Thursday 7 August 2008

7 up

Sit the group in a circle
Count around the circle 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. On each number the person simply points with their hand in the direction the count is going.
On 7 the person must point in the same way but with their hand above their head.
If they want they can also reverse the direction.

Progression:
You can get the group to keep counting upwards and the hand must then be raised above the head on 7 and multiples of 7
You can introduce fists on 5's or multiples of 5, which can be holding both fists out in front of your body and this can be used to reverse the direction.
Fists and pointing must be done with one fist out and a hand pointing above the head where you get a number that is both a multiple of 5 and 7.
The game can also be played silent (not counting out loud) with only the hand gestures.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Balloon Games

Sit on chairs or stand in a circle.
Introduce a balloon and instruct the group to pass it around the circle without holding it and without it touching the floor.
Introduce another balloon and tell the group that at any time a person can take hold of the balloon and walk to someone in the circle say their name and hand it to them after they have too said their name back.
You can add more balloons to the circle and if the passing of the balloon around the outside is too difficult to sustain at the same time then people can simply walk with the balloon to someone else and say their names.

Once there are a number of balloons in the circle the challenge can be given to the group to keep all the balloons up in the air without holding them for any time. Each time a balloon is batted up into the air the person calls out their name.

Variation
Have only one balloon in the circle and like the game above someone bats the balloon up into the air but then calls out someone elses name in the circle. They must then come in and stop the balloon hitting the floor while calling someone elses name in the circle and so on..

Monday 4 August 2008

Oppression - Group sculpture

In a group of 4 or 5 each person take it in turns to sculpt the group into an image of oppression.
You should have 4 or 5 images to show
Rehearse linking up each sculpture to create one piece of images
Show your composition back to the rest of the group.
Feedback through the following stages
1. Objectively - Ask the group literally what they see i.e Miles is reaching out towards Lily with his knees bent. Lily's eyes are closed.
2. Subjectively - Interpret what you see, The relationships between individuals, What emotions are evoked by these relationships or some of the images and shapes.
3. Create a scenario or story from the images before you. hat is happening? Who is who? Where are they? etc.

Build a Society - Group Sculpture

Pick one person from the group to position everybody in whatever shape he/she wants in the room to represent what society looks like.
Ask the group what they see?
Is it an accurate picture of society?
Give everyone in the group a chance to sculpt their idea of society
Choose a smaller group and give them the job of moving whatever image is left before them to an ideal picture of society (give a time limit i.e. 30 seconds)
As a group discuss what was the difference s observed between the images of society and the final last ideal image.