Modris Tenisons (19 March 1945 – 16 September 2020) was a

mime artist A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium ...

in Lithuania and

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. He was especially well known in Lithuania. He was also a multidisciplinary artist: a theater director, stage designer and theater consultant.

Background

Modris lost his father at an early age. He started schooling in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

when he was six years old. During his school days, he showed talent in art."MODRIS TENISONS: Režisors un scenogrāfs, dizaina mākslinieks, profesionāla pantomīmas teātra izveidotājs Kauņā."
2003. Retrieved October 6, 2010.

Mime career

After graduating from the School of Applied Arts in

, he studied and performed

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

for four years under Robert Ligera, until he fell in love and emigrated to Lithuania. In 1966 at

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Tra ...

, Lithuania, he founded the first professional pantomime team in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He directed several professional pantomime theater and radio performances, including ''Ecce homo'' (1967), ''Dream Dreams'' (Sapņu sapņi, 1968), ''Do Butterflies'' (Sargājiet tauriņu, 1969), ''20th Century Capriccio'' (XX gadsimta Capricio, 1970), and ''Collage'' (Kolāža, 1971)."The Lithuanian Mime School. Modris Tenisons."
Retrieved October 6, 2010. Modris was loved and respected by Lithuanians, who considered him as a kind of local ' Charlie Chaplin'. Modris was honoured by the

Lithuanian government The Government of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Vyriausybė), officially the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (''Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybė'', abbreviated ''LRV''), is the cabinet of Lithuania, exercising executive power in the count ...

with an

Order of Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

for his contributions to the art of mime. He had been retired for years but kept drawing and attracting orders as an artist. He had remained a legend in Lithuania theater for two generations. In 2003, he was visited and interviewed by a group of Lithuanians to understand him as a phenomenon.

The language of ornamental signs

Modris also had great interest in

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts * Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve o ...

. He was involved in researching the symbolism of the Latvian traditional

Lielvārde Belt Lielvārde (; german: Lennewarden), population 5885, is a town in Ogre Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, on the right bank of the Daugava river, 52 km southeast of Riga. History The area was a contact zone between the Finnic Liv ...

(''Lielvārdes josta'') with 22 ancient symbols. This Latvian ethnic group was a major part of his creative work. He and Armands Strazds were the creators of the Zime Project, which was the central exhibit of the Latvia Pavilion at

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were exp ...

. Zīmes, from the Latvian word for "sign", are coloured graphic patterns generated by the computer encryption of texts, pictures, or sounds. During the course of Expo 2000, 300,000 visitors to the Latvia Pavilion generated their personal "zīmes", including the (then) President of Latvia,

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (born 1 December 1937) is a Latvian politician who served as the sixth President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007. She is the first woman to hold the post. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected for the seco ...

Other contributions

In 2006 he was involved in a creative laboratory: a survey on actors' psychophysics, nonverbal theater methods and the Latvian sign system. Sixteen actors (Rūta Birzleja, Nadīne Bokovikova, Linde Dambe, Sanita Duka, Ilze Ikše, Jurijs Kondratenko, Dzintars Krūmiņš, Daiga Līcīte, Sandris Majars, Simona Orinska, Dagne Reinika, Ieva Skopāne, Lena Smelova, Inese Upeniece, Agrita Vidže and Zigmārs Zakis) participated in his laboratory, which lasted for 4 months.

Personal life

Modris had to leave

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he had dedicated himself to mime, for his native

. Occasionally, he was engaged in theatrical activities after he got married. He survived his wife Ilze Tenisone"Ilze Tenisone: VJauniešu kamerkora 'Vecrīga' dibinātāja, vadītāja un ilggadēja diriģente."
Retrieved October 8, 2010. and had two adult sons, Juveris and Peteris, who worked and studies in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He lived with his daughter Ilze and assistant, friend and life partner Simona Orinska.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenisons, Modris 1945 births 2020 deaths People from Riga Latvian entertainers Mimes Latvian artists