Movement Games for Drama Class

Actors must be in tune with their bodies and this comprehensive list delivers over 100 ways for students to practice stage movement techniques! Additionally, many of the activities are written in great detail. For example, the ‘Space Walk’ is a classic theatre exercise. This tutorial lists ten different types of space walks complete with exact instructions. And virtually every student has heard of the ‘Statue’ game. Included are EIGHT different ways to play this game—again with thorough descriptions. Even if you have been teaching for 30 years, you are bound to find something new in this tutorial!

Examples of movement games:

Diamonds (On Video under Movement)

Choose four students to come up on stage and demonstrate. Have them stand in relation to one another like a baseball diamond, each person facing the audience. The person at “home plate” begins a movement, slow and methodical. The players behind the leader mirror him/her. When the leader is ready to pass the leadership to the next person, she slowly pivots to her left. All players follow her lead so that they are now facing a new player in the front, making him/her the leader of the diamond. This is really beautiful when performed to music. After one group has demonstrated, the remaining students can form their own diamonds. This may also be done with small groups on each point of the diamond, instead of one person, potentially involving the entire class.

Slow Motion Snowball Fight

Have students scatter around the room. Get them to ‘freeze’ while you give instructions. Say something like, “This isn’t an ordinary snowball fight. It is taking place on the moon, where gravity is such that everything happens in SLOW MOTION! You can make snowballs, hit other players, get hit, fall on the ground, but you must do everything very slowly.”