Red shoes

Make a circle sitting on chairs
One person stands in the middle and must say something about themselves.
i.e. "I am wearing red shoes."
Everyone with red shoes must change places without letting the person in the middle sit down.
The person who cannot sit down then becomes the person in the middle.
And so on.

Variation
A condition can be put on the game like, Only share something that happened to you last week, or tell the group something you dislike.
If there is no condition put on the game it is interesting to see how much people disclose about themselves and cit an give you a good indication of the level trust within the group.

Comment: I found this a useful game when working with excluded pupils recently to guage how far they were willing to open up. I also repeated it at the end of the term to see how far they had come.

Ali Ali Ali !

Group stand in a circle with one person in the middle.
The person in the middle must say someones name three times before they can say their name once.
If the person in the middle succeeds then they join the circle.
The person on the outside who failed then goes into the middle.

Comment: A good game when the group is familiar at least a little bit with eachothers names. However the person in the middle can always ask people in the circle their names to remind themselves. This also builds up tension as that person ios then expecting their name to be said

Sparkle

Stand in a circle and get the group to rub their hands together
Then instruct them to rub different body parts
Ask the group if they can start to feel their hands or finger tips tingling
The idea is to focus this energy into a clap around the circle
As the clap comes to you simply send it on round the circle with as much energy and focus as possible
Give the instruction that the clap can be reversed around the circle
Also the clap can be sent across the circle.

Variations:
Try and play this game with your eyes closed, with the idea to not catch anyone out but rather keep the clap going.
(You will need a pair of eyes open to act as adjudicator)

Swapping places

Stand in a circle and look at who's in the circle.
Observe what you see
As you catch someones eye agree with them and swap places
(Nb This may require quite big body gestures)

Ask- What "ing" things were needed for this activity to work (Really spend time teasing them out as there is a lot of non verbal contact in this game)

Progression
Look, agree and swap places with someone but keep eye contact until you cross one another
Repeat this but keep eye contact all the time
Repeat above but agree for one of you to close there eyes so the other has to direct you verbally
Look agree and met in the middle, create a shape, then return to your place. (You can ask what the group saw or noticed in the middle. Any interesting shapes.)

Look up, Look down

In a circle everybody look at the floor.
The leader then clicks fingers or says "Look up!" and everyone must look at somebody in the circle.
If two people are looking at one another they can sit down or step back from the circle to show they are out
The leader then says Look Down! and everyone looks down and on the Look up command the process is repeated.
The object of the game is to get out first so you want to get eye contact with someone.
Emphasize that once you have looked up you cannot change your focus onto someone else.

At the end of the exercise it is good to ask everyone how they felt playing the game.
Was there any anxiety about not catching peoples eyes?
How did it feel when you connected with someone who was looking back at you?
Did anyone find the game uncomfortable? Why?

Progression
see Swapping Places

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.

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..

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.

Out of the chair

Someone from the group sits in a chair which is placed in the middle of the room.
The group's aim is to convince the person sitting on the chair to get out of it.
The person in the chair must accept whatever is suggested to them and is not allowed to dismiss their offer.
For Example:
Someone may say "There is a bomb under your seat." The person in the chair could reply: "Yes I know, my life is too much for me I want to end it all now."
They are not allowed to block the offer by saying "No there isn't"
The person who successfully ousters someone from the chair then goes and sits in the chair and the game continues.

Variation:
You can send more then one person in
You can create a scenario using a number of people, rather than just having one chair.
Scenarios, images that work particularly well could be used to progress the improvisation into a scene or produce a story.

Leadership Game

In a circle everyone closes their eyes.
One person is secretly picked to be the leader. (Maybe tap someone on their shoulder while everyones eyes are closed).
Open eyes and everyone must workout who is the leader.
Instruct leader not to obviously do anything
Show it in your eyes, shoulders, posture, breath.
Ask the group who they think the leader is.
Once the leader is established ask the group to say how could they tell/not tell who was the leader.

Progression:
You can have more than one leader
You can make everyone the leader
Don't make anyone the leader

French Telephone

Allocate each person in a circle to look at, so that everyone is looking at someone and everybody is being looked at by someone.
Instruct each person to really observe the person they are looking at and to imitate any movements they do.
Keep encouraging the group to stand still.
You will find that in the circle there is continual movement and it is almost impossible for it to be completely still for any period of time
Tell the circle to exaggerate any movements they see and the circle will quickly become very animated.

