Mime is one of the oldest art forms in the world, beginning back in prehistoric times, achieving renown during the theatre of Dionysus in Athens and in the Commedia dell' Arte tradition in Italy, and spreading as a form of non-verbal theatre throughout the continents, the form particularly popularized by silent film star Charlie Chaplin and French mime Marcel Marceau.
However, there are very few female mime artists. Japanese performer Yayoi Hirano is one of them, an actor whose theatricality is exemplified through the art of mime, as well as that of movement and the creation of Noh masks.
Yayoi's Biography
Yayoi Hirano grew up in Japan and graduated from Toho Gakuen College of Performing Arts in 1975. She co-founded the Mime Theatre Pierrot-kan shortly after this, creating modern works in pantomime. In 1985, Yayoi began to create shows as a solo performer such as A Woman and Yayoi Dojoji in 1988. In between, Yayoi traveled to Vancouver BC for the first time to perform at Expo 86, a place she eventually moved to in 2002. In 1990, she founded her own company: YAYOI Theatre Movement. Since then, she's performed at many Fringe and dance festivals throughout the world, including Italy, Holland, Slovakia and Singapore.
Then, in 1989, she became the first ever mime artist to receive the Ministry of Education Fellowship. The grant allowed her to spend a year in collaboration with artists in Canada and Germany.
Yayoi has worked with photographers, jazz musicians and opera singers, as well as poets and writers, in creating a wide range of productions.
Yayoi's Productions
While teaching mime and mask making at a variety of schools, Yayoi has performed extensively. Her most recent work (2009) is called Alms, a collaborative mime play about homelessness and its stigmatization. Yayoi often creates works of literal, rather than abstract, mime, which employ story telling narratives, such as her fairy tale or mythic pieces Snow Woman (2005) and Daughter of Snow (2001) with the Bulgarian mime artist Nicky Sotirov. She also uses music such as Bolero to shape enchanted evocations of youth and old age (1998).
As well as using the techniques of mime to its poetically fullest extent, Yayoi incorporates the ancient art of mask making into her performances. She carves these Noh-style masks, whose features could represent everything from demons to fair maidens to animals, from the lightest wood and then paints them. With the combination of the mime makeup and movements, the masks and Yayoi's own lithe and imaginative approach to theatre, her company continues to garner grants, acclaim and awards.
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