Mime Information English

Pantomime = Mime

Pantomime or Mime, art of dramatic representation by means of facial expressions and body movements rather than words. Pantomime, or mime, has always played a part in theater. In the great open-air theaters of ancient Greece and Rome, where the audience could see more easily than it could hear, mime was an important element of acting. The Roman pantomimus was an actor who used stylized movement and masks to portray a character to the accompaniment of music and the singing of a chorus.

Pantomime, or dumb show, was essential to commedia dell'arte, an improvised comedy that arose in 16th-century Italy and spread throughout Europe. Pantomime continued in the 17th- and 18th-century harlequinade in France and England, an offshoot of the commedia dell'arte, which depicted the adventures of Harlequin; his sweetheart, Columbine; and her father, Pantaleone. In London the harlequinade was preceded by a scene in which actors mimed and danced stories from classical mythology or fairy tales, culminating in the transformation of the leading character into Harlequin. John Rich, an 18th-century actor noted in the role of Harlequin, made this form of entertainment popular at Christmas. Gradually the opening scene, or pantomime, became longer and more important than the harlequinade, especially as developed in the early 19th century by the actor Joseph Grimaldi, who excelled in acrobatics, invented tricks and stage machinery, and created the foolish clown Joey. The pantomime emerged as an elaborately staged and costumed spectacle, based on fairy tales, incorporating song, dance, acrobatics, dialogue, and other elements from the English music hall.

Pantomime was developed to a high art by the 19th-century French actor Jean Gaspard Deburau, who refined an early commedia dell'arte character into the lovelorn clown Pierrot. In the 20th century two French actors, �tienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, who created the clown Bip, were outstanding mimes. Actors in early 20th-century silent films, most notably Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, relied entirely on mime to convey the story.

Subsequent performers were heavily influenced both by the early silent film stars and by Marceau. During the 1970s the mime trio Mummenschanz earned a following for its interpretive performances. Other artists, including Bill Irwin, David Shiner, and Bill Berky, were part of a generation of actors known as new vaudevillians (see Vaudeville) who helped revitalize mime performance during the 1980s and early 1990s. Irwin created a number of solo performance pieces during the 1980s, and in 1989 he performed in his one-man Broadway show Largely/New York, which concerned the relationship between a clown and the urban technology of the city.

Barrault, Jean Louis (1910-1994), French actor, director, and producer, who is especially noted for his work in pantomime. He was born in Le V�sinet, France. Barrault studied and taught art and attended the �cole du Louvre, Paris, until 1931, when he enrolled in the school of the Th��tre de l'Atelier, where he stayed until 1935, giving particular attention to the study of mime. Five years later he joined the Com�die Fran�aise. In 1946 he and his wife, the actor Madeleine Renaud, resigned from the Com�die and formed the Renaud-Barrault Company at the Th��tre Marigny, Paris. He was appointed director of the Th��tre de France in 1959 and of the Th��tre des Nations in 1965; both theaters were sponsored by the French government. Following a dispute over his support of students who had seized the theater in 1968, Barrault resigned from the Th��tre des Nations, and he and his wife re-formed the Renaud-Barrault Company.

Although Barrault is internationally famous for his work in pantomime, his range as director and actor has extended from Shakespeare and the French classics through contemporary comedy to experimental avant-garde works such as his own Rabelais (1968). He directed productions for the Metropolitan Opera Company, New York City, and his companies have toured the United States. Barrault appeared in such film classics as Les Enfants du Paradis (1944; Children of Paradise,1946). His books, expressing his dedication to theater as a total emotional and intellectual experience, include Reflections on the Theater (1959; translated 1961) and The Theater of Jean-Louis Barrault (1961; translated 1961).

Charlie Chaplin was an English actor, director, producer, and composer. He is best remembered as "the Tramp," a character he immortalized in more than 70 motion pictures beginning in 1914. Chaplin�s gift was his ability to touch his audience deeply while playing the childlike clown.

Chaplin, Charlie (1889-1977), English motion-picture actor, director, producer, and composer, one of the most creative artists in film history, who first achieved worldwide fame through his performances in silent films. His full name was Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin.

Born in London, as a child Chaplin appeared in music hall and pantomime performances. In 1910 he toured the United States with a pantomime troupe and decided to remain in the country. Chaplin first appeared on the screen in 1914 with the Keystone Film Company of American director Mack Sennett. In Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), wearing baggy pants, enormous shoes, and a bowler hat and carrying a bamboo cane, he originated his world-famous character, the Tramp. He played this classic role in more than 70 films during his career. He was associated later with the Essanay Film Company, the Mutual Film Company, and the First National Film Company. In 1918 his own studio in Hollywood, California, was completed. During these years Chaplin gradually developed the tramp character from a jaunty, slapstick stereotype into the compassionate human figure that came to be loved by audiences throughout the world. In 1919 he helped found the United Artists Corporation, with which he was associated until 1952. Important pictures Chaplin produced, directed, and starred in include The Kid (1921), The Pilgrim (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Limelight (1952), and A King in New York (1957). Chaplin wrote, directed, and played in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967). He also composed background music for most of his films.

The Gold Rush (1925), starring Charlie Chaplin, is one of the best-known silent films. The film takes Chaplin�s famous character, the Tramp, to Alaska, where he encounters many difficulties, each of which he solves in a unique way. In this scene, Chaplin is joined by Georgia Hale.

