The Body as Sign in Pantomime Performance: A Systematic Literature Review of Semiotics, Embodiment, and Visual Dramaturgy
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study aims to synthesize contemporary pantomime scholarship by positioning the body as a primary sign system within the contexts of semiotics, embodiment, and visual dramaturgy. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework was conducted, analyzing 25 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2025. The findings identify five interconnected dimensions of pantomime performance: evolutionary communication, semiotic representation, embodied cognition, multimodal meaning-making, and visual dramaturgy. These dimensions highlight that pantomime extends beyond nonverbal communication by functioning as a performative system in which bodily action generates and organizes meaning. Based on this synthesis, the study proposes the Body as Sign Framework, which conceptualizes the body as a multidimensional system of signification operating across communicative, cognitive, semiotic, and performative processes. This framework offers an integrative theoretical model that connects previously fragmented perspectives in pantomime research. The study contributes to theatre and performance studies by providing a conceptual foundation for analyzing embodied meaning-making and body-based performance practices. It also offers directions for future research on visual dramaturgy and nonverbal communication in contemporary performance contexts.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
kepemilikan artikel milik AutorReferences
Adornetti, I., Chiera, A., Deriu, V., Altavilla, D., & Ferretti, F. (2023). Comprehending stories in pantomime. A pilot study with typically developing children and its implications for the narrative origin of language. Language & Communication, 93, 155–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2023.10.001
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Ekardo, F. (2018). Pertunjukan Teaterikal Pantomime Berpola Randai. Melayu Arts and Performance Journal, 1(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.26887/mapj.v1i1.631
Finkel, L., Hogrefe, K., Frey, S. H., Goldenberg, G., & Randerath, J. (2018). It takes two to pantomime: Communication meets motor cognition. NeuroImage: Clinical, 19, 1008–1017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2018.06.019
Foster, V. (2013). Pantomime and politics: the story of a performance ethnography. Qualitative Research, 13(1), 36–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794112439087
Gärdenfors, P. (2021). Demonstration and pantomime in the evolution of teaching and communication. Language & Communication, 80, 71–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2021.06.001
Gillespie-Lynch, K. (2021). Gestural Theory. In Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science (pp. 3444–3448). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3322
Goldin-Meadow, S., & Alibali, M. W. (2013). Gesture’s Role in Speaking, Learning, and Creating Language. Annual Review of Psychology, 64(1), 257–283. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143802
Kitchenham, B., Pearl Brereton, O., Budgen, D., Turner, M., Bailey, J., & Linkman, S. (2009). Systematic literature reviews in software engineering – A systematic literature review. Information and Software Technology, 51(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2008.09.009
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2020). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003099857
MacNeil, R. R., & Enns, J. T. (2024). The “What” and “How” of Pantomime Actions. Vision, 8(4), 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision8040058
Marentette, P., Furman, R., Suvanto, M. E., & Nicoladis, E. (2020). Pantomime (Not Silent Gesture) in Multimodal Communication: Evidence From Children’s Narratives. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575952
Marsden, R. (2020). Monsters and the pantomime. Palgrave Communications, 6(1), 36. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0411-x
Movsesian, A. (2025). Soviet (In)finite Jest: Leonid Yengibarov’s Pantomime and State Erasure. Law, Culture and the Humanities, 21(2), 252–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/17438721221122110
Osiurak, F., Delporte, L., Revol, P., Melgar, L., Robert de Beauchamp, A., Quesque, F., & Rossetti, Y. (2023). The social cognitive dimension of pantomime. Brain and Cognition, 166, 105942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105942
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., … Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Pan, C., Alizadeh, F., & Suboh, R. bin. (2024). An Analysis of Non-verbal Performance in Theatre. EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES IN IMAGINATIVE CULTURE, 8(2), 972–984. https://doi.org/10.70082/esiculture.vi.979
Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2006). Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470754887
Salal, A. A., & Oda, R. K. (2022). Actor’s skills in pantomime theater performances. Al-Academy, 105, 121–132. https://doi.org/10.35560/jcofarts105/121-132
Sibierska, M., Boruta-Żywiczyńska, M., Żywiczyński, P., & Wacewicz, S. (2022). What’s in a mime? An exploratory analysis of predictors of communicative success of pantomime. Interaction Studies, 23(2), 289–321. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1075/is.22002.sib
Sibierska, M., Żywiczyński, P., Zlatev, J., van de Weijer, J., & Boruta-Żywiczyńska, M. (2023). Constraints on communicating the order of events in stories through pantomime. Journal of Language Evolution, 8(1), 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzad008
Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a Methodology for Developing Evidence‐Informed Management Knowledge by Means of Systematic Review. British Journal of Management, 14(3), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00375
van Nispen, K., van de Sandt-Koenderman, W. M. E., & Krahmer, E. (2017). Production and Comprehension of Pantomimes Used to Depict Objects. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01095
Zlatev, J., Wacewicz, S., Zywiczynski, P., & Weijer, J. van de. (2017). Multimodal-first or pantomime-first? Communicating events through pantomime with and without vocalization. Interaction Studies, 8(3), 465–488. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.3.08zla
Zlatev, J., Żywiczyński, P., & Wacewicz, S. (2020). Pantomime as the original human-specific communicative system. Journal of Language Evolution, 5(2), 156–174. https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzaa006
Żywiczyński, P., Sibierska, M., Wacewicz, S., van de Weijer, J., Ferretti, F., Adornetti, I., Chiera, A., & Deriu, V. (2021). Evolution of conventional communication. A cross-cultural study of pantomimic re-enactments of transitive events. Language & Communication, 80, 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2021.07.002
Żywiczyński, P., & Wacewicz, S. (2022). From Body to Language: Gestural and Pantomimic Scenarios of Language Origin in the Enlightenment. Topoi, 41, 539–549. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-021-09791-w
Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S., & Lister, C. (2021). Pantomimic fossils in modern human communication. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1824). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0204
Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S., & Sibierska, M. (2018). Defining Pantomime for Language Evolution Research. Topoi, 37(2), 307–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9425-9