is body seems to
float and fly.
soar, contort,
fall, turn, twist,
harden and
loosen at the
magical touch of his own
■
mind.
Hayward Coleman, a world
renowned mime-yoga artist,
touched other minds when he
performed at the University on
May 16. through the efforts of
the Black Student Union and
University English professor
Ed Coleman, Hayward’s
brother. The show was an
amazing blend of mime, yoga,
acrobatics, vaudeville — move
mcnt that Coleman calls
physical comedy.
TOE HOSTAGE
Bound, physically and men
tally oppressed, jerked by out
side forces with no control
over his own physical body,
Coleman expresses with inten
sity and power what it is like
to be a hostage. He
demonstrates, at the same
time, practiced skill with total
control over bis body.
Coleman was inspired to do
this particular act after perfor
ming in Beirut. Lebanon im
mediately before the outbreak
of the civil war. His beginn
ings in mime-yoga run on the
same thread.
He was studying economics
at the University of California
in Berkeley in die late 1960s,
As part of his religious
denomation, he was asked to
give a presentation on what it
means to suffer in contem
porary America. He says he
couldn’t imagine how to ex
plain this theme in words.
‘‘We don’t suffer like the
people in Africa, or the people
in Vietnam, or the people in
Beirut are suffering,” Coleman
says. “It’s a different type of
mental and physical
suffering."
So he did a skit called "The
Loser,” about a baseball pit
cher who comes into the bot
tom of the 9th inning of the •
World Series and loses the ball
game by dropping a flyball.
"It displayed the agony of
losing a very, very important
event and the physical pain
that goes along with it," he
says.
After the presentation earned
him positive response, Col
eman was inspired to learn
theater and mime. He worked
with a local group and when
he earned enough money,
traveled to France to learn
from the great mime-artist
Marcel Marceau. For two years
he worked intently with
Marceau, then later worked
with Marcaau’s master,
Etienne Decroux. He has also
studied with a Japanese mime.
Mamako and Sol Cohen, a
vaudeville comedy-acrobat.
THE FIRST SPOKEN WORD
Through metamorphasis,
Coleman creates the evolution
of man. He is a snake, he is a
bird. He is a gorilla and finally
he is a primitive human grun
ting the first word:
• * Hamburger."
The metamorphis Coleman
creates on stage is all part of
his own metamorphis.
His strongest transformation
occured when he was perform
ing in Tunisia in 1974. and a
Indian woman introduced him
to the philosphy and techni
ques of Hatha Yoga. He then
learned Hatha Yoga from
spiritual teachers, and the
postures and ideas of the yoga
soon became a part of his act..
"I began to combine the two
ideas," he says. "I used the
philosophies of centers of con
sciousness (in Hatha yoga) and
centers of non-verbal com
munication. which is what
Decroux had taught.
He found that Hatha Yoga
helped strengthen, balance and
control his body. It also helped
to prevent injury.
"My body is still supple and
much stronger now than it has
ever been in my life.” he says.
"I’ve found the fountain of
youth, especially through the
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breathing exercises.”
The basic philosophy of
Hatha Yoga — living a con
scious and moderate lifestyle
with discipline — became in
tegrated into Coleman's own
life.
He says he disciplines his
body with the daily practice of
yoga, meditation and
acrobatics, but trains only
three hours a day — moderate
for a professional performer,
he says,
THE ASTRONAUT
His'body is levitated off the
ground; he ia floating above
the earth, it seems as though
his body defies gravity.
Coleman's ability to float is
created by strong discipline,
he says. He has found that he
can leave behind his ego and
become that being he portrays
on stage. He calls it a
transference of consciousness.
“Marceau says it is like Bud
dhism in which you first see
the mountain and then you go
to the mountain with your
head and then with your chest
and then with your pelvis.''
Coleman says, “and then you
rise up to your toes and climb
that mountain, and then you
become that mountain, and
then you come back, and you
take on the quality of stability
and solidness.
“Mime yoga is like that." he
says. “You actually take on the
qualites pf a bird or you feel
the warniness of a worm and
what it Is like to forage around
and |ust be chomping on a
leaf...’*
He dives into the ocean in
one skit. “I really feel like I'm
swimming in the water
because my body reacts to my
imagination so much so that It
feels real. So there's a body
sensation as well as mental im
agination going on."
The imagery he performs on
stage is first seen in his mind
through meditation. Coleman
was initiated to Tibetan
meditation in 1974. The type
of meditation, creative im,
agination, is performed by ’
Tibetan Buddhists who im-. . °
agine the Buddha sitting before
them in a lotus flow'er.'
PERSONALITY AND
POSTURE
A macho man on the beach,
the Virginia Slim woman, the
brain-only human; Coleman
uses his body to express per
sonality through posture and
positioning.
Though all his material is
original, he says at the same
time it is all borrowed from
vaudeville performers, other
mimes and regular people.
Observing people is "my
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_/
Hayward Coleman
a
master
of
mime
food,” Coleman saya. “My
favorite pastime is to sit in a
cafe in Paris and watch people
pass by. )ust how they hold
their spines they communicate
non-verbaity; how they walk
they, say something about
themselves. Oh. it's quite in
teresting for me. 1 love looking
at people."
‘.'He says being a mime-yoga
artist Is a double-edged sword
that he, in particular, has had
a rough go at because he is the
"first black mime" and had to
break the ice, he says.
"People look at the
stereotype of Marcel Marceau
and I don't look anything like
Marcel Marceau," he says.
"I thought I could make the
kind of money Marcel could
make just by being good at
(mime)," he says. "But that's
not true. 1 began to realize that
there’s only one Marcel
Marceau, and he was the first
mimo m
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Bui Colmnan .has had
numerous artistic successes.'
He performed with Diana.Rosa
for two yeai$ on her world
tour, solo in. several countries .
including Egypt.at several na
tional locations Such as. • ' •
(Caesar's Palace,.and has ap
peared on French television
and on American commercials
for companies such as Burger ...
King. ' . ^
And though he believes he
could’ve.made more money ' •
with hfs econmics degree,.he ,
is happy with- his- choice to
stay in the arts- ,f . ;
"1 don't .regret that choice,"
he says, "to be an artist.-to be
a performer and to give my life
to a type of art. which- perhaps
1 could raise to a level of a
religous art.
"So that way I’m greatly
satisfied. I. wouldn't be here
now talking to you."
Shannon Kelley
r
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