Roy Export Company Establishment/Culver Pictures

In the late 1940s and early 1950s Chaplin was criticized for his leftist political views. As a result, he left the United States in 1952 and established permanent residence in Switzerland. In 1972 he briefly returned to the United States to receive several tributes, among them a special Academy Award for his contributions to the film industry. He was knighted in 1975.

Chaplin perfected an individual style of performing, derived from the circus clown and the mime, combining acrobatic elegance, expressive gesture, facial eloquence, and impeccable timing. His portrayal of the little tramp, a universally recognized symbol of indestructible individuality triumphing over adversity and persecution, both human and mechanical, won him critical renown as a tragicomedian. Film sound recording in the late 1920s, however, imperiled the effectiveness of the pantomime on which much of his creative imagination depended; also, he became concerned with themes of contemporary significance. In his first two films of the sound era, City Lights and Modern Times, Chaplin's little tramp remained silent. Subsequently, he abandoned the role of the tramp and relied upon specific character portrayal. The Great Dictator, which uses all the resources of sound recording, marks this transition. Chaplin's treatment of his subjects compounds satire and pathos, revealing a love of humanity and of individual freedom. He wrote My Autobiography (1964; reprinted as My Early Years,1982) and My Life in Movies (1975). Sir Richard Attenborough's biographical film Chaplin appeared in 1992.

Deburau, Jean Gaspard (1796-1846), French mime artist, who revolutionized popular theater in France with his portrayal of Pierrot, a character in the Italian theater form known as commedia dell�arte. He was born in Kolin, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). He performed from an early age with his family, who were acrobats. In 1811 the family moved to Paris. Deburau joined the Th��tre des Funambules (Theater of the Ropewalkers), along with his father, and he remained there for the rest of his career, despite offers from more prestigious companies.

Deburau began playing Pierrot in the 1820s. Using his gift for mime, he gradually transformed the character from a simple trickster into a more complex mischief-maker who also had a dreamy, childlike side and was forever lovelorn. Deburau instituted changes in Pierrot�s standard costuming. He discarded the ruffled collar and large white hat then common and instead wore loose, flowing, white clothing and a black skullcap. This attire emphasized his lankiness and his white face. Deburau charmed audiences and critics, and he became the star attraction of the Funambules, then the center of popular entertainment in Paris. His newly complex character was later taken up by such 19th-century writers as Th�ophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire of France and Heinrich Heine of Germany. In their writings, these authors turned Pierrot into a personality of almost mythic proportions.

Deburau�s life later became the subject of the motion-picture classic Les enfants du paradis (1945; also released as Children of Paradise) by French director Marcel Carn�. His work also greatly extended the possibilities of the art of pantomime and inspired modern mime artists, particularly Marcel Marceau of France. After Deburau�s death, his son Jean-Charles took over at the Funambules and continued to play Pierrot.

Grimaldi, Joseph (1779-1837), English clown and pantomimist, born in London, the son of an Italian actor. He made his stage debut at the age of two at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, and appeared there until 1806, when he moved to the Covent Garde Theatre. His best-known role was that of the clown in the pantomime Harlequin and Mother Goose (1806). Grimaldi was the most famous clown in the history of pantomime; his nickname Joey came into colloquial use in England as a synonym for clown. He retired in 1823, worn out by hard work. His Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838) was edited by Charles Dickens.

American actor Bill Irwin blends elements of clowning, slapstick, and vaudeville in his innovative stage performances. He received a so-called genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 1985.

Bernard Gotfryd/Archive Photos

Irwin, Bill, (1950- ), American actor, director, and proponent of new vaudeville, a type of theater based on clowning (see Clown). Irwin created a sophisticated and popular form of slapstick comedy on the American stage in the 1980s by blending elements from the traditions of physical clowning, the 16th-century Italian theater genre known as commedia dell'arte, silent motion-picture comedy, and modern satire. His eccentric characterizations and rubber-limbed mimicry reinvigorated the comic repertory of Broadway and American regional theater.

Irwin was born in Santa Monica, California. He studied theater at the University of California at Los Angeles, California Institute of the Arts, and Oberlin College before entering the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Clown College. Irwin performed at the San Francisco Pickle Family Circus and the Seattle Repertory Theatre in the late 1970s. He received a so-called genius award from the MacArthur Foundation and a Tony Award nomination for his acting in the New York City production of The Regard of Flight (1982), a three-person stage show he developed. In it he established his trademark character, a combination of a wild man and a fool who battles with the forces of common sense, gravity, and theatrical pretension. In 1988 he appeared in a production of Samuel Beckett�s Waiting for Godot with actors Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and F. Murray Abraham.

In Largely/New York (1989), Irwin created a stinging parody of the contemporary performance-art scene. The show received five Tony Award nominations. Later successes, which premiered in Seattle, Washington, include the two-man burlesque Fool Moon (1993), a collaboration with fellow clown-actor David Shiner, and Scapin (1995), an adaptation of the classic farce The Deceptions of Scapin (1671) by French author Moli�re.

Contributed By:
Mel Gordon

French performer Marcel Marceau made mime widely popular in the 20th century. He is shown here as his best-known character, Bip, a white-faced clown.

