Ice-breaking and team buidling exercises
Forum-Theatre founding member Augusto Boal created his own “arsenal” of theatre games and exercises on which the crew of the Centre du Théâtre de l’Opprimé Paris still builds today. They continuously use, refresh, and develop new exercises to create and consolidate groups of work during short sessions of training.
All “ice-breaking” exercises have to look very simple at first in order to convince everybody to participate. It is then the responsibility of the person in charge to play with the rhythm and speed of execution and to propose variations. These exercises tend to put a group’s participants at ease with themselves in the eyes of the others. This protocol remains the best way for each one to be able then to express their voice, desire, and point of view inside a group without fearing judgment. It is essential that an exercise remains a democratic process: each participant can contribute according to their own capacity.
What is a group and how does it work?
A group is not only the addition of each participant – each one with their own sensibility and physical and psychological capacity, but an active body on his own. To ensure that this body will remain alive during the process of the activities proposed, special care has to be taken of all and of each part. The encounter with the other members of the group is a key moment.
No matter the age of the participants, the animator has first to investigate the capacities of the group members: in the case of teenagers in particular, some tend to be shy, some would have issues with the way they are viewed, others might have physical or psychological disabilities (some are obvious, others will reveal themselves through the exercises).
Example group exercise
In order to make the process of the encounter “democratic”, the best option is to let the participants form a circle: everybody will face everybody.
- A good way to start is with some breathing exercises with closed eyes: to feel good with others, it is preferable to feel good with oneself.
- Participant presentation. Standing in the circle, one after the other, each participant takes a step forward and says their name, then a quality they believe to have, beginning with the first letter of their name (for example: Benoît – Beautiful), then adds a gesture. It is important to always also propose movement in order to put any type of participant at ease.
- Exploring individuality. The next step is the exploration of the individuality that exists inside the group and the study of the life of the group through each individuality. The Centre du Théâtre de l’Opprimé insists on the empowerment of each individuality, as this is the best way to make a group powerful. To do so, a good option are walks inside the working space: Each participant has to change speed and direction according to their own capacity at least every three seconds, while checking if the space is balanced. These walks keep the bodies and the minds active, as everyone is working for the same objective. Each participant respects the same rules, but each one explores them in their own way.
- Optional deeper immersion. In order to extend and go deeper into the experience of the meeting, this walking exercise can be further pursued, but with a change: After a clap, two people will be brought together – shaking hands, looking into each other’s eyes without exchanging words. This type of exercise is more complex, as no one is equal in their ability to accept the gaze of others. It will provoke laughter or crying, but never generates no reaction. This kind of “ice-breaking” exercise plays with the concepts of object and subject through the eyes of “the other”.
- Feedback. In order to start a dialogue inside the group, the ice-breaking exercise requires a brief round of feedback: How do I feel? Was the exercise complex to execute? More questions can be added according to the developing conversation.