pantomime

PANTOMIMA (from the Greek pantomimos, literally - reproducing everything by imitation) is a type of stage art in which the main means of creating an artistic image are plastic, gesture, facial expressions.

Pantomime

(from the Greek pantómimes - an actor playing with the help of body movements alone, literally - reproducing everything by imitation), a type of stage art in which the main means of creating an artistic image is the plastic expressiveness of the human body, gesture, facial expressions. The origins of the art of panorama in Europe are in the theater of ancient Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages, histrions, jugglers, and others turned to P.; in the middle 16–18 centuries. she was revived in the Italian commedia dell'arte. In the 19th century P. as an independent theatrical form was developed by G. Grimaldi (Great Britain), J. B. G. Debureau (France) - the creator of the famous Pierrot mask. In the last third of the 19th century P. were played mainly on the stages of music halls. In France, the so-called Marseille school was formed, headed by L. Ruff. D. Leino, L. Teach, a troupe led by F. Carnot, in which Ch. Chaplin began his creative activity, performed in the UK. At the beginning of the 20th century Filmmaking occupied a significant place in the work of prominent German directors (M. Reinhardt and others). In the 1930s-early 70s. the most famous actors are P.≈ J. L. Barrot, M. Marceau (France), L. Fialka (Czechoslovakia), and H. Tomaszewski (Poland).

In Russia, P. was part of many folk games and rituals, performances of buffoons. In the 19th century P. were placed on the stage of booths and in circuses. In the 1910s P.'s expressive means attracted the attention of directors K. A. Mardzhanov, N. N. Evreinov, A. Ya. Tairov, and V. E. Meyerhold.

A special type—piano accompanied by music, singing, and rhythmic accompaniment—has been common since ancient times in India, Indonesia, and other Asian countries.

Modern theater includes the art of mime (one actor) and performances with all the hallmarks of a theatrical performance. Both species were developed in the Soviet Union.

Lit .: Rumnev A., About pantomime. Cinema Theatre, M., 1964.

Wikipedia

Pantomime

Pantomime(from - pantomime ← - whole, whole + - mime, actor; imitation, reproduction) is a type of stage art in which the main means of creating an artistic image is the plasticity of the human body, without the use of words.

Examples of the use of the word pantomime in the literature.

And most importantly - oh, Lord, already a joyful excitement from only one name: dance, classes in music, singing, movement technique and acrobatics, pantomime and gymnastics, the history of Soviet and foreign cinema.

Rome gives sketches by Livius Andronicus, fescennins, satura, the game of histrions, Oscan atellani, pantomime, exodia, etc.

Meanwhile, viewers continued to prefer pantomime and met with a whooping peasant, who unexpectedly showed them a pig.

Yuri Saulsky introduced singers-soloists Nina Brodskaya and Vadim Mulerman, an artist pantomime Alexander Zheromsky and entertainer-feuilletonist.

Indeed, Leonard was a very burdensome guest: not only did he speak at the top of his voice, he also accompanied his words with the most expressive pantomime, and this pantomime, thanks to the wide brim of his hat and the immense width of the cape, turned into a grotesque spectacle, which, with its absurdity, made even his interlocutors laugh.

Expressing them pantomime first amazed the audience, then enthralled.

Let us show how, in action, the funny is born from likening the best to the worst and vice versa, from unexpected deceit, from everything impossible and contrary to the laws of nature, from the insignificant and inconsistent, from the belittling of characters, from the use of commonplace and obscene pantomime, from the violation of harmony, from the choice of the least worthy things.

This dog belonged to a magician who put on a performance of several pantomime with the participation of many actors, and one of the roles was assigned to the dog.

It should be mentioned that the innkeeper told them that an hour or two earlier a troupe of comedians had gone from Donnington to Kenilworth, invited, as he believed, to perform masks and pantomime, which were part of the entertainment that was usually arranged on the occasion of the arrival of the queen.

Yes, it was I who fell asleep, and various fragments from children's performances, Christmas tree performances and circus dances swirled and mixed in my head. pantomime, and in moments I woke up again and remembered that Tai was no longer in my life, not at all, as it had never been, the past had grown, and there was such a hot place in my heart, so alive.

Uniformists pushed back two segments of the barrier under the orchestra, it turned out, as it were, two exits to the arena, one - old and familiar, the other - from the opposite side, strange, under the orchestra stage, it is rarely used - during pantomime, or for the release of animals, or for some original directorial fiction.

In the essay pantomime students took part, among whom is the name of Francis Bacon.

Covent Garden, stage director pantomime and famous performer pantomime nyh roles of the harlequin.

If he had fatter thighs, said Plunket, pantomime.

The Anglo-Saxons sat upright, one of them, who was about to fill his pipe, put it aside, Insarova played some simple pantomime, sentimental and shameless, as it seemed to Johanna, perhaps even stupid, in any case, banal.