Étienne Decroux

Enrolled at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 1923, as a student of Charles Dullin, Decroux began to envision a newly defined vision of mime and later developed an original, personal style of movement. His early "statuary mime" recalls Rodin's sculptures. Later, more plastic forms were called "mime corporeal" or corporeal mime. An intellectual and theoretician, his body training was based in part on what modern dancers call "isolations", in which body sections move in a prescribed sequence, and, in part, on the physics of compensation required to keep the body in balance when the center of gravity is shifted. He wanted to enlist other students into a mime company, but the acting students were not very interested. When the Vieux Colombier closed in 1924, Decroux taught at the acting school of Charles Dullin, the Atelier. Jean-Louis Barrault also came to the school, and the two worked closely for two years, producing corporeal mime pieces individually and together. Arriving in New York in or around 1957, M. Decroux held morning and evening classes at a studio on 8th Avenue and 55th Street. Students came and went, but eventually were required to commit to a full-time regime when rehearsing for performance as The Mime Theatre of Etienne Decroux. Pieces presented at The Cricket Theatre in the Village included "The Factory," "The Trees," "All The City Works," and "Evil Spirit." Students at the time included Sterling Jenson, Sunya Svenson, Marjorie Walker (née Oplatka) and Jewel Walker, who continued to teach the classes in New York for a time after Decroux returned to Paris. Returning from the United States to Paris in 1962, he opened his school in Boulogne-Billancourt where he taught almost until his death. Many hundreds of students passed through his school. Among his better known students were Marcel Marceau, Jessica Lange, the Swedish, originally dancer, Ingemar Lindh and the Puerto Rican Luis Oliva and Annie Stainer from the UK.

• Enfin voir Etienne Decroux bouger (2006) • Art of Etienne Decroux, The (1961) • Compagnons de Baal, Les (1968) TV • Comme un cheveu sur la soupe (1957) •... a.k.a. Crazy in the Noodle (USA) • La Bergère et le ramoneur (1953) (voice) •... a.k.a. The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird (USA) • Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1949) •... a.k.a. Oh Amelia! • Clochemerle (1948) •... a.k.a. Scandals of Clochemerle (USA) • Capitaine Blomet (1947) • Voyage surprise (1947) • Petites annonces matrimoniales, Les (1947) • Enfants du paradis, Les (1945) •... a.k.a. Children of Paradise (USA) • Voyageur sans bagages, Le (1944) • Le Corbeau (1943) (uncredited) •... a.k.a. The Raven • Adieu Léonard (1943) • The Stairs Without End (1943) • Macao (1942) •... a.k.a. Gambling Hell (USA) • Le Dernier tournant (1939) •... a.k.a. The Last Turning • Belle étoile (1938) • Affaire Lafarge, L (1937) •... a.k.a. The Lafarge Case (USA) • Commissaire est bon enfant, le gendarme est sans pitié, Le (1935) • Affaire est dans le sac, L (1932) •... a.k.a. It's in the Bag

* • Google Books: Etienne Decroux by Thomas Leabhart • MOVEO Centre for training and création in corporel mime • The Theatre de l'Ange Fou and the International School of Corporeal Mime (formerly known as the Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique) • The Body in Service of Drama – movement studies for actors and performers • The Mime of Etienne Decroux, Texas Archive of the Moving Image