As French mime artist Lorraine Brochet demonstrated the blossoming of a flower, her kneeling body curved upwards and her arms spread in a wide arc.
However, when one of her students tried to replicate the move, he outstretched his arms in a pose that resembled the typical romantic movie hero, prompting chuckles from the rest of the group.
The moment was just one among the many at the mime workshop held on Sunday at Bharat Bhavan, Thycaud, that demonstrated the range of messages that could be conveyed through subtle variations in body movements.
It is this potential of the art of miming that made her take it up professionally, says Ms. Brochet. Once a student of filmmaking, and of sign language, it had struck her that she could do wonders by combining the two.
Ms. Brochet, along with sound-effect maker Barnabe Gautier, both of La Cie Akarakù, a Toulouse-based theatre group, came down to Kerala for performances in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, as well as the workshop, organised by Alliance Francaise.
The responses to her shows here had been quite different from what she is used to in France, Ms. Brochet says. While the French would typically laugh out loud at humorous instances, the Malayalis had been a little reserved, perhaps because the humour was unusual to their taste.
For example, when she pretended to fall down, her audience at Thiruvananthapuram had become concerned for her safety instead of finding it hilarious. The absence of women participants in the workshop was another contrast with France that Lorraine noted.
In any case, the 12 participants, including theatre artists, aspirant filmmakers and students, were fascinated by the art of miming. Bangalore-based Kiran Rajhans, for example, says that miming could break all barriers between the artist and the viewer, as actions speak louder than words.
It is, however, a difficult art to master, he says. One’s body has to be quite flexible to move as nimbly as required.
But with years of hard work, anyone can excel at miming, says Ms. Brochet.
