Group movement exercises must be included in high-quality acting workshops. Incorporate these ideas and theater arts lesson plans into acting courses to give students a well-rounded set of acting skills.
Drama Warm Ups
Use the time spent warming up to incorporate group movement with the Circle Walk.
Start the warm up with students in a large circle, and after initial stretching instruct them to walk slowly around in a circle. Remind them to keep the circle big as they will need lots of room.
Students walk in a neutral fashion first. After they get started, begin calling out directions. Allow students time to work on and get used to each type of movement before calling out the next direction.
- Walk on your toes
- Walk on your heels
- Walk on the outer edges of your feet
- Walk on the inner edges of your feet
- Walk with normal feet
- March with knees high
- Walk with strait knees
The next set of directions requires a higher level of awareness:
- Change direction (Turn 180 degrees around and keep walking)
- Walk backward
- Walk forward
- Walk sideways
This exercise serves as a physical warm-up and brings increased awareness of how actors can use their bodies to show different characters.
This is age-appropriate for children but is in keeping with the "The Body Speaks" style of Jerzy Grotovsky. Grotovsky's theater group developed mind-blowing pantomimed productions; the most famous is "Akropolis."
Marionette Drama Exercise
Marionette exercises lead actors toward physical characterization and increased pantomime skills.
During the Circle Walk tell the students that they are now marionettes. There is a string on the very top of their heads. The puppeteer is pulling up on it. They will most likely straiten their postures and some may stand on their toes. Here, you should see straitened postures and possibly even people on their toes. The different places the string is attached will change the way they walk:
- A string is pulling on the nose
- A string is pulling on the chin
- A string is pulling on the belly button
- A string is pulling on tboth knees
- A string is pulling on the left elbow
- A string is pulling up the right wrist
Remember to use "Backwards" and "Change direction."
Instigate a group discussion about how different characters have strings pulling on different places. For example, a snooty person may have a string on his nose pulling up. A very elderly person may have a string between her shoulder blades, causing her to stoop over. Obviously, this idea becomes quite useful when students are portraying characters on stage.
Free Walk Group Movement Exercise
After a group has been taking acting workshops together and a sense of cohesion has formed, these walking exercises can change so that students are walking freely around the room instead of in a circle. This heightens their awareness of each other as they avoid bumping into each other. A group that works well together will be able to walk backwards without accidents.
The Machine
The Machine is an old favorite drama improvisation game or "improv game" that focuses on group movement. It is one of the many excellent movement games included in Maria C. Novelly's "Theater Games for Young Performers".
One student begins by making one movement repeatedly. For example, she may stamp her foot. Another student joins in and makes one movement repeatedly, for example, he may pat her head in rhythm with her foot stamping. Students continue to join in, one at a time, until they are all a part of a smooth machine.
Sounds may be added to the machine. Best to start students with making machines with one motion, then progress to each student using one motion and one sound.
All of the above exercises give actors increased physical awareness and a sense of how movement affects characterization. At the same time, they learn cooperation and non-verbal communication.
