Introduction to the Body Talk Mime School ¨Mime Games¨
Mario Diamond Mime Teacher
School description
Always captivated by the silent art, Mario developed his own style and teaching techniques to apply in physical acting with circus performers, actors, figure skaters and politicians.
Here is some teaching experiences;
- NECCA Circus School, Brattleboro, Vermont, USA
- MOTH Poetic Circus, Denver, Colorado, USA
- Street Theater troupe, Belgium
- Canadian Olympic figure skaters (Josée Chouinard, Canadian Champion, Patrick Chan, World Champion)
- Chinese Olympic figure skaters
- Japanese Olympic figure skaters (Fumie Suguri)
- American Olympic figure skaters
- Russian Olympic figure skaters (Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov)
- Various international circus artists; jogglers, clowns, contortionists etc.
- Montreal Maire (1980's)
- US Senator (2010's)
It is a three step technique; learn, practice, apply.
I explain and demonstrate the technique. You try it and practice for a while. I show exemples with videos and live acts. Then you apply it to your daily life.
No, it is not a secret!
Mime is a good tool to improve your knowledge about your body lines and the projection of your personal image.
Play and have fun!
With good coaching and imagination you can create and recreate anything you want. Think about it!
Stay alert!
Some games require your full attention!
Example Curriculum
- Mime Games - Presentation (0:58)
- Warm-up
- Mime Games - 01 - Postural Study - The Statue and The Sculptors (2:02)
- The Statue - Mario Diamond - TV Show Awards (0:17)
- Mime Games - 02 - Synchronization - The Mirror Effect (1:07)
- Live Show - Mario Diamond & Marysia Kochac - The Broken Mirror - Circus Spectacular (5:37)
- Mime Games - 03 - Reflexes - The Robot (0:42)
- TV Show - Mario Diamond & Danièle Brodeur - Romantic Robots (4:09)
- Live Show - Mario Diamond - The Robot - Circus Spectacular (11:51)
- Mime Games - 04 - Personality - The Rooster Fight (1:56)
- Mime Games - 05 - Facial expressions - The Secret (0:48)
- Mime Games - 06 - Gesture Control - Slow Motion (1:25)
- Slow Motion Effect - Live Show - Mario Diamond - The Suitcase (3:53)
- Mime Games - 07 - Body lines and postures - Getting older/Younger (0:40)
- The 7 axes - Explanation (1:05)
- Mime Games - 08 - Competitive spirit - Tug of War (1:22)
- Mime Games - 09 - Balance and Reflexes - The Tight Wire (1:23)
- Mime Games - 10 - Acting - The Power Lifter (1:43)
- Live show - Mario Diamond - Strong Man - Circus Spectacular (6:06)
- Mime Games - 11 - Clowning - The Chair (1:54)
- Mime Games - 12 - Total Body Expressions - The Daisy (1:25)
- Pantomime - The Daisy - Mario Diamond (1:30)
- Conclusion (0:29)
- Questions or Comments ??? !!!
Bio of Mario Diamond
As a kid, I could not stop talking, with words as much as gestures. When my mother could not take it anymore, she would make me sit on my hands. It was magical, not one more sound would come out of my mouth. Later in life, I discovered I was only duplicating my message. I could remain silent and still say so many things.
After trying dance, a beautiful discipline in which I was not that good, I tried theatre where I felt limited by the language. I needed to be able to communicate with the entire world. In 1976, I discovered mime at the same time that I discovered Vincent Marcotte, an incredible teacher. After only a few hours in class, I decided to become full time silent actor.
One year later, the master mime Claude St-Denis was playing in a theater close to where I lived. I needed to see how one person on stage, with no decor, no music and no props, could be interesting enough to keep an audience for an hour and more. After the show, I was lucky to meet him and talk about silence. A few months later, I became his student and stage partner.
I am still performing on stage and using mime in different spheres, for example, playing physical characters in movies. Teaching has taken more and more space in my life. Using what I learned from elders and hearing the need to learn differently and more quickly, for those who will not become mimes, I developed my personal teaching method and adapted mime techniques for figure skaters, jugglers, magicians and even politicians.