10 Movements of the Chest

 A Mime artist's face is from the base of the neck to the crotch. The chest is his/her eyes, te belly button is the nose and the pelvis is the smile. 

2 Chest Rotations right and left 

4 Chest Inclinations - see below (Fix rib with fingers and lift up & over waist and incline.) If you get a spare tyre appearing aroundthe waist, you are inclining the waist not the chest. and 

4 Chest Translations - see below

As an exercise:

Explore moving the chest through it's different plains and thinking how it makes you feel.

Work with a partner to explore this further and even add a dialogue to your movements

Walk around and put an emotion or motivation on the movement. For example walking with chest (and head) translated forward = Aggressive. Walking with head and neck translated back = reserved.

In a group of 2 to 4 people create a short scene using the chest. Each person could assume a different chest  position and play the character accordingly. Or create a short scene where all 10 chest positions are visible and used. 

10 Movements of the Head

As you practice these moves concentrate on performing the technique well (See diagram below)

Start by standing straight in a neutral position. Shoulders relaxed and feet should width apart.

1. Rotation - Rotate (Turn)  head to look left then right

2. Inclination - Tip head to the side, left and right, Tip head forward and back

3. Translation - Head shifts along shoulder left and right, Head moves forward and back like a funky chicken.

Tasks:

a. When you look, think about what you might be looking at? i.e. Why are you looking up, down, right-side etc.

b. Think about any emotions connected to the head movement, i.e. Shock, surprise, interest, 

c. On your own devise a solo using all the head movements.

d. With a partner create a scenario where the head movement is put into a real life situation. i.e. Teacher asks pupils question and pupils head  tilts to the side 

Or

Give out some scenarios to each pair, which they perform using all the head movements.

i.e. Job interview, romantic dinner, boxing match, Tennis game, 

What else would Jesus Do? (Boal in the Bible)

Warm up games
Knee Tag
Sword fighting
Treading on toes
Force field

Activity

1. Split into groups of 4 or 5

2. Read through the gospel text together
3. List encounters where Jesus intervened in a situation, For example:

Women caught in adultery
Martha and Mary
Zacheus in a tree

4. In your group create images of each intervention in the story (which can be shown to the other groups)

5. Pick one story and create images for what actually happened before and after the intervention.

Explore through images other scenarios before and after (What else could Jesus have done?)

6. 7. Pick a scenario you like and explore adding movement and speech to each image.

Perform to the other groups and Discuss 

8. Replay and  invite people to intervene with alternative interventions.

Building narratives with shapes

In a big circle one person goes in to the middle and holds a shape;
Someone joins them interacting with them in a other shape and so on.
Ask the group what they see? What emotions? What is going on in the story?
Get lots of variations.

Repeat but this time give the group (or groups) 20 seconds to create what ever you call out i.e an emotion or a noun (church, Bicycle,) or the Weather- Hot, Stormy, Hurricane etc.

Repeat again and give the group an emotion to build together- Search together again for a narrative.

Follow up: This is a good exercise to go on and create images from texts, which can create scenes for a drama. Words can be given to characters, which can be built into sentences and so on.

Comment: A good exercise to use with a mixed group as it lends itself to differentiating the task. A good group can be pushed to create scenes to a story where as a less experienced group could stop at just images.

Elasticity

Find a partner and face one another
Move around anywhere in the room but keep eye contact with each other
when leader shouts "change" you must change partner
Experiment with levels, distance, pace etc

Comment: This requires a certain amount of trust in the group to be able to maintain eye contact but is a good way of finding out the groups closeness.
This is a good spacial awareness exercise working with a partner and being aware of those around at the same time.

Knee tag

Find a partner and face one another
The idea is to try and touch your partners knee 3 times before they touch yours 3 times.
You can increase the difficulty by making each pair put an arm behind their back.
On the command "Change" You must find a new partner to do combat with.

Comments: Great to use with a new group especially as a way to get to know one another. This is also a good spacial awareness exercise as individuals are not just to watch their partners moves but be aware of those around them.

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.

Injury tag

Everybody spreads out in the room
This is a simple game of tag but where ever the person is tagged they must hold that part of their body (as if it is injured)while trying to tag people.
The person on it can tag someone in more than one place so that that person is then on it having to hold on to two areas of their body

Person to Person body parts

Instruct the group to find a space in the room
The leader calls out two body parts.
The group must find a partner and put those body parts together. i.e. "Elbow to Head"
You can make things more interesting by adding the command "Stick" So that the pair stay together for the next command.

