Mime Breaks Her Silence at Cloonan Middle School

She mimed her way to Hollywood as one writer put it, and more recently, mimed her way into the hearts of students at Stamford’s l. 

Appearing as a guest lecturer at Cloonan's "Scholar Power" speaker series on May 13, Sharece M. Sellem, a mime and performance artist who teaches dramatic arts at Davis Street Arts and Academics Interdistrict Magnet School in New Haven, not only delivered a survey of the history of mime, but also talked of her compelling past in having been raised by deaf and hearing-impaired grandparents and the challenges in learning to use expressive gestures — a kind of personal sign language, to communicate with them. 

Sellem's career has been on a fast track since being chosen to appear in a music video by R&B artist Faith Evans, for her new song, "Gone Already." Last year, West coast music video producers launched a national search for someone who would be able to effectively interpret the pathos and emotional content of Evan's soulful song. During her first live audition with the artist, director and film crew, Sellem drew both tears and applause for her highly interpretive performance, landing a dream job with an artist she had admired for years. 

Since the video's release, Sellem has been performing in a variety of venues and continues as Director of “Artistik Xpressions,” an amateur youth drama group in New Haven. Her classes in Interpretive Movement offer a unique way to express drama, poetry, music and the human condition and are being taught in schools, community groups, churches and at festivals. 

Cloonan's Scholar Power lecture series was began in September of 2010 under the auspices of Assistant Principal Laureen Mody, and since, has hosted 15 distinguished speakers, including Holocaust survivors Irene Selig, Sel Hurbert and Judy Altmann, Mayor Michael Pavia, Congressman Jim Himes, and eight-time Olympic medal winner , to name a few. After each assembly, students are afforded an opportunity to raise questions and dialogue with featured guests. 

After her lecture, which included some slides and video as well as a live performance, Sellem took questions from the audience including one about how long she had been miming. Her response of "professionally, around one year" was an answer that surprised everyone and seemed at odds with the her masterful performance and highly expressive stage presence.   

Students who signed up previously were able to take Sellem's two-session interactive mime workshop after the assembly, where they participated in her "Mime-to-Music" program, complete with mime make-up and characteristic white gloves. Students learned  to develop personal expression as they mimed movements to “You Gotta Be,” a song by popular musical artist Des’ree.

"That was an awesome and interesting workshop. I never did this before and it was a fun experience," enthusiastic sixth grader Nicole Somerstein said.

Another student, Valeria Torrealba, found that "miming is not easy but it was really fun trying the moves." 

Many of the students who took the workshop will be honing their act for a special performance at Cloonan's Bulldog Circus and Art Exhibit event slated for June 22. Sellem said she hopes to return next month to watch the formative troupe mime to music, much as they did under her direction during the Scholar Power workshop.

David Sepulveda teaches art at Cloonan Middle School and is a contributing reporter for New Haven Independent and Progressivevoices.com.