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Physical Warm-up


Everyone stands up and forms a circle, facing the centre.  The leader bends forward, and says,

1
Bend forward and downward.  Just a little.  As you bend forward, breath out.  Then, come up straight again -- and as you do so, breath in.”

Bend forward a second time, this time curling more forward and down -- breath out as you do so.  And come up again, and breath in as you do so.

A third time, bend and curl forward (as you breath out).  This time, go all the way down that gravity pulls you.  You can bend your knees.  Once you are all the way down, very gently bounce downward three times (breathing out with each downward bounce, breathing in with each upward movement.  Come up straight, as you breath in.

2
Gently twist (at your waist) to the right, as you breath out.  Hold that twist for a moment, and come back to face forward, breathing in as you do so.

Now, gently twist to your left (breathing out).  Hold.  And return forward (breathing in).

Repeat this a second time, first right than left.  

And repeat it a third time -- but this time, once you have twisted to the right, very gently do three more rightward twists (each time breathing out with the twist, and in with the movement forward).  Come forward, and do this to the left, with the three additional twist movements that way also.

3
Now, reach upward, with both hands.  [Optional: Have participants turn their backs to the centre of the circle for this movement, so they need not feel self-conscious about being watched.]  Touch the sky.  First with your right hand, reach up, up, up -- breathing out with each reach.  And then with the left hand -- again breathing out with each reach.  Bring your arms down.

4
Again, twist to the right (with an outward breath) -- but this time, let your arms swing, let them extend and carry the momentum that began from the centre of the body.  Come centre.  Twist your body and swing your arms left.

5
Now do a combination of bending down, twisting right and left, and reaching upward.  You can do this randomly, or in circular motions.  In each case, breath outward as you bend, twist, and stretch; and breath inward as you come centre.

6
The participants will at this point be watching what the leader does, and will be imitating her.  After some time, the leader can say, “Ok, you (the person to her left), please do a movement, again and again, and everyone will follow you.”

The person to the leader’s left can then do a movement, and repeat it five or six times.  The movement can just be a body stretch, or it can be a gesture representing some emotion, or some story character.  In any case, the others in the circle pick up this movement and imitate it, doing it repeatedly, in unison.

After five or six repetitions of this movement, the next person to the left does a movement that all follow.  This goes around the circle, with each participants having a chance to be the leader and contribute  movement.  This is known as a “Group Mirroring Game”.

By encouraging participants to use a gesture with words from a story she is working on, one can help this warm-up activity relate to the actual storytelling work that is occurring in the Workshop.

During the rest of the Workshop, the leader can encourage the participants to think of and use one or more gestures in the course of telling stories.  That gesture can then be used in the warm-up the following day.

These gestures may be accompanied by facial expressions.  A sound, or even words, can go along with this movement.

When the participants are in the middle of doing a gesture (possibly with facial movement and sound), the leader may call out “Freeze!”  Then each participant can observe in a different way what each other participant is doing with this movement -- and, if an emotion is involved, how she is physically expressing that emotion.


Notes:

The above-described physical warm-up is meant to stress that momentum begins with breath, and starts from the centre of the body, spreading outward to arms other body parts, and through the voice.

There needs to be a sense that the warm-up is related to the actual storytelling.  The warm-up is usually done standing up, and much storytelling is done sitting down.  However, the warm-up can also be tried sitting down, and sometimes storytelling is done standing up.