Visible

Through my becoming a poet, creating a blog, branching out in social media, I have become friends with many people throughout the world. I love that I have the opportunity to meet so many people, from different places on the planet. These are people I have not met in person, but would never have had the chance to meet at all were it not for the internet. Many are artists; they represent many forms of art, including the art of mime.

Mime is not an art form that is generally seen in the United States. My first introduction to mime was as a child, watching Robert Shields and Lorene Yarnell perform on the Muppet Show. I was maybe seven, eight years old. I have admired the art form ever since.

About a year ago, I was on one of my favorite sites, Pinterest. I saw a photo of a mime artist, on a page called the Silence Community; I clicked “like” on the photo, and continued to look at other photos on the site. A day or two later, I received a message from a gentleman in France. He wrote me and introduced himself; he said that he is a mime, and that he had created a social network called the Silence Community. He said that the network was for performers who perform dance, physical theater, mime, and gestural theater; he then went on to say that the community is also open to people who are not performers, yet love and or admire those forms of art. He gave me the link to the website, and said I was more than welcome in the community. I joined the very same day.

The Silence Community is a social network, much like Facebook, in which members can friend one another, post videos, create groups, have discussions. When I joined I filled out my profile with my information, my blog address, and that
I am a poet, writer, and translator. Through making new friends on the site, I found out that my talents might be of use to the Silence Community. I was asked by the same gentleman, the founder of the site, to translate some of the items on the website, from English to Spanish. The community has over 200 members, with members around the world. The network has many languages to accommodate every member.

Over the last year, having conversations with this gentleman and others, I have grown in my role in the Silence Community. For a period of time this year, from March until May, I served as the web administrator for the community. It is unique in that it is completely funded by donations from its members. It costs over 700 euros, close to $1,000 U.S. dollars, to run every year. A little over a week ago, the founder of the Silence Community created a Facebook page for the community, to let others know of its existence, and to encourage more people to join. I have been appointed the administrator of the Facebook page. For my translation work and web administration with the Silence Community, the administration of the Facebook page, and for my monetary donation, I received the honor of being appointed to the Board of Directors in the Silence Community.

Perhaps the most famous mime in the world was Marcel Marceau. I got to see him perform in one of his tours to the U.S. in the 1990s. He passed away in 2007. One of the things he said about the art of mime was that the goal of the art form was to “make the invisible visible.” Mime is a simple and yet very complex art form at the same time. Mimes are trained to tell complete stories with their body. The training is very demanding and intense. One exercise students are given is to tell a story through the use of one body part, like a hand, leg, or a foot. Could you tell a story without words, using only your foot?

You may be reading this and thinking to yourself, “You are a writer. What does writing have to do with mime?” While learning the complexities of art of mime, it occurred to me that mimes and writers do exactly the same thing:
they tell a story.

Everything we create comes from nothing.

We make the invisible visible.

Both writers and mimes convey thoughts, feelings, and stories through storytelling. The mime uses their body movements in actions to convey the story, to show you what cannot be seen; the writer uses their words, in descriptive narrative, to tell the story, and to show you what cannot be seen.

Poetry is the art of words; mime is the poetry of the body.

I have a new found respect for the art of mime and for the art of writing. Realizing my role as a writer makes me approach my writing more seriously. I now know that I have a big job to do; I have to help everyone see what they cannot.

I must make the invisible visible.

If you are interested in joining the Silence Community, here are the links:

Silence Community:

http://www.silencecommunity.com/

Silence Community Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/silencecommunity.page

Here are some of my friends, some of the stories they have to tell, and some other stories you might like.

Thank you to the Silence Community and the storytellers and artists I have met throughout the world.

César Chirinos: “The Displaced”: