Unit(s): Acting (Concentration Exercise)
Purpose:
The purpose of this exercise is to have students determine the importance of concentration when working on character development.
Objective:
Students will reflect, not imitate, the movements of their partner.
Students will recognize that only through focused concentration can this exercise be accomplished. It should be noted that the concentration used in this exercise is the same type of focus used by actors during a performance.
Materials:
- Two chairs for each pair of students
- The more distance between each pair of students, the easier the success of this exercise will be.
- Each pair should sit facing each other with knees about two inches apart.
Procedure:
- Have each pair of students designate a leader and a responder.
- Looking directly at each other, the leader initiates hand and arm movements. Move very slowly at first.
- The responder begins to reflect the leader's movements as soon as his peripheral vision picks up the leader's movement.
Note:
After doing the exercise for three to five minutes, ask the partners to switch roles and allow the responder to become the leader and vice versa.
For more advanced students, do not designate leaders. Just let one person begin the movement and let the responder simply pick up the movement. And without instruction, let the partners switch back and forth on intuition. This level is only for experienced actors.