Bill Pierce/PNI

Marceau, Marcel (1923- ), French mime, born in Strasbourg, considered to have almost single-handedly revived the ancient art of pantomime. One of his first opportunities to perform came shortly after World War II, when he entertained French occupation troops in Germany. In 1946 he enrolled at the School of Dramatic Arts in Paris, at which he studied with �tienne Decroux. In 1947 he created his famous mime character Bip, a white-faced clown clothed in culottes, a middy, and wearing a battered top hat. In a great variety of poignant and comic sketches, Bip is beloved by theatergoers around the world. Marceau's one-man show was probably the outstanding success of the 1955-56 theatrical season in New York City, and he has since toured the U.S. many times. He has also appeared frequently on television.

Tati, Jacques (1908-1982), French comic actor and motion-picture director, best known as the clumsy, good-natured Monsieur Hulot, a character from his most celebrated films. Tati was born Jacques Tatischeff in Le Pecq, near Paris, into a Russian aristocratic family. He began his entertainment career as a performer in cabarets and music halls, where he pantomimed popular sports heroes.

Tati's first major film roles were in Sylvie et le fantome (Sylvie and the Phantom, 1946) and Le diable au corps (Devil in the Flesh, 1946), both by French director Claude Autant-Lara. In 1947 Tati directed his own short comedy, L'�cole des facteurs (The School for Postal Clerks), which he later expanded into the highly successful Jour de f�te (The Big Day, 1949), a parody of mechanization at the expense of individual dignity. Tati introduced his bumbling alter ego, Monsieur Hulot, in Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot's Holiday, 1953), which starred Tati himself in the title role. In this and subsequent films directed by and starring Tati�including Mon oncle (My Uncle, 1958), Playtime (1968), and Trafic (Traffic, 1971)�Mr. Hulot is invariably baffled by the depersonalizing assaults of modern life. Tati's last film, Parade (1974), was a tribute to the French pantomime tradition.

Tati was a determined perfectionist, often working with limited budgets. As a result, he was able to complete relatively few films in his lifetime, but they remain landmark screen comedies.

Game Involving Pantomime

Charades, riddles consisting of a word of two or more syllables, which are to be guessed from the representation, by word of mouth or by pantomime, of a meaning suggested by the separate syllables and then by the entire word. Spoken or written charades may be verse or prose. The British poet Winthrop Mackworth Praed was noted for his witty written charades. The following is an example of the spoken charade.

My first is to ramble;

My next to retreat;

My whole oft enrages

In Summer's fierce heat.

Answer: Gadfly.

The acted charade consists of a pantomime in which the various syllables of a word, or an entire word or phrase, are acted out. If the answer to the charade is "football," the syllables foot and ball are pantomimed. Pantomimic charades are a popular game at parties in the United States and the United Kingdom. The participants are generally divided into two competing groups, each group acting out a number of charades that the other must guess. Charades reputedly originated in France in the 18th century.

I INTRODUCTION Musical or Musical Comedy, theatrical production in which songs and choruses, instrumental accompaniments and interludes, and often dance are integrated into a dramatic plot. The genre was developed and refined in the United States, particularly in the theaters along Broadway in New York City, during the first half of the 20th century. The musical was influenced by a variety of 19th-century theatrical forms, including operetta, comic opera (see Opera), pantomime, minstrel show, vaudeville, and burlesque.

II ORIGINS
The American musical has its roots in a series of 18th- and early 19th-century theatrical productions involving music. Of these, the best known is The Archers; or, The Mountaineers of Switzerland, (1796), composed by Benjamin Carr, with a libretto (the text of the musical) by William Dunlap. The Black Crook (1866), which ran for 475 performances and combined melodrama with ballet, is generally credited as being the first musical. In the late 19th century, operettas from Vienna, Austria (composed by Johann Strauss, Jr., and Franz Leh�r), London (by Sir Arthur Sullivan, with librettos by Sir William S. Gilbert), and Paris (by Jacques Offenbach) were popular with Eastern urban audiences. At the same time, revues (plotless programs of songs, dances, and comedy sketches) abounded not only in theaters but also in some upper-class saloons, such as the music hall operated in New York City by the comedy team of Joe Weber and Lew Fields. The successful shows of another comedy team, Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart, were also revues, but had connecting dialogue and continuing characters. These in turn spawned the musical shows of multitalented George M. Cohan, the first of which appeared in 1901.

In the years before World War I (1914-1918), several young operetta composers emigrated from Europe to the United States. They included Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml, and Sigmund Romberg. Herbert's Naughty Marietta (1910), Friml's The Firefly (1912), and Romberg's Maytime (1917) are representative of the new genre these composers created: American operetta, with simple music and librettos and memorable songs that were enduringly popular with the public.

III THE MODERN MUSICAL
In 1914 composer Jerome Kern began to produce a series of shows in which all the varied elements of a musical were integrated. Produced in the intimate Princess Theatre in New York City, Kern's musicals featured contemporary settings and events, in contrast to operettas, which always took place in fantasy lands. In 1927 Kern provided the score for Show Boat, which had the first serious libretto. It was also adapted from a successful novel, a technique that was to proliferate in post-1940 musicals.

