Tip & Exercise: Getting connected to your body

I believe that we can have more different types of people as improv teachers. To encourage you to start, or to improve your teaching, every month I will share with you a tip and an exercise.

Tip: Getting connected to your body.

Teaching during a lockdown is different. The online space is fun but also challenging. Teaching right after a lockdown is also different. Many of us will be asked to teach with more distance between players in order to keep everyone safe.

But how do you make players be more connected to their bodies? It is often challenging enough for improvisers to be in their body and not in their heads. Let alone if the option of touching one another is taken away.

My tip for you this week is to think about all the ways that you can remind your students of their body. This can be by moving, by dancing, by having sensations (smell, touch, etc.), by doing a body scan, by touching yourself and by simply thinking and talking about your body.

As we are entering a time of touching each other less, it really pays off to give a little extra emphasis on body connection in your classes. It won’t come up as natural and it is so important for good improv.

Here is a fun exercise for connection to each other and to our bodies.

Exercise: Me too circle

Make a big circle and have 1 person in the middle. The person in the middle states something that is true for themselves, like: “I wear contact lenses”. The players for whom this is also true throw their hands up in the air and call out: “ME TOO!”. They then step into the circle and all the contact lens wearers do a little ugly dance together. After approx. 10 seconds everyone goes back into the circle, except for 1 person. This person now shares something that is true for them. Etc.

A few ideas:

Mention beforehand that if nobody steps into the circle, that is also a reason to celebrate. Enjoy the solo dance. Then share another thing.
Encourage big, awkward, ugly dancing to take away any pressure to look good. Accompany it with some off-tune singing or arhythmic beatboxing.
Lastly, a variation of this exercise is to invite players to share anything ‘body related’: it makes them aware about their own bodies and it is a great way to connect on a very human level.

I use this exercise in the warmup for sharing personal things, connecting with one another and moving our bodies.