Learning to communicate through Mime

​Hanamkonda: Away from all the day’s bustling sounds in an air-conditioned hall, a group of men and women are silently engaged in learning to communicate with their bodies, without words.

Only sounds audible in the hall at Hotel Haritha Kakatiya were music played intermittently in sync with the movements of the learners and loud shouts of the trainer, who was teaching them mime, the silent language of communication.

This was the scene at the ongoing mime workshop in Hanamkonda conducted by Mime Madhu, a mime artist of international repute. The participants from different parts of the country like Kerala, Maharashtra and from across Telangana were all ears to their master’s voice and mend their moves.

The workshop is the first of its kind to be organised in the city and it received immense response. Though it was planned to limit the number of participants to 25, in view of the response we have selected 32 students to train, Madhu informed.

The students were from all walks of life, some engineering graduates, musicians, classical dance artistes, drama artistes and actors doing short films and they were very receptive and hard working to learn the art, he felt.

“Here we train each student to discipline their body, mind and soul, which are crucial to convey expressions in an effective manner. The training involves yoga, meditation, basic skills of Kalaripayattu. It helps to relax muscles get rid of rigidity and then expressions flow freely,” he explained.

The students claim they have attained a new level of mental and physical balance and feel lighter. ‘I can now express myself without words and what I learnt here is definitely going to elevate me as music teacher,” Sridhar Avunuri, who teaches music in Hyderabad, told The Hans India sharing his experience at the workshop.

‘I learnt about the workshop on internet and came here. It helped a lot to explore my innate artistic skill and to fine tune it,’ said Sushma Sansare of Mumbai, while a Kuchipudi dance teacher Udayarani Shailaja felt learning mime is harder than learning dance and the workshop helped to boost her creative power.

A 49-year-old drama artist, Sadula Suresh of Warangal, was overjoyed to be part of the workshop and said he found a new self after the training. The same was the impression of short film actors Dasari Jyothi and Prabhu and Vinod Kumar.

Madhu informed that he will be holding workshops in all erstwhile districts in Telangana. The next training session will be held in Karimnagar followed by Khammam or Adilabad, he added.

Valedictory of Warangal workshop will be held at Nerella Venumadhav Auditorium at Public Gardens in Hanamkonda on July 15 at 7 pm. The students will present a show on the topic of their choice, Madhu added.