What is mime ? l Program l Faculty l Degrees l Honorary Committee
Professional Coaching l Master Classes

 


by Ella Jaroszewicz

 

A Unique Training Program in France

Over many years, the art of mime has greatly evolved, from choreographic art to theater and from theater to movement. Mime, which took root in the theater, is the art of movement par excellence and a key discipline in the training of anyone pursuing a career in the performing arts.

An art of movement par excellence, mime constitutes a crucial element in the training of anyone pursuing a career in the performing arts. Knowing how to choose the right gesture and movement for a given dramatic situation is not only a question of literary analysis and understanding of the text, but also the capacity to use the human body as a tool.

Since gesture expands the word, making it resonate in space, its choice depends on its virtues, its musicality. You cannot leave it to chance; it must be finely worked in the service of the theater.

"Side-by-side with learning through words, there is learning through gesture”, wrote Antonin Artaud. Like the mind, the body thinks; by liberating the body, the artist achieves oneness.

My teaching program is based on the extensive knowledge gained over numerous years of professional experience.

I've been leading my physical training courses for 25 years: my mime became the Ecole Magenia of Paris. Many of the students I've trained work in different areas of the performing arts in France, the United States, Japan, Norway, Spain, Germany, and other countries. I've performed in more than 20 creations across Europe over the past 16 years since I founded my company. My goal is to offer drama-mime training that makes it possible to use the body as a tool of theatrical expression, enhanced by the practice of diverse forms of bodywork that converge with raising awareness in the artist of a new theatrical esthetic. This especially involves achieving gestural efficiency and purity through intensive work aimed at understanding the human body, the specific expressive meaning and potential of each of its parts, and the principles of movement.

You cannot revitalize the performing arts without training new performers endowed with a strong physical dimension. Confronted by these challenges and a changing environment, the Ecole Ella Jaroszewicz offers training whose goal is to produce flexible actor-mimes who master the many languages and expressive potential of the human body as a theatrical tool.

Our training program has attracted artists from a variety of performing arts—theater, film, dance, and variety, among others: Kai Mulff (Hollywood), Mark Thompson (Pittsburg), Vivien Savage (France), Emmanuel Seigner (France), Stefan Markusfeld (Autria), Jay Fischer (Canada), Tony Littel (Australia), Xavier Mestres (Spain), Lidia Martinez (Portugal), Denise Namura (Brazil), and Yonezo Abe (Japan).


 

 

 

 

Studio Magenia is a government-accredited professional training center.

Physical Training

Stretching, the principles of movement, ballet basics, contemporary dance, barre au sol.

Body architecture (contemporary mime technique) :

action

feeling

dream

character

Elements and materials, animals.

Movement values (from gestural abundance to gestural purity and efficiency).

The Actor's Body

Rehearsing, theater workshop

Improvisation, performance

Merging different approaches to bodywork

Video work

Using gains in body awareness to construct and develop one's own personality.

Workshops

Creation

Repertory

History

Theatrical fencing

Lap dancing

Acting with the body

Opera and variety

Film

Meetings

Encounters


 

 

 

     Mime/Physical theatre – Classical dance and barre au sol
With Ella Jaroszewicz 

Born in Poland, Choreographic artist in the Wroclaw Opera, Ella Jaroszewicz met Henryk Tomaszewski when he decided to create his Pantomime theatre. With the Polish master, she participated in the creation of a new gestural language that synthesizes the art of mime and the science of choreography.

She became Etoile du Théâtre National Pantomima de Wroclaw, which was to be one of the greatest visual theatres in the world, and has won the gold medal of the Pantomime-Moscow festival, among other prizes.

She has been First Teacher of Mime at the Ecole de Danse de l’Opéra de Parisand taught at  Marcel Marceau’s international school of mime, where she introduced dance and acrobatics, creating a link between these disciplines, which had until then been totally separate. Her creations have been acclaimed world-wide.
Co-creator of the Concours International de Mimographie- Paris, she is the founder and director of the Magenia school and company.

     Modern dance
With Magali Bouze 

Magali Bouze was awarded the state diploma in 1988, and until 2001 danced for many choreographers including Roland Petit, M-L Speri, Karine Saporta and B. Baumgarten. She then became a choreographer for her own company, Compagnie Madeleine et Alfred, which has already produced eight creations.

     Théâtre
Avec Frédérique Broussolle 
To be confirmed

     Lyric and popular song
With Elsa Levy 

Elsa Levy trained at the lyric training centre of the Opéra de Paris, and won the Premier prix de l’Union des maîtres du chant français in 2004, the Prix de la Spedidam  and the Prix Gabriel Bacquier in the Internation Competition at Clermond Ferrand. In the same year, she was named « révélation classique » by the Adami .

 

Workshops

     History with Roger Dabert  - Writer, dance and theatre historian

     Contact Dance with Olivier Balzarini – Former member of Compagnie Magenia and artistic director
of Compagnie TNSH

     Body Training with Jerzy Wennicki – of the Warsaw Opera

     Tomaszewski Methode with Andrzej Szczuzewski – Soloiste in the Pantomima of Wroclaw
National Company, trained under the direction of Maestro H. Tomaszewski.


 

 

 

Students can take an exam at the end of their second year to obtain a Diploma of the European Academy of Physical Theatre, Magenia - Ella Jaroszewicz.

First-year students can also present themselves before performing arts professionals to obtain a certificate. The auditions program is announced in the third year.

 


 

 

Héléna SADOWSKA
International leading artist

Didier BERNHEIM
President, Maison des Artistes

Jean CARDOT
Académie Française

Bob HEDDLE-ROTH
Fencing master

Roman OPALKA
Painter

Guy LARTIGUE
Sculptor

Georges PILETTA
Principal dancer, Paris Opera Ballet

Oscar SISTO
Director

Paul TOURENNE
"Frères Jacques"

Pierre VERRY
Mime


 

 

 

Ella offers coaching and direction for certified actors preparing for roles :

setting,

character,

physical preparation,

character motivation

 

Staging visual performances :

variety,

cabarets,

events

 

Media professionals :

attitude,

demeanor,

poise

 

 

Physical preparation for performers and actors with, among others :

Roman POLANSKI

Emmanuelle SEIGNIER (Frantic)

Marpesa DOWN

Georges PILETTA,
principal dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet


 

 

 

Mime

 

 

 

 

 

All forms of bodywork within the framework of personalized training programs.

Contact for master class dates and programs.

contact us