Walking in Pairs: Theater Exercises in Leading and Resistance

OBJECTIVES

Spatial awareness, relationships with fellow participants, and group building.

This is a sequence of paired walks and resistance games. It begins with simply sharing a path and gradually moves toward leading, resistance, and the controlled use of strength.

I usually form the pairs randomly, just as I do when dividing the group for other exercises. It is important that participants learn to work with everyone.

Once they understand that the pairing is genuinely random and that they may be matched with someone they would not have chosen just as easily as with a friend, they readily accept the rule.

If changing partners does not take too much time, the pairs can be reshuffled for each stage of the sequence.

AGE

6 and up.

GENERAL SAFETY RULE

The space must be free of obstacles. Resistance and strength should be introduced gradually and must always remain controlled.

Never pull with a sudden movement or jerk the other person. If a grip begins to loosen or either participant loses control of the movement, stop the exercise immediately.

RULES

Working in pairs and holding hands, participants walk silently through the space, trying to use it fully while staying as far away from the other pairs as possible.

WALKING SEQUENCE

• Walk together as a pair.

• Walk as a pair, but one participant “knows the way” and leads the other. When the workshop leader calls “SWITCH,” the two participants reverse roles. Continue changing roles in the subsequent stages.

• As in the previous stage, but the participant being led must act particularly reluctant and offer slight resistance.

• The participant being led sits on the floor, keeps their legs crossed, and offers greater resistance. Their partner must drag them across the floor using a steady, controlled pull, without jerking.

The final stage requires several specific rules:

• the participant being dragged must keep their legs crossed, avoiding obstructing the movement