Brodhead first graders got an unusual treat two days before Thanksgiving when Tiff Bates of Brodhead presented a 45-minute pantomime show at the school.
Bates is pastor of the Czongregational United Church of Christ in Brodhead but he wasn’t there as a pastor but as a grandpa. His granddaughter Gretchen Strommen is a member of the class. It was his first time performing at the school.
Gretchen stayed proudly on the stage and held up cards announcing the various stories her grandfather was performing. Prior to the show, Bates said most of what he would be performing was “pretty silly for the most part” with one serious story included.
The performance showed students that stories can be told in a variety of ways. “Storytelling can be done obviously, most times verbally, but sometimes quietly.”
One of the silly stories Bates told was of a fisherman who fishes in a bucket. The kids laughed when Bates seemed to catch a huge fish on his line and fought hard to reel it in. When he finally brought in the fish however, he was dismayed to discover how small it was. It was a fish fit for the small bucket he was fishing with.
After that, the fish died and he was very distressed that the fish had died.
His serious pantomime was entitled “Life, Death and the Flower” and was intended to help kids understand nature and “that things live and die, and that’s what happens in the world and that’s okay. That’s part of the way things happen.”
Bates does have stories that are more religious in nature that he performs in church settings. He feels there are messages that underpin most of his stories whether they are religious or secular in nature.
Bates has been performing pantomimes for 40 years. He started at summer camp in 1969 or 1970. “I didn’t’ really have much training at that point, I just did them, but I found that people really enjoyed them.”
Bates has taken courses in pantomime, both in college and then after college. “I have worked with some very good mimes who have helped me with technique. It’s just like a musician in that the instrument is you. You learn to train yourself, your body.”
Professional pantomimists are very good at manipulating their bodies, he said. “I’m not as good as they are. It’s a very professional art form. I don’t do as well as some do, but I have a lot of fun in doing it.”
