Samuel Avital

For the politician, see Shmuel Avital.

Samuel Ben-Or Avital ^[1] is a mime artist. He has also taught kinesthetic awareness ^[2] and Kabbalah. ^[3]

He was born in Sefrou, near Fez in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. ^[4] He moved to a kibbutz in Israel when he was fourteen. ^{[5] [6]} From 1958 he studied dance and drama at the Sorbonne in Paris, and also mime under Étienne Decroux, Marcel Marceau and Jean-Louis Barrault. ^[3]

He moved to the United States, and in 1971 started a school of mime, Le Centre du Silence, in Boulder, Colorado, where an annual international summer mime workshop was held. ^[6]

Books

Avital has published books including: ^[7]

• Le Centre Du Silence Mime Work Book, Venice, California: Wisdom Garden Books, 1975 ^[8] (translated into German as Mimenspiel: die Kunst der Körpersprache, 1985)
• Mime and Beyond: The Silent Outcry, Prescott Valley, Arizona: Hohm Press, 1985
• The Conception Mandala: Creative Techniques for Inviting a Child into Your Life (with Mark Olsen), Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1992
• The Invisible Stairway: Kabbalistic Meditations on The Hebrew Letters, 2016

References

1. The Invisible Stairway: Kabbalistic Meditations on The Hebrew Letters, book description
2. Evenson, Jane (2001). "The ultimate object: Overcoming self-created obstacles through mime". Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 5 (2): 101–109. doi:10.1054/jbmt.2000.0220.
3. Brown, Larry (December 30, 1983). "Mime's Silent World Enhances Creativity, Increases Honesty". Rocky Mountain News . Denver, CO.
4. Gallo, William (September 26, 1971). "Avital, Elfin Apostle of Silence". Rocky Mountain News . Denver, CO.
5. Sklarew, Myra. "Space, Silence and Kabbala". The National Jewish Monthly (February 1976).
6. Nellhaus, Arlynn (November 20, 1985). "Boulder Mime Invites Audience Truly to Get Into the Act". The Denver Post .
7. Results page: "Samuel Avital". WorldCat. Accessed June 2022.
8. "The Mime Workbook". American Libraries . 9 (3): 178. 1978.