Gradually the old musical formula began to change. Instead of complicated but light plots, sophisticated lyrics and simplified librettos were introduced; underscoring (music played as background to dialogue or movement) was added; and new types of American music, such as jazz and blues, were utilized by composers. In addition, singers began to learn how to act. In 1932 Of Thee I Sing (1931) became the first musical to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize in drama. Its creators, composer George Gershwin and lyricist Ira Gershwin, had succeeded in intelligently satirizing contemporary political situations.

In the 1920s satire, ideas, and wit had been elements of the intimate revue. These sophisticated shows were important as testing grounds for the young composers and lyricists who later helped develop the serious musical. One composer-lyricist pair who started in the intimate revues, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, wrote a show in 1940, Pal Joey, that had many of the elements of the later musicals, including a book (the spoken dialogue in the musical) with fully developed characters. But it was not a success until its 1952 revival. In the meantime Rodgers, with Oscar Hammerstein II as his new collaborator, had produced Oklahoma! (1943), which had ballets, choreographed by Agnes de Mille, that were an integral part of the plot. The role of the choreographer-director was eventually to become vastly influential on the shape and substance of the American musical. Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd, Michael Bennett, and Bob Fosse are notable among the skilled choreographers who went on to create important musicals, most memorably Bennett's A Chorus Line (1975) and Fosse's Dancin' (1978).

IV POST-WORLD WAR II ERA
As these and other innovations altered the conventions of musical theater, audiences came to expect more variety and complexity in their shows. A host of inventive composers and lyricists obliged. In 1949 Cole Porter, who had written provocative songs with brilliant lyrics for many years, finally wrote a show with an equally fine book: Kiss Me Kate. Rodgers and Hammerstein followed Oklahoma! with Carousel (1945) and South Pacific (1949). Irving Berlin, who had been writing hit songs since 1911, produced the popular but somewhat old-fashioned Annie Get Your Gun (1946). Frank Loesser provided both words and music for Guys and Dolls (1950), with its raffish characters created by Damon Runyon. Brigadoon (1947) was the first successful collaboration of composer Frederick Loewe and book-and-lyric writer Alan Jay Lerner, who were later to contribute My Fair Lady (1956), based on Pygmalion (1913) by British dramatist George Bernard Shaw, and Camelot (1960).

In the 1950s a number of composers gained prominence. Leonard Bernstein wrote the scores for Candide (1956) and West Side Story (1957). The latter, a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, consisted mostly of dance and was heavily underscored and greatly influential. Jule Styne wrote the music for Bells Are Ringing (1956) and Gypsy (1959). In the 1960s and 1970s composer Sheldon Harnick and lyricist Jerry Bock produced Fiddler on the Roof (1964); composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb collaborated on Cabaret (1966); and Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy, created the entire scores for a series of musicals, including Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), and Sweeney Todd (1979). Many musicals were also staged by black American companies, including The Wiz (1975), adapted from the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by American writer L. Frank Baum, and One Mo' Time (1979). Hair opened on Broadway in 1968 and went on to affect world theater. Called a folk-rock musical, it had a rambling, unfocused plot, and its lyrics, as performed, were often unintelligible. But its youthful exuberance, ingenious theatricality, and concentration on rock music produced many imitators, notably Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar (both 1971). The score for the latter was the work of English composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, who went on to write the hits Evita (1978), based on the life of Argentine political figure Eva Per�n; Cats (1981), based on verse by Anglo-American poet T. S. Eliot; Song and Dance (1982); The Phantom of the Opera (1988); and Sunset Boulevard (1994). The traditional La Cage aux Folles (1983) by composer Jerry Herman and playwright Harvey Fierstein and the innovative Sunday in the Park with George (1984), by Stephen Sondheim, to a book by James Lapine, were also notable; for this work, a dramatization of the life of French painter Georges Seurat, Sondheim and Lapine shared the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for drama. In 1987 the musical adaptation of the novel Les Mis�rables by French writer Victor Hugo opened on Broadway to popular acclaim. Musicals of the 1990s include Miss Saigon (1991); The Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993); Rent (1996); Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (1996); and Ragtime (1998).

Contributed By:
Lehman Engel

Sign Language

I INTRODUCTION Sign Language, communication system using gestures that are interpreted visually. Many people in deaf communities around the world use sign languages as their primary means of communication. These communities include both deaf and hearing people who converse in sign language. But for many deaf people, sign language serves as their primary, or native, language, creating a strong sense of social and cultural identity.

People who use sign language to communicate sometimes spell out words, signing letters of the alphabet with their fingers. The American Manual Alphabet is the fingerspelling system most commonly used in the United States.
� Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Sign language can also be used as an alternative means of communication by hearing people. For example, in the United States during the 19th century, groups of Native Americans in the Plains who spoke different languages used a sign language now known as Plains Indian Sign Talk to communicate with each other.

Languages can be conveyed in different ways known as modalities. The most important modalities are speech, writing, and sign. Modality should not be confused with language, however. English and Navajo, for example, share a modality�speech�although they are different languages. The same is true for sign languages. Even though British Sign Language (BSL) and American Sign Language (ASL) share the signed modality, they are two distinct languages. English, Navajo, BSL, and ASL constitute four distinct languages.

