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"A phrase is a sentence, when it comes to the acting.
A phrase is a song, when it comes to an activity."
- Gregg Goldston
“When it comes to our acting, we deliver a phrase like a Sentence. When it comes to an Activity or an Illusion, we deliver a phrase like a Song.”
Today we will share The Goldston Mime Grammar Page 3 - "The Phrasing Categories & Examples of Mime Phrasing.
First, here is the background story on how this all developed:
In 2006, Gregg was brought in to teach at the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive in order to help the dancers improve their acting. While preparing for this work he studied countless productions from companies around the world. Although ABT didn’t ask him to teach or address “Ballet Mime” he discovered that the difference between Ballet Mime and Modern Mime was that Ballet used a 3-beat system and Mime used a 4-beat system. This is why when watching Ballet Mime, the audience never feels the conclusion of a sentence, conversation, or scene.
Seeing that this was what Mime could offer Ballet, Gregg spent over two-years developing a complete grammar structure that ranged from a soloist day dreaming, to a full company scene from Romeo & Juliet.
***It was from this period of research that led Gregg to what we now call:
“See-Wish-Doubt-Believe.” The Four-Beat Sentence Structure.***
As he developed this Grammar, he studied “all” the situations in which a non-verbal communication phrase happened within a story ballet. Learning this, Gregg then categorized them according to type of “scene”, they would appear in.
Those phrases are categorizes as below:
- Attitude Phrase
- Activity Phrase
- Monologue Phrase
- Dialogue Phrase
- Announcement Phrase
Without that enormous effort and dedication Gregg had for creating a modernized grammar of ballet mime, this modern system of non-verbal grammar that we are sharing today, would not be exist. It is true that this system was in use by Gregg, and it originated by examining how Marcel Marceau made his thought process so clearly visible. However, it was only after codifying Ballet Mime, that he realized he had also codified Mime Acting to a higher level.
This was certainly the best part of all this work, and since then Gregg and I have been continuing to codify a broad grammar of mime and assemble it into a teachable foundation of techniques for mime artists worldwide.
Now, let's imagine how we can put this grammar to use by looking at a few mime scenes.
Example 1: You see a girl you like very much, but you are too shy to speak to her. How do you physically show that (Attitude Phrase) on stage?
Do you have at least four sequential beats (physical gestures) to say "I could never speak to her" and complete your sentence? If you just make one pose of shyness, that is not a phrase to be understood. And if you have only three gestures instead of four, that cannot give a conclusion.
Example 2: You tie a necktie in your scene. Does that activity have its beginning, middle and end in different rhythms as if you are singing a musical phrase internally and visually?
Tying a necktie ends with the tightening quick move of your hands with your whole body and face reflecting it. The rhythm and your acting together must complete like the end of a musical phrase. And usually, the end of a phrase has a pronounced longer moment ("The Hold Point") to be photographed nicely (by an imaginary camera of your "Universal Audience".
At first glance these seem like simple and arbitrary thoughts to show, and/or illusionary activities to practice. However, Gregg assembled a variety of topics that will put you in many “emotional” scenes causing you to have to utilize the four-beat structure.
Note that this page works directly with The Mime Acting page we released on November 10, 2013.
We suggest you and a colleague try to act out each of these scenes using the 4-beat acting moments. By exploring the variety of combinations with another person, you will both be able to see the power of “Thought over Action.”
Here are a few examples I would start with:
Curious, only (Attitude Phrase)
Curious (Attitude Phrase)
plus Opening a Present (Activity Phrase)
Sorrow, My love has left me. only (Attitude Phrase)
Sorrow, My love has left me. (Attitude Phrase)
plus Getting Dressed (Activity Phrase)
Spontaneity is always required in the training of phrasing all five categories above. But remember, it is supposed to be fun for you like a casual jam session. I have to remind myself about this and dance around when I get too serious about phrasing.
"Yes, it should be fun and it IS fun!"
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| Gregg Goldston in "The Argument" |
Written by Haruka Moriyama,
with additional writings by Gregg Goldston
For more information about The Goldston Moriyama Institute for Mime, our Personal Mime Training Programs in New York City, or our Summer Mime Intensives, please contact us at the links listed below.
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