The Sculptor (A Mime Presentation)

My husband and I saw the most incredible mime show Sunday night of the sort that causes one to say Wow!!

There were a whole bunch of different mime presentations done to different pieces of music. One of the most impressive and moving numbers that they did was about a sculptor.

It starts with one of the mimes just laid over like an unshaped blob of clay. The other mime moves his hands around her as if shaping her and as he does so, she moves, gradually stands up, positions her hands over her head like a ballerina, opens her hands from a fist to opened fingers, and then as he works on her face, she first opens her eyes and then eventually smiles. Lastly, the sculptor positions her legs, so she looks just like a ballerina.

After the sculptor leaves the room, the ballerina comes to life, happily dances around and examines the drawing that the sculptor had used in order to shape her. Soon, three other mimes that had been there in sort of a wicked frozen position throughout the whole thing, come to life and wickedly move over to where the ballerina mime is and begin to taunt her and as they do, she becomes all distorted and full of despair. They take the picture away that the ballerina is looking at. She fights to get it back and it rips. Eventually, the oppressors leave the stage and the ballerina just stands there frozen, in an all distorted position and a very distraught look on her face.

Next the sculptor enters and sees the damage that has been done to his creation. He is quite saddened by it and with the gentleness of his skilled hands tries to fix her, but is not able to do it easily. With great pain in his face, he has to now use a hammer and chisel, instead of the gentleness and softness of his hands. There is distress in his face as he does it and the ballerina mime gradually returns to her original position, all bend over in a ball, like an unshaped lump of clay. Next, the sculptor starts over again and begins to shape her once again, in a way similar to the beginning of this mime number.

I was so incredible moved by this number. I just can't tell you how truly beautiful it was. I wish I had a video to show you, instead of just a description.

As I was watching this, I was thinking about, as I continually do, what we've been talking about on this blog and was thinking about how I could use this mime show as an illustration while responding to a comment that I had just read. As I thought it through, though, I realized that my thoughts about it are too long and that this is going to be a post, whether than just a comment, so here it is.

Since I was thinking about the previous post, though, as I was watching it, I've decided to go ahead and use this as an illustration about the subject of change.

Quite a number of things have been said about change in the comment section of my previous post (the next post down), such as not all change is good, it can be good, bad or neutral, how we fear change, how we change and grow because we are creative, the need to be cautious of side effects, whether than being in so much of a hurry, the problem of "throwing out the baby with the bath water", avoiding the extremes, the inevitability of change as a constant random time-related process, overtly caused change, the individual perception of change, the changes promised by politicians, changes imposed on us by politicians, how change for it's own sake is dangerous, how people can only handle so much change, so we need to prioritize our gripes, the unchangeable nature of God and His laws, and the fact that we are the ones who need to change, not God. Aside from this, there was also some interesting discussion about pride, stubbornness, yielding to God, the "Ponder Button", Negotiation and Bargaining, and Griper's grandpa's quote "A man without a gripe is a man who has no thoughts." There may be other themes added to this previous comment thread later, but that is where we were at when I published this post.

Getting back to the mime show, though, the number that I have described above is about change, in that the sculptor was producing change in His sculpture (the ballerina), as he worked on her. This is positive, creative change. The villains also caused a change in the ballerina, but that was negative change, resulting in the destruction of what the sculptor had created, so here we see illustrated that not all change is good. It required considerable effort and even anguish on the part of the sculptor in order to change back the damage that had been done to his sculpture.

If you haven't already figured this out, I will tell you that the Sculptor is a metaphor relating to God and how as our Creator, He shapes us into the beautiful creations that He intends us to be. The changes that are made by God are always good ones, yet the changes of the villains (Satan and his demons) are negative and destroy God's work. As we submit to God's changes, we become better people, but when we submit to the things that Satan offers us, we change in ways that are destructive. When God has to undo the damage of the negative change, He has to use hammers and chisels, whether than the original gentleness of His hands and there is usually pain involved.

There is also a Part 2 to this Post.