Sign languages exhibit the same types of variation that spoken languages do. For example, sign languages have dialects that vary from region to region. In the United States, many African Americans in the South who communicate through sign language use a variant of standard ASL, just as many African Americans might communicate through their own vernacular English in speech. In Switzerland, there are five geographic dialects of Swiss German Sign Language with slight variations that derive from regional schools for the deaf. In Dublin, Ireland, where boys and girls attend different schools, the sign language used by deaf boys has a distinctly different vocabulary from that used by deaf girls. Although girls learn the boys� signs when they begin dating, after marriage women continue to use the female signs with girls and women.

II SIGN LANGUAGE AND DEAF EDUCATION
The first school for the deaf, the Institut Royal des Sourds-Muets (Royal Institute for the Deaf and Mute), was established in Paris during the 18th century. Teachers at the institute taught in French Sign Language (FSL), a language already in use in Paris and other parts of France.

In 1816 American educator Thomas Gallaudet traveled to Paris to study the French method of deaf education at the institute. His interest was prompted by the deaf daughter of a close friend who wished to go to school. Gallaudet returned to the United States with a deaf teacher named Laurent Clerc and together they established the first American school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. They adapted the French signing method for use in American classrooms. The merger of French signs with signs in use by American deaf people formed what is now called American Sign Language.

Opposition to teaching sign language in the classroom arose at the end of the 19th century from educators who believed in teaching deaf children to speak, a method known as oralism. Supporters of oralism proposed that deaf people would be less isolated from the hearing community if they learned to speak instead of sign. They also claimed that speech was a gift from God and viewed sign language as an inferior system of communication. By the beginning of the 20th century oralism had become the accepted method of deaf education in both the United States and France. Schools for the deaf promoted lip reading and speaking, often punishing children when they signed among themselves.

In the 1960s American linguist William C. Stokoe pioneered the modern linguistic study of sign language. By demonstrating that sign languages were natural languages with distinct vocabularies and grammatical structures, Stokoe�s work changed the way in which deaf educators viewed oralism. Although American educators still taught lip reading and speaking, during the 1970s and 1980s they began to bring the teaching of sign language back into the classroom. In the 1990s U.S. educators remain divided on whether and how to teach ASL to deaf children, and the extent to which sign language is used in the classroom varies from school to school.

Although exact numbers are unavailable, estimates of the number of deaf people in the United States and Canada who use American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary language range from 100,000 to 500,000.

III CHARACTERISTICS OF SIGN LANGUAGE
Linguists have found that sign languages and spoken languages share many features. Like spoken languages, which use units of sounds to produce words, sign languages use units of form. These units are composed of four basic hand forms: hand shape, such as an open hand or closed fist; hand location, such as on the middle of the forehead or in front of the chest; hand movement, such as upward or downward; and hand orientation, such as the palm facing up or out.

In spoken languages units of sound combine to make meaning. Separately, b, e, and t have no meaning. However, together they form the word bet. Sign languages contain units of form that by themselves hold no meaning, but when combined create a word. Spoken languages and sign languages differ in the way these units combine to make words, however. In spoken languages units of sound and meaning are combined sequentially. In sign languages, units of form and meaning are typically combined simultaneously.

IV AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
In ASL signs follow a certain order, just as words do in spoken English. However, in ASL one sign can express meaning that would necessitate the use of several words in speech. For example, the words in the statement "I stared at it for a long time" each contain a unit of meaning. In ASL, this same sentence would be expressed as a single sign. The signer forms "look at" by making a V under the eyes with the first and middle fingers of the right hand. The hand moves out toward the object being looked at, repeatedly tracing an oval to indicate "over a long time." To express the adverb "intently" the signer squints the eyes and purses the lips. (To purse the lips is like saying mmmm; pull back and tighten the lips with the lips closed.) Although the English words used to describe the ASL signs are written out in order, in sign language a person forms the signs "look at,""long time," and "intently" at the same time.

ASL has a rich system for modifying the meaning of signs. Verbs such as "look at" can be changed to indicate that the activity takes place without interruption, repeatedly, or over a long time. The adjective "sick," for example, is formed by placing the right middle finger on the forehead and the left middle finger on the stomach. By forming the sign "sick" and repeatedly moving the left hand in a circle, the signer can indicate that someone is characteristically or always sick.

Facial grammar, such as raised eyebrows, also can modify meaning. For example, a signer can make the statement "He is smart" by forming the ASL sign for "smart"�placing the middle finger at the forehead�and then quickly pointing it outward as if toward another person to indicate "he." To pose the question "Is he smart?" the signer accompanies this sign with raised eyebrows and a slightly tilted head.

V OTHER SIGNING SYSTEMS
People who sign sometimes use fingerspelling to represent letters of the alphabet. In some sign languages, including ASL, fingerspelling serves as a way to borrow words from spoken language. A deaf person might, for example, choose to fingerspell "d-o-g" for "dog" instead of using a sign. Several types of fingerspelling systems exist. FSL and ASL use a one-handed system, whereas BSL has a two-handed system.

