These were the classes that sparked my curiosity and creativity at the Mime School, ATD Amsterdam, where I was a student from 2001-2005. Each week, I delved into a journey of self-discovery, connecting with my voice, body, energy, intuition and imagination. This exploration unlocked a wealth of potential, freedom, and new connections, creating a boundless space to experience the infinite abundance of creative flow.

It was in these classes that I could connect all that I was learning, being, feeling, and going through to a whole. It was like an open processing and upgrading. I could physically feel if the class was cancelled for one week. Something felt not anchored, processed, or felt.

Disconnected.

It was in these classes that I discovered my voice's vast range and possibilities. I had always thought of it as a 'nice' choir voice, but I was mistaken. By allowing the imagination, the energy of the present moment, and a playful, direct, connected, associative flow to shape a safe space for exploration, I was able to uncover my voice's true potential.

It is a tool, an extra body part, a portal, a bridge to my strong imagination and intuitive nature.

A neverending source of material unfolded. I loved seeing this direct, honest - authentic- flow in my classmates too.

You could feel or clearly sense when someone was not connected and let their head lead when someone was acting from an idea or fixing something instead of honestly taking in the moment and responding to it. When it was there, the audience and performer were fully engaged and immersed in the same now without any noise. 

For me, these classes were the real secret of why mimers from the Mime School were so powerful, present, creative and fearlessly venturing into the unknown.

These classes were a testament to the power of presence and flow. We actively trained to trust the unknown, discovering an inner freedom that allowed us to navigate and shape-shift, transforming any moment into a connected, direct presence of flow.

The technique classes gave us tools to shape this inner flow of creativity, imagination, and a life filled with meaning.

It was a perfect marriage.

I was asked to come back to possibly be one of the teachers who gave mime technique-making classes. During that period of training and studying the Mime Corporeal technique by Etienne Decroux, I realized my real purpose.

It was not to be the body of technique. But the voice of freedom. Connection. Flow. Creativity with its unlimited potential.

I was more a liberator than a 'shaper or moulder'.

Some years later, when I was asked to take over the Briesen technique as Fons van Tienen had to go with a pension, I cried in gratitude. These were my favourite classes, I said. How did you know?

You said it yourself, remember? Loes vd Pligt reminded me of what I had said in her office a few years back. If I were to take over any classes, it would be Fons's classes.

I laughed aloud - you can imagine how proud and happy I was.

WHAT AN HONOUR!

Now, 12 years later, I am still so grateful for this 'second' study that felt like a master's degree. First, I intensively studied movement, dance, and mime, and then I was allowed to dive into the wonderous field of the voice.

It is truly amazing what it can do, does, and is. Like water, it is ungrabbable yet direct, palpable, and transformative—not only for the student—and myself 1.00 fold in this journey—but just as much for the audience.

It is so direct, touching and pure that it unarmours and creates direct communication. It opens a field of freedom, imagination, language, energy and poetry I have seldom seen elsewhere.

Briesen is a way to travel between the known and unknown. Anchored in a strong presence, the magical, associative, and intuitive are invited to deepen, enrich, and bring new perspectives.

The performer is the magician weaving and creating on the go, bringing the subconscious into the conscious and putting the conscious in perspective of all we are and are connected to.

It is a flow and stream of consciousness that expands our concepts of reality to create new connections, possibilities, and, last but not least, real freedom.

It was a blessed journey with hours of spontaneous, honest, generous improvisations, and I felt privileged to have a first-row seat.

It was in the holding space for the students to feel free, safe, and let themselves go—play, explore, and feel the now as it moved through them—that magic happened. No expectation, pressure, or result was needed. No walls, masks, or roles were needed.

Just guiding us in an inner and outer experience of the now.

I can't put into words how amazing I find this technique.

How much I wish that not only the students of the Mime School would experience this inner freedom of the imagination embodied and voiced creativity. 

That is why I created 'Voice as a Bridge'. You are welcome to journey with your voice to tap into your full potential. 

Leela May Stokholm 1 February 2025