Name tag hug

This essentially is a name game and a good way to break down inibitions quickly.
One person is on it and everyone else must avoid from being tagged by that person.
However if te person on it calls out someones name then that person must stand still.
The person on it must now try and run to that person to tag him/her.
If two people are able to hug the person standing still then they are safe and cannot be tagged.
This game requires a certain amount of team play and watching out for one another

Tag and safety in twos

Everyone spreads out in the room and one person is chosen to be on it.
Instruct the rest of the group that they are only safe if they are hugging another person.
You are only allowed to hug for 3 seconds.
If someone is tagged then that person is on it.

Voice warm up 1

Relaxation:
Breathe in and on the out breath roll down slowly from head until your hands are dangling by your toes. (Do this with a slightly bent back) and you are fully exhaled
Breathe in and roll up, straightening your legs first and then each vertebrae of your back.
Repeat above exercise but this time add arms. As you beathe in lift your arms above your head and on the exhale drop down quickly (but don't neglect to roll and with slightly bent legs)
Then on inhaling roll your body back up to standing straight

Head isolation's: Rotate head left and right slowly through centre. When head is rotated bring head down and up slowly.

Breathing:
With a partner label yourselves A and B
B stands behind A and gently places their hands on A's rib cage.
A inhales and exhales gently.
You are encouraging A to breathe using their intercostal muscles, which should cause sideways lateral expansion of the rib cage, so pushing B's hand out.
B can place their thumbs on A's spine to encourage the back part of the rib cage to also be filled with air and to ensure that their is more sideways motion that backward
Change over roles.

Stand with your back against a wall with knees slightly bent.
Breathe in and out pushing back of rib cage into wall
Again you should notice that sideways motion is more than backward.
Place back of hands on rib cage to assess sideways movement.

Voice:
Open and close mouth with loose jaw and floppy mouth
Open mouth wide as in a yawn to stretch back of mouth
Breathe in and out with open mouth and make an O sound. Repeat then with other vowel sounds, a, e, i, o, u.

Body Sculpture - Complete the image

In pairs shake hands
One pull away and interact in a different way
Introduce making a noise with new interaction.
Then a word
Then a sentence
Introduce running a scene and interaction with each other.

Nb Boal teaches we are mechanical beings, our bodies influenced by our emotions. This type of activity aims to de-mechanise us from negative influences.

Playback Theatre

Someone retell an incident that happened to them.
In pairs try to show it in a simple repetitive action.
Make it as visual/Physical as possible and only use a few words
The adjudicator asks the person who originally shared the experience if the feeling was encapsulated
If not they can suggest how it might be changed to be more accurate
Experiment with performing the piece in different positions/direction to one another.

Progression
Use more actors to create the playback piece
Use props, percussion etc

Wa!

Group stands in a circle.
A person starts by pointing at someone and saying "Wa"
That person points arms upwards and says"Wa"
The people either side chop arms inwards to person reaching up and say "Wa"
The person pointing upwards then continues game by throwing the Wa to someone else in the circle.
The last two remaining in the game are the winners.
They can then play each other by holding their hands up opposite each other and playing the game as if their hands were people in the circle using the same principle - Chopping sidewards or pointing upwards.

Bang (Splat)

The group stands in a circle
Someone says the name of someone else in the circle
That person must duck.
Two people either side fire gun at each other and say "Bang!"
If the person ducking doesn't duck in time they are out.
Otherwise the person who fires last is out.
When you get down to the last 2 people they stand back to back.
An adjudicator then counts 1 to10 and the two pace away from each other.
When the adjudicator skips a number the first one to turn and fire is the winner

Trust run game

The whole group lines up at one end of the room.
One person then faces them on the other side of the room.
That person then closes their eyes and runs to the group stopping when they think they have reached the group.
If it looks like the person is not going to stop in time then the overall leader shouts stop (but several metres from the group).

Nb
It is important that the overall leader does not take part but observes from the side so their complete concentration is on the runner.

It is also good to give the catching group some simple guidelines for stopping someone i.e Hold arms out in front, stand with legs astride and receive the runner into you hands first, with your body weight forward on the front foot. Make sure your head is positioned to the side so your shoulder will take their weight.

Follow up
Ask the group how they felt doing the exercise and whether they surprised themselves or not.