JAPAN ART MIME SOCIETY
Artists Introductions
JIDAI
the Chairman of the Japan Art Mime Society
For a long time, he has been performing Pantomime on the streets which he learnt by himself. One day, he met with Terry Press a Canadian Mime artist who was the best assistant of Stefan Niedzialkowski, and started to learn Art Mime from Terry Press. After 10 years of learning Art Mime, he started his work in earnest as he felt “Mime is my life”. Through teaching Art Mime in Japan (Currently, JIDAI is the only one who is able to teach Art Mime in Japan) for 14 years, he started JIDAI ORGANIC MIME in 2010.
His pieces are known as poetic and surreal. He has also been working on and researching Fujima style Classical Japanese Dance Nihon-Buyo for 16 years, Brakedance for 9 years, Martial Arts, and different kinds of Body works. His directing, based on his research, is gaining an established reputation. In 2010 and 2012, he was invited as a guest teacher for International Mime Art Theatre Workshops’ “Silence of the Body” held by Stefan Niedzialkowski in Warsaw, Poland.
photo:hidehiro Kato
photo: Artur Oleszczuk
Stefan Niedzialkowski
An outstanding mime artist, he is one of the most acclaimed representatives of this form of art in the world today. He is an actor, choreographer, director, and author of scripts for mime theatre.
Separate from the main origins of Modern Mime such as France or Italy, Henryk Tomaszewski created his original Pantomime in Poland. Stefan Niedzialkowski was an actor of Henryk Tomaszwski’s theatre in the years 1964-1975. From 1979 to 1993 he worked as a mime artist in NY, USA. Through his artistry, he created Mime Art Theatre in which one’s body becomes thoughts of one’s inside. He created Mime as a universal art.
In 2004, he was awarded “Zloty Krzyz Zaslugi“, in Poland, which is equivalent to a living national treasure status in Japan. Today, his base is in Warsaw, Poland. In order to develop and spread Mime Art, he holds International Mime Art Theatre Workshops every year in Warsaw, inviting artists form abroad, directing his own company’s Mime Art Theatre performances, and having symposiums. Stefan Niedzialkowski has a published book called, “Beyond the Word- The world of Mime”.
Henryk Tomaszewski (~2001)
He started his career as a ballet dancer, but his pursuit for his own expression couldn’t be satisfied in a field of dance and theatre play. Therefore, he created his original Pantomime without having been much influenced by Mimes in France or Italy. In 1959 he founded Wroclaw Pantomime Theatre with the support from Polish government. It was the first Pantomime theatre in Poland. They performed all around the world, throughout many countries in Europe, Egypt, USA, Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto), and more.
A dancer, mime, choreographer, director, pedagogue, the founder and director of The Wrocław Mime Theater. He graduated from the Drama Studio of Iwo Gall. He cooperated with the Polish Academic Theatre and the Wrocław Opera House. He directed in the theatres of Sweden, Norway, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Italian La Scala.
photo: David A. Fullard
photo: Artur Oleszczuk
