"If one cannot laugh in heaven, I do not care about going there."
Martin Luther King
“At the turn of a pavement in Cali, Colombia, I was struck by laughters, tears and emotions: a mime was relating his silent stories in the street and his heart had touched my heart, as well as the audience’s.
Six mois après, je commençais une Ecole de théâtre dans laquelle j’appris les bases du mime cet art est devenu partie intégrante de ma vie et de mon engagement humain. Depuis, nous ne nous sommes plus quittés...La pantomime est, pour moi, le moyen d’exprimer une poésie sans parole, une poésie qui s’écrit avec le corps, un voyage dans le monde du silence par des gestes qui se dessinent dans l’espace.
Fifteen years ago, I crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Switzerland. I had the desire to learn, but also to share what dwelled in me. I had planned a temporary stay and a quick return, but the twists and turns of my life have clung to the mountains and today, my heart swings between my very distant native country and my love for these Helvetian lands that have given me such a pleasant welcome.
For some time, I have also found here a status which brings me joy and anxiety that neither the technique of the gesture, nor the love of the dream and beautiful stories succeed in soothing: the status of father…”
Luis Orlando SILVA was born in Colombia. There, he studied dramatics and sociology, and he worked as a cultural coordinator, comedian, clown and mime.
As from 1991, his experience first grew with mime, theatre and dance trainings in Europe, and then in the theatre school Serge Martin in Geneva. It is a record which has also led him to work in the midst of several troupes in Colombia and in Switzerland, live in the world of the circus, and produce his own mime and storytelling shows.
He has already carried out the setting up of various productions as well as the animation of many workshops addressed to adults, teenagers and children.
Presently, he is part of the troupe of clowns of the Association Hôpiclowns (or Hospiclowns) which works in the hospital of Geneva, of the association Corps et masque, and he created with Sophie Cornaz the troupe Sourires pour Tous (Smiles for All).
You may download the PDF version of an introduction file here
