Ashok Chatterjee?s performance at the FIFA 2002 World Cup

The dance of kohl-laced eyes and a smiling curl on flaming red lips? Body language has the power to step in where words have no meaning. Largely known as mime, the silent performing art explores what goes beyond the realm of the spoken word. That is the space the International Festival of Non-Verbal Arts hopes to inhabit.

The confluence has been stretching the limits of language for eight years, starting as a humble endeavour by mime artiste Ashok Chatterjee of the Body Language School, Calcutta, in 1993. It was a bid to ?revive and popularise the art of mime in India through a comparative study of performances the world over? by the Group IV employee of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The Paikpara school, a member of the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for Unesco, Japan, has taken the show to Sweden, Norway, Finland, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. This year?s fest, to be held between November 31 and December 10, will witness teams from Japan, Korea, Norway, UK, Sweden, Syria, Canada, Ireland, Spain and India putting up colourful performances in Suri, Santiniketan and Calcutta (Rabindra Sadan, Girish Mancha and Salt Lake, Sector V).

This winter?s agenda packs in a lot more than just mime ? clown mime, silent theatre, street theatre and gesture theatre. A high point of the gala would be a 20-minute performance by veteran composer V. Balsara, to be accompanied by musicians from India, Ireland and Japan.

The fest borrows the term ?non-verbal? to ?take mime out of its stereotypical confines as largely understood in India?, explains Chatterjee, a need felt in the wake of the changing dimensions of mime. ?The art uses broader storylines today as opposed to short skits. The characterisation, make-up, costumes, music, style of acting, everything has become much more elaborate today,? adds the artiste who performed in an open-air mime show during the FIFA 2002 World Cup celebrations in Japan-Korea.

Experiments with other forms of entertainment are also prevalent. Chatterjee will mime Othello next year, to be sponsored by the Royal Shakespeare Opera of England.