• What does the word "MIME" mean?
• How is Mime Different From Dance?
• What are some standard characteristics of MIME that I might not be aware of?
• Do all Mimes have to dress in black and white and wear gloves?

• Are all mimes scary?
• Do all mimes invade personal space and behave rudely?
• Do all mimes have to wear a white face?
• How old is the art of MIME?

Q: What does the word “MIME” mean?

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word mime as:
mime: Verb (mimed, miming) and NOUN (mimus, from the Greek mimos, to imitate)

1. Mimic (to copy), to act a part with mimic gesture and action, usually without words.
2. an actor in a mime, one that practices mime.
3. an ancient dramatic entertainment representing scenes from life, usually in a ridiculous manner.
4. the art of portraying a character or of narration by body movement.

Essentially, what that means is, Mime is the art of Silence. Mime also takes the INVISIBLE and makes it VISIBLE, the ORDINARY becomes EXTRA-ORDINARY.

Mime speaks, but instead of words, a mime uses stylized gestures and movements of the body to express a thought, story, emotion, or idea.

Q: How is Mime different from Dance?

The art of mime is different from dance because mime is the art of recreating life. Literally, the word “mime” is derived from the word “mimic” meaning “to imitate or copy”; thus Mime is the imitation, the copy of life!

Q: What are some standard characteristics of Mime that I might not be aware of?

Mime is wonderful because it is extremely versatile. Here are some examples:

• Mime does not rely on the spoken word to say something.
• Mime can cross cultural barriers because words are transcended by movement.
• Mime can also utilize and work with other art forms such as music, dance, drama, and visual art.
• Mime is captivating in its unique stylization of the body.
• Mime allows the viewer to create vivid images, ideas and pictures for themselves as they watch the mime artist create a world around them. Mime is useful, suitable, amusing and interesting for all ages, the young and the young at heart and everyone in between.

Q: Do mimes have to dress in black & white stripes and gloves?

Mime is not limited to the cliché you may see on the street corner: the chap dressed in black and white stripes, gloves, sporting a painted face and doing illusions. Yes, mime is creating illusions, but it can be used in a much more significant and powerful way! Typically, mime artists dress in some combination of black and/or white. Why? The stark contrast of the two most basic colors creates a neutral palate for the mime artist. This is important as it allows the mime to change characters, objects and ideas, essentially a blank canvas. Sometimes the mime artist may incorporate small splashes of a solid bright color to create a more 3 dimensional picture. The traditional white gloves help the viewer to more clearly identify the movements of the hands.

Mime can be and is done in virtually any color or costume, but the traditional look is still very effective.