Creating images out of words

In a circle facing out, someone shouts out a theme/word i.e. Love
After a count of 3 turn and create an image.
Add a noise/word/sentence/Gesture to the shape
Go to people similar to your shape/sound and interact/improvise with them.
An external leader can observe and put in more people/groups to create an interesting impro/story.
This could be developed into a scene.

Progression
The group can be encouraged to call out 2 words ( eg. noun and an adjective) and then form a shape from that.
You can get people to perform the shapes at different levels of intensity. So a caller would say Jealous Love Level 8 (Highest)

Find the sound and feel the hand.

Stand in a circle and number the group 1 and 2
1's stand opposite 2 (On their right) and say a noise/rhythmical sound that repeats
The stand opposite the person on your left and do the same.
Each person should now have their own sound and be familiar with the sound of the person on their left and right.
All hold hands in the circle and practise your sound. While you do this examine the hands of the people each side of you.
Everyone is to close their eyes and walk slowly around the room making their noise.
The aim is to find the sounds of the people from each side of you in the circle and get back into the circle as a whole group
You can feel peoples hands to help you with identifying if the sound is not conclusive for you.

Composition using body shapes

Three people hold a shape by holding onto one another.
The rest of the group form a circle around them and brainstorm all the things that the image brings to mind.
Someone acts as a scribe and records the observations on paper.
Anyone from the circle can go into the shape at any time but then one person already in the shape must come out and join the circle on the outside.

Rules:
No correction is allowed
The shape must work in silence (No negotiation)
Accept all offers (No censoring)

Observe:
Proximity (spaces between)
Relationships of bodies to one another
Narratives
Question and Answer
Repetition
Shifts from comedy to tragedy

Variations:
You can experiment with different numbers in the middle and even try one with all the group go into the middle.
The outside group can select three interesting shapes from the middle group and try to link them together into a story or small scene. Words can be added.

You can work in smaller groups of 4's numbering yourselves 1 to 4. Three people hold a pose and the 4th person observes and writes on paper what they see. Then 4 joins the shape and 1 comes out from the shape and observes in the same way, and so on.
A scene/story or movement phrase can be composed in the same way as above.

Static Composition and status

Set out in an empty room or space 6 chairs evenly spaced, a table and position a bottle of water somewhere in close proximately to it.
Ask individuals from the group to reposition the objects to create one dominant chair in the picture.
Experiment with placing the bottle in different places

Progression -
Add a person to the picture whose aim is to take the focus
Add another person who tries to take the focus off the first. Ask the rest of the group observing if they think he/she has succeeded in doing this
Add a third person who then tries to take the focus and so on.
Build up a picture which shows lots of different stories. Get the group to observe them and this could be a good stimulus to start a scene.
This exercise could also be done with the aim of taking the lowest status. It is a good exercise to find spatial power and the idea of a relational stage.

Marionettes with objects

Pick an object to work with
1. Stand in a space alone with your object for 5 minutes.
Really look at it and imagine it is you
What does it smell like?
How does it move?
Is it rough or smooth?
What Colour is it?
Does it make a sound?

2. Explain your object to a partner

3. In your own space try to move as your object might move and manipulate it at the same time.

4. With a partner give you objects to one another. You partner now manipulates your object and you have to react accordingly. Try doing it while having a conversation on the phone.

5. In fours sit with two of you facing each other. Your partner has your object and manipulates it as you have a conversation with the person from the other pair. Their partner is also holding and manipulating their object.

You can help the conversation to focus by giving them a task to accomplish like asking the other out to dinner, borrowing money off them or challenging them about an annoying habit. It is interesting to See how much the Puppeteers are able to influence the conversation.

Hypnsosis

Stand facing a partner. One is A and the other B
A begins as the hypnotist and B follows A's instructions
A holds hand out in front of themselves as if with a stop gesture.
As A moves hand B must imitate the movement in their body and move accordingly
Try to keep at the same distance from the hand at all times.
A can steer with the right hand and hold the other scrunched up.
If A opens the scrunched hand then B must start to talk until A scrunches it up again.
If A scrunches up both hands then B freezes. A can then move to a position in the room a greater distance away. They then open their right hand again and control B from that distance.
B must try to always be equidistant away.
A can move B around the room to relate to others in the room being controlled.
Swap over the roles of A and B