World Mime Day () is a worldwide initiative of the

World Mime Organisation The World Mime Organisation (WMO; French: ''Organisation Mondiale des Mimes'', WMM) is a nonprofit organization that promotes the art of mime and nonverbal communication. It was officially registered on January 4, 2004, in Belgrade, Serbia (at tha ...

to celebrate the Art of

Mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, 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 the ...

and

non-verbal communication Nonverbal communication is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact (oculesics), body language (kinesics), social distance (proxemics), touch (Haptic communication, haptics), voice (prosody (lingui ...

on March 22, the birth date of French mime artist

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French mime artist and actor most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", performing professionally worldwide ...

. World Mime Day has been celebrated since 2011 in multiple countries, spanning four continents. World Mime Day is not officially recognized by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Initiators

Marko Stojanović Marko Stojanović may refer to: * Marko Stojanović (actor) (born 1971), Serbian celebrity * Marko Stojanović (footballer, born 1994), German-Serbian footballer * Marko Stojanović (footballer, born 1998), Serbian footballer * Marko Stojanović, ...

, a Serbian mime, and president of the World Mime Organisation. * Ofer Blum, an Israeli mime, and vice-president of the World Mime Organisation. * Jean Bernard Laclotte, a French mime artist, and co-founder of World Mime Day. All three are former students of Marcel Marceau.

History

In 2004, World Mime Organisation was officially registered as a non-profit,

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

in Serbia. In 2007, Marceau died. Blum and Stojanović gravitated towards the idea of establishing the organisation in commemoration. In April 2011, Laclotte contacted Stojanović with the concept of ''Journée Mondiale du Mime'' (World Mime Day), except Laclotte wanted to allot the day on Marceau's death date, September 22 as opposed to March 22. Due to Laclotte’s initiative, the first ''Journée Mondiale du Mime'' was celebrated on September 22, 2011. However, Most countries observe the holiday on March 22. Some countries, notably in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, celebrate it on September 22.

Celebrations

World Mime Day celebrations vary across countries. They are celebrated in these countries as follows: *

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

- Yerevan State Pantomime Theatre - Shows *

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

- Bangladesh Mime Federation - National Mime Fest *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

- Georgian State Pantomime Theatre - Flash mob in the city of Tbilisi *

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

- Mime Art & Culture - Artists performing in schools and colleges *

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

- Free Mime Shows *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

- Warszawskie Centrum Pantomimy & portal Pantomima Polska.pl - video screenings, book promotions, public discussions *

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

- Divadlo Komika - shows *

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

- Local Wikipedia Chapters with the World Mime Organisation and local mime organizations - World Mime Day Wiki edit-a-thon *

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

- Mime Theatre Studio - workshops

References

{{Reflist

External links

World Mime Organisation
Mime March observances