Page Four
Photos by Lynn Boone
V V# *l,w £*** * m - "" j'
■^|.'l^ : v*fcv
jjfj 6. fj§** > * j v'"
Spring Arts fun on stopes
' I|B|
Behrend Collegian
1 i
*of.«
36,
; '
:W*
continued from page 3
d.iv Thursday, Friday and
Saturday. Some of the workshops
,vere held in-the Studio, some in
the RUB and some outside on the
l„wn. He also performed and
taught at local public schools. At
all of these, he taught basic
echniques such as rope-pulling,
walking, and talked about mime
as an art.
Watching T. Daniel, Saturday
night, it appeared that mime was
a simple technique. Already
though, through the workshops,
members of the audience had
learned how difficult it is to
create and maintain illusions. It
'equires strength.-agility and the
ability to isolate movements. The
action of “pulling a rope” in
volves the isolation and coor
dination of the hands, arms and
hips, as well as the creation of
tension to produce the illusion
that there really is a rope. To T.
Daniel, there is no illusion. At one
workshop he told us about
practicing with ropes under
Marceau’s direction. While at a
standstill in a tug of war with his
partner, he had eased the tension
between them very slightly.
Feeling this, his partner yanked
the imaginary rope. He fell and
nearly hurt himself because of it.
His point was very clear: with
practice the illusion disappears,
and imaginary objects become
tangible.
The strong, slender young man
May 5, 1977
in the navy blue corduroy suit
told his inquirers of his studio at
the Illinois State University
where he obtained a degree in
Theater. This is also where, after
a performance, he met Marcel
Marceau. who took him to Paris
to study mime.
As a former student of Marcel
Marceau, T. Daniel is aware of
the danger and annoyance of
copying another person’s act. He
has seen poor imitations of his
own work and Marceau’s. But, he
continues to come up with new
ideas, developing his own style
and set of characters.
Although his techniques are
near perfect, his style is neither
pure nor traditional. His
costumes and makeup would
almost be considered avant
garde. He uses some props,
which is fairly unconventional.
And he incorporates magic into
his act. During the Saturday
night show, he did several tricks
with scarves and thimbles which
were impressive. He also does
not ignore the comic element. In
every sketch, there was at least
one laugh. Some scenes, such as
“The Museum,” where people
could identify themselves and
others in the characters, were
unbearably funny.
On the whole, having T. Daniel
as artist in residence created a
spectacular weekend, which no
one should have missed.