In an effort to teach deaf children the spoken and written language of the hearing community, educators of deaf children often use invented sign systems in addition to the primary sign language. Examples of such systems in the United States include Signing Exact English, Seeing Essential English, and Cued Speech. These systems often mix ASL signs with English word order and grammar. Typically, they incorporate a sign from ASL to represent the base or stem of a spoken English word. To this they add various invented signs to form suffixes (for example, the -ness at the end of kindness), prefixes (for example, the pre- at the beginning of premature), and other parts of words. In this way, the signed English word prearrangements might consist of a base sign for "arrange" together with invented signs for the prefix pre- and the suffixes -ment and -s.

In Signed Exact English, a fingerspelled letter is sometimes used in conjunction with a sign in a process called initialization. For example, by fingerspelling "f" or "e" with the base sign "money" (a two-handed gesture in which the upturned right hand, grasping some imaginary bills, is repeatedly brought down onto the upturned left palm) a signer can differentiate between the English words finance and economics.

Linguists still have much to learn about the world�s sign languages. What has become clear is that hundreds, if not thousands, of sign languages exist around the world.

Contributed By:
Sherman Wilcox

Movie

Children of Paradise, French motion picture about several romances among theatrical people in 19th-century Paris. Released in 1945, the film was made during the German occupation of France and contains references to the work of the French Resistance movement. After the mime Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) saves a young girl (Arletty) from being accused of theft, the girl feels attracted to Baptiste but falls in love with another man. Years later, when both of them are involved in other relationships, they meet and fall in love again.

Alternate Title

Les Enfants du Paradis

Director

Marcel Carn�

Cast

Arletty (Garance)

Jean-Louis Barrault (Baptiste Debureau)

Pierre Brasseur (Frederick Lemaitre)

Marcel Herrand (Lacenaire)

Pierre Renoir (Jericho)

Maria Casar�s (Natalie)

Etienne Decroux (Anselme Debureau)

Fabien Loris (Avril)

Leon Larive (Stage doorman, "Funambules")

Pierre Palov (Stage manager, "Funambules")

Marcel Peres (Director, "Funambules")

Albert Remy (Scarpia Barrigni)

Jeanne Marken (Madame Hermine)

Gaston Modot (Fil de Sole)

Louis Salou (Count Edward de Monteray)

Jacques Castelot (George)

Jean Gold (Second dandy)

Guy Favieres (Debt collector)

Paul Frankeur (Police inspector)

Lucienne Vigier (First pretty girl)

Cynette Quero (Second pretty girl)

Gustave Hamilton (Stage doorman, "Grand Theatre")

Rognoni (Director, "Grand Theatre")

Auguste Boverio (First author)

Paul Demange (Second author)

Jean Diener (Third author)

Louis Florencie (Police officer)

Marcelle Monthil (Marie)

Robert Dhery (Celestin)

Lucien Walter (Ticket seller)

Jean-Pierre Delmon (Little Baptiste)

Raphael Patorni (Another dandy)

Jean Lanier (Iago)

Habib Benglia (Arab attendant)

Petit, Roland (1924- ), French dancer and choreographer, known for his inventive and theatrical ballets. He was born in Villemomble, near Paris, and trained at the ballet school of the Paris Op�ra. A charismatic dancer, Petit organized several ballet troupes, including the Ballets de Paris (1948-1958), and served as the artistic director of the Ballets de Marseille beginning in 1972.

Petit's choreography, noted for its highly dramatic and sophisticated style, borrowed freely from modern dance, classical ballet, pantomime, and the music hall. His notable ballets include Le jeune homme et la mort (The Young Man and Death, 1946), Les forains (The Traveling Players, 1948), Carmen (1949), Le loup (the Wolf, 1953), Notre-Dame de Paris (1965), Paradise Lost (1967), and Les amours de Frantz (The Loves of Frantz, 1981). He also choreographed several motion pictures and music hall revues. In 1954 he married the star of many of his productions, Ren�e Jeanmaire. In 1993 Petit published his memoirs, J'ai dans� sur les flots (I Danced on the Waves).

Kreutzberg, Harald (1902-1968), German modern dancer and choreographer, known for his solo performances. Born in Reichenberg, Austria-Hungary (now Liberec, Czech Republic), Kreutzberg studied ballet at the Dresden Ballet School in Dresden, Germany. He studied modern dance with Hungarian dancer and movement theorist Rudolf von Laban and with German modern dance choreographer Mary Wigman. In 1922 Kreutzberg joined the Hannover Ballet in Hannover, Germany. He later became a major leader of modern dance in Germany and toured Europe and North America with his dance partner Yvonne Georgi.

Between 1932 and 1934 Kreutzberg toured in the United States and in East Asia in collaboration with innovative American ballet choreographer Ruth Page. Thereafter he mostly performed alone, creating solos that combined dance with dramatic devices such as mime (see Pantomime) and inventive costuming. His shaven head became his trademark. In 1955 Kreutzberg opened a dance school in Bern, Switzerland. He retired from performing in 1959, after which time he concentrated on teaching and choreographing for other dancers.

Kathak north Indian style of classical dance, characterized by rhythmic footwork danced under the weight of more than 100 ankle bells, spectacular spins, and the dramatic representation of themes from Persian and Urdu poetry alongside those of Hindu mythology. Kathak arose from the fusion of Hindu and Muslim cultures that took place during the Mughal period (1526-1761). More than any other South Asian dance form, kathak expresses the aesthetic principles of Islamic culture. The influence of kathak is also visible in the Spanish flamenco tradition.

