Grade 9/10 Virtual Mime Workshop

Students in Grades 9 and 10 drama classes had the unusual experience of participating in a virtual mime workshop with Toronto-based professional mime artist Etenem Oton, who goes by the stage name ET the Mime.

With Etenem in Toronto and SJK students online in class and from China, students were able to learn some classic mime illusions, such as the mime walk and the wall. At one point, students threw an imaginary ball back and forth around the world, from Canada to China and back. Etenem gave a brief demonstration of a mime performance online and answered students' questions about this unique performance form that goes back to ancient Greece and Rome, before teaching students the mime illusions. This was all part of our opening unit on the actor's toolkit and physical theatre. It was also a great example of some of the creative and amazing things that can still be done under challenging conditions. 

Students were highly engaged and enthusiastic about working with such a talented performance artist. It was nice to be able to take a screenshot photo of the whole group at the end of the workshop.