Try the best group warm up for actors in your next rehearsal!
There is a lovely embodiment exercise I teach which I learnt from a great performance maker and friend, Zjamal Xanthe.
The exercise is called ‘Shift, Transform, Develop.’
It is perfect for clown warm ups and for quickly getting ‘out of your head’.
It is a movement based exercise where two people, the ‘director’ and the ‘mover’ engage in a simple exchange.
The ‘mover’ stands and begins a basic but repeatable physical action like waving a hand, nodding a head, or lifting a foot up and down. The action MUST be abstract, as in, no acting or character work.
Now the ‘director’ directs with only three words at a time … “shift, transform, or develop”. The mover responds using only their body to the directors commands. The mover does NOT speak.
Shift
A radical change in action, something that is unrelated to what you were doing before. For example; if you were waving your hand you COULD start jumping on the spot instead.
Importantly, DON’T THINK ABOUT IT as you’re shifting…
There isn’t meant to be any obvious correlation between your movements when you ‘shift,’ and it’s certainly NOT meant to be pre-planned either.
Just find a new action/movement instantly.
Surprise yourself, be spontaneous!
Transform
Allow the rhythm of the action you shifted into, to gradually change until the action becomes something very different. This new action should have no relationship to the original action.
Develop
This is similar to ‘transform’ BUT instead of moving away from the original action, you develop it further. That is to say, you keep the essence of the action but explore deeper into it. You SHOULD then be able to see the influence of the previous action on your new action once it has been ‘developed.’
Do this for about 90 seconds and then swap over your roles. The ‘director’ becomes the ‘mover’ and vice versa. If the mover is having trouble by being in their head then the director should call “shift’ three or four times in quick succession so that the mover is forced to make changes faster than the brain can keep up with.
This is the best group warm up for actors and is excellent as a means to get out of your head and start listening to your body.
**PRO TIP: The best way to approach this exercise and to avoid getting stuck is to follow the body. You should, at all times, let it’s shape and rhythm influence your next move – it will give you the answer faster than your brain ever could.
I hope this helps!
-Andrew 🙂