The School of Corporeal Mime, one of its kind in Italy, was founded in 1985. In 2020, following the restructuring of its curriculum, it became the Accademia di Mimodramma.
In the Academy’s curriculum, mimodrama is identified with the idea of ‘Mime Action’, that is, the performer, body-mind in action. Students will explore and develop the use of words so that they will be consistent with attitude and movement.
Fundamentally, the knowledge and practice of Corporeal Mime will serve as the essential training foundation, which will be organically melded with vocal technique, verse interpretation, theatrical fencing, mask work, and the actor's dramaturgy. Indeed, the Accademia di Mimodramma fosters the development of the Mime Actor, which is one of the various categories of mime defined by Etienne Decroux.
It is no accident that ICRA Project has its roots not only in some of the most important pedagogies of the 20th century, but also in ancient Greco-Roman theatre where mimes, who were very physical, also used words in prose, mimology and in verse, mimodia.
The three main pedagogies of the Accademia di Mimodramma are based on the techniques of master teachers Etienne Decroux, Jacques Lecoq and Moshe Feldenkrais, and are complemented by technical and poetic experiences inspired by Jacques Copeau, Vsevolod Meyerhold, George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, Monika Pagneux, Marise Flach and Vera Bertinetti.
The Accademia di Mimodramma has an international focus, both, in terms of training techniques and in offering masterclasses, workshops, and conferences by teachers from leading European theatre academies.
Also, through its intensive pedagogical and artistic activities, it has a long-standing, collaborative partnerships with leading national and international institutions such as:
- National Academy of Dramatic Art Silvio D’Amico, Rome (Italy)
- University of Naples Federico II, (Italy)
- University of Bologna, Chair of Theatre History of the Department of Arts (Italy)
- University of Salerno (Italy)
- Carlo Bo University of Urbino (Italy)
- Sapienza University of Rome (Italy)
- Pontifical Salesian University, Chair of Theatre History, Rome (Italy)
- Rudra Béjart School, Lausanne (Switzerland)
- École Internationale de Genève (Switzerland)
- Escuela de Actores de Canarias, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)
- Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London (UK)
- Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
- Russian Institute of Performing Arts, Saint Petersburg (Russia)
- Pomona College, Claremont, California (USA)
The study of corporeal mime is at the heart of the Accademia di Mimodramma and is based on research and corporeal grammar exercises developed by Etienne Decroux (1898-1991).
This French master was the brilliant founder of 20th century mime and, in part, of modern theatre.
In particular, the period from 1930 to the mid-1970s was fundamental to Decrouxian research and it was very rewarding for his most talented students, prominent among whom were: Jean-Louis Barrault, Eliane Guyon, Marcel Marceau, Marise Flach, Jessica Lange, Michel Serrault and Thomas Leabhart. Directors such as Antonin Artaud, Jacques Copeau, Charles Dullin, Gordon Craig and many other artists stimulated Decroux to undertake his research "ferociously" (according to Gordon Craig's definition of Decroux's method) and for decades he worked to reinvent the art of mime with a modern approach.
Words were of the utmost importance for Decroux; indeed, he was a refined elocutionist and an excellent stage, film and radio actor who also valued clear versification and diction. At the Accademia di Mimodramma, working with words, therefore, will be instrumental for exploring and gaining knowledge through reading, composed verses, rhythmic accents, metric figures and glossolalia. French master Jacques Lecoq (1921-1999) greatly contributed to spreading Mime as a fundamental technique in the training of actors. Lecoq proposed the study of “mimism” and mimetism to indicate the innate human tendency, as recognised by Aristotle, to imitate and to discover the world through mimesis and the development of movement through mask work. The Feldenkrais Method, developed by Russian-Israeli physicist, Moshe Feldenkrais (1904 - 1984), allows the study of the mind-body relationships, making it possible to work on the economy of effort through movement awareness and the organic use of functional and stage vocality.