O-Town is growing. I’m not just talking about urban sprawl, though there’s plenty of that. Over the years my adopted home has steadily morphed from quaint to urban to international, and now, world class.

Check out the downtown skyline. It’s not as crowded as San Francisco’s or as historic as New York’s, but it’s not just a hodgepodge of geometric shapes faces with glass and steel. Our skyline has color and, now, depth.

Check out the downtown nightlife. Fueled by nearby colleges, attractions, and beaches, on Friday nights our downtown starts hopping early and keeps on hopping until the well into Saturday morning. You’ve got just enough time to sleep it off and go again Saturday night. And it’s not just dance clubs, thought there are plenty, there’s a comedy club, art shows, upscale restaurants and fast food chains. You can buy a slice of really good pizza, 24hrs a day, seven days a week. You can take an art walk viewing sculptures and other works of art while strolling around a huge glowing fountain in Lake Eola. But what really put Orlando in the same league as Paris, London, New York and San Francisco is the presence of an icon of all great cities, a really good mime.

Yep! I said mime. Those silent performers who either fascinate or infuriate passersby in every major city in the world. Now Orlando has one, and a good one at that.

I imagine there are disciplines of miming. Marcel Marceau is likely the best known mime and he followed what I’ll call story pantomime where the mime uses gestures and exaggerated expressions to relay story to the audience. Our O-Town mime follows the statue pantomime discipline, the actor dresses and moves (or don’t move) to simulate a statue. You would think that’s easy, but keeping your body completely rigid for minutes at a time is hard work, and our mime was at it for 6 hours!

As with most street performers, our mime didn’t move for tips, and she appeared to do well. She was set up at the south-east area of Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. The spot was wisely chosen because it’s near a large and very active playground. Kids gravitate to mimes like little moths to a flame and she attracted them by the droves.

If you’re ever downtown O-Town stop by the lake and check her out. She worth the visit and the tip.