The origins of the kathak style lie in the traditional recounting of Hindu myths by Brahmin priests called kathiks, who used mime and gesture for dramatic effect. Gradually, the storytelling became more stylized and evolved into a dance form. With the arrival in northern India of the Mughals, kathak was taken into the royal courts and developed into a sophisticated art form; through the patronage of the Mughal rulers, kathak took its current form. The emphasis of the dance moved from the religious to the aesthetic. In accordance with the aesthetics of Islamic culture, abhinaya (the use of mime and gesture) became more subtle, with emphasis placed on the performer's ability to express a theme in many different ways and with infinite nuances.

There are two main schools, or gharanas, of kathak dance, both of which are named after cities in northern India and both of which expanded under the patronage of regional princes. The Lucknow gharana developed a style of kathak that is characterized by precise, finely detailed movements and an emphasis on the exposition of thumri, a semiclassical style of love song. The Jaipur gharana required a mastery of complicated pure dance patterns. Nowadays, however, performers present a blend of kathak based on the styles of both gharanas.

A traditional kathak performance features a solo dancer on a stage, surrounded on all sides by the audience. The repertoire includes amad (the dramatic entrance of the dancer on stage); thaat (a slow, graceful section); tukra, tora, and paran (improvised dance compositions); parhant (rhythmic light steps), and tatkar (footwork). Male dancers perform in Persian costume of wide skirts and round caps, while female dancers wear a traditional Indian garment called a sari. Developments in this century include the use of kathak in large-scale dance dramas, pioneered by Pandit Birju Maharaj, the present leader of the Lucknow gharana. In recent years, choreographers such as Kumudini Lakhia and British-based Nahid Sidiqui have explored the vocabulary of kathak to express contemporary themes. Other dancers have created performances showing the links between kathak and European dance traditions such as flamenco and Romani (Gypsy) dance. See also Indian Dance.

The southern Indian kathakali is a dance drama that dates from the 17th century and is rooted in Hindu mythology. Male dancers perform kathakali at religious ceremonies and in exhibitions for tourists. The rhythmic cycle and melodic scale of traditional southern Indian music direct the dancer�s movements. This performer wears ceremonial makeup and dress that includes a large, circular headdress made of wood.

Photo Researchers, Inc./"Kathakali Dance Theater" from Ritual Music and Theater of Kerala (Cat.# Le Chant du Monde LDX 274 010) (p)1989 Le Chant du Monde. All rights reserved.

Kathakali, spectacular dance-drama form of the southern Indian region of Kerala, characterized by its complex language of mime and highly stylized and colorful makeup that resemble masks.

A kathakali performance includes few props since the details of a scene are described in mime. Stories involve heroes, villains, gods, and demons, in addition to more subtle characterizations of those who commit evil deeds yet retain a streak of valor. These personality traits are all indicated by complex makeup, which can take up to three hours to apply and which highlights facial expressions, a vital aspect of the art. The faces of gods, heroes, and kings are always painted green with ridges of white rice paste around the edges, while demons have red beards, white mustaches, and knobs on their noses. All male dancers attach 7.5-cm (3-in) silver fingernails on their left hands and put the juice of a crushed seed in their eyes, causing them to appear red. Female dancers use simpler costumes and makeup. The six-year training required for a kathakali dancer is arduous, and the regular oil massages, included in training to promote turnout of the legs, can be painful. The dance is athletic in nature, with dramatic leaps. Costumes are colorful and include heavily decorated headdresses associated with the parts played and voluminous white skirts enabling freedom of movement. Apart from the occasional grunt from a demon character, the dancers remain silent, enacting the story in mime that is interspersed with sequences of pure dance. Performances traditionally begin after dusk and end with sunrise, although individual scenes are now often put together as an evening performance for modern, urban audiences. The accompanying verses are rendered by two singers at the back of the stage, and musical accompaniment is provided by cymbals, gong, and drums called chenda and maddalam.

Originally an exclusively male art form, women are now actively involved in kathakali as both performers and teachers. While the pure dance elements require great skill, the quality of the performance is ultimately judged by the dancer's interpretation of the role in mime. With a complex system of 24 primary hand gestures (mudras), over 800 descriptive and symbolic meanings can be conveyed. Using regional interpretations of the classic Hindu epics, the verses themselves are of great interest in their sometimes unorthodox and challenging perceptions of traditional Hindu belief.

Kathakali derives from both a rich folk culture and the religious plays traditionally performed in temples. It developed more specifically from ramanattam, a masque-like form involving music, dance, and drama, which evolved in the 17th century as an effective vehicle for the plays of the raja (prince) of Kottarakara. These plays were written in the regional language of Malayalam, making them more accessible to a wider audience than works in classical Sanskrit, a language known only by the upper castes. The repertoire included themes from Hindu literature such as the incarnation of the god Vishnu as Prince Rama in the Ramayana and the territorial dispute between two noble families in the Mahabharata. The art form, which became widely popular through royal patronage, soon evolved the highly sophisticated features of a classical dance style. In the 18th century kathakali became a theater for people of all castes, with performances held outside the temples. During the British rule of India (1885-1947), kathakali suffered a serious decline. The current vigorous revival results from efforts in the 1930s of the poet Vallathol, who was largely responsible for its reestablishment, especially through his founding of the major dance school of Kalamandalam, in Cheruthuruthi, a city in southern India.

Of the many major forms of regional theater in China, Peking opera is by far the most famous. It is a dramatic form that blends dance, theater, music, and acrobatics. Character types are associated with vocal styles. For example, main male characters sing in the baritone range; secondary male characters (usually unbearded scholars or lovers) sing in falsetto; and virtuous female characters sing in high falsetto. Performers wear dramatic makeup or masks. Accompanying instruments include bowed and plucked lutes, drums, clappers, gongs, cymbals, bamboo flutes, and oboes. The example heard here is an excerpt from the Chaozhou regional opera "Bai Lixi Reunites With His Wife."

Matthew McVay/ALLSTOCK, INC./Courtesy of Mercedes Dujunco

Major Genres and Their Development
N�, which is still popular today, was pioneered in the 14th century by Zeami Motokiyo, an actor in his father�s theater troupe. Under the patronage of Yoshimitsu, a shogun (military dictator), Zeami lived at court and transformed the sarugaku that his father performed into poetic, elegant, Buddhist-inspired n�. Zeami wrote many plays and treatises on n� performance and composition. (Nine major treatises have been translated as On the Art of the N� Drama.) The major aesthetic concepts of n� include y�gen (dark, mysterious, sad beauty) and hana (flower), alluding to the freshness and skill for which actors must strive. About 250 n� plays survive, most of them written after Zeami�s death.

The n� stage is a roofed, wooden square with an entrance bridge. The audience sits on two sides of the stage. There are no stage sets and few props. Visible musicians play drums and flute, and a seated chorus chants narration and some dialogue. Performances feature mime, dance, and poetry. Some of the actors wear small, elegant masks. In a typical n� story, the characters seek Buddhist release from earthly attachments.

Ky�gen ("mad words") are comic, fast-paced prose plays performed in conjunction with n� plays. Many plots feature the victory of clever servants or downtrodden wives over pompous masters. Mime is central. Some 260 ky�gen scripts survive, among them the representative scripts (most ky�gen scripts are anonymous) B�shibari (Tied to a Pole) and Busu (Sweet Poison). Traditionally, five n� and four ky�gen were performed together and lasted all day. Today typical performances include two n� and one ky�gen. Actors of both genres are male, and most are the sons of actors. Each actor performs his genre exclusively.

Kabuki and bunraku are popular arts associated with an urban merchant class and are not influenced by foreign genres. They developed between the 17th century, when relations with foreign powers were forbidden, and the late 19th century, when Japan reopened to the rest of the world. During this time Japanese culture thrived in total isolation, with society structured on strict Confucian models.

Kabuki is said to have originated in a performance by Okuni, a female dancer-priestess, about 1600. Wearing male garb and an exotic Christian cross, Okuni performed sensual dances and skits called kabuki (meaning "dangerously off-balance") in a dry river bed in the city of Ky�to. Male and female performers, often dressed as the opposite sex, soon became wildly popular. In 1629 women were banned from the stage; the young boys who replaced them were banned in 1652. As a result, the onnagata (female impersonator) was created.

Kabuki�s daylong plays, composed of numerous episodes, feature spectacular fights and dances, quick costume changes, heroic sacrifices, and star-crossed lovers. To evade censors, playwrights disguised their satires of contemporary events by giving them historical settings. Acting, makeup, costumes, and scenery range from realistic to elaborately stylized and exaggerated. The wide stage used by kabuki features the hanamichi (runway) extending through the audience.

Kabuki theater is famous for its brightly colored sets, exaggerated acting, and lively and emotional music and dance. Kabuki is the most popular form of traditional Japanese theater. In the mid-1980s it became popular in the United States.

Globe Photos, Inc.

Bunraku also appeared in the 1600s. It is performed by realistic puppets about 1 m (about 3 ft) tall. The main characters are each manipulated by three black-robed men who move in choreographed unison to create the puppets� lifelike behavior. A single actor recites all dialogue and narration onstage, accompanied by a shamisen (three-stringed lute). Bunraku shares scripts and acting styles with kabuki. Many plays feature tragic conflicts of honor and desire. Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japan�s finest dramatist, wrote about 130 plays for bunraku and kabuki. One of his masterpieces is Sonezaki Shinju (1703; The Love Suicides at Sonezaki). The play Kanadehon Ch�shingura (1748; The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), by Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku, and Namiki Senryu, represents the supreme expression of loyalty, duty, and bushido (samurai spirit).

In 1868 supporters of the emperor regained control of Japan, ousting the shoguns that had dominated the country and ending 250 years of Japanese isolation from the rest of the world. The country rushed to modernize, discarding tradition (although major genres survived) and creating new forms of theater. The first partially Western drama was shimpa ("new school"), which included adaptations of Western classics and of melodramatic, patriotic plays that rebelled against tradition in subject matter and performance style. Kawakami Otojiro and his wife, Sada Yakko, were among the foremost performers of shimpa. While touring North America and Europe from 1899 to 1901, audiences compared Sada to renowned French actor Sarah Bernhardt. As the first modern Japanese actress, Sada�s influence helped overturn the 1629 ban on female performers.

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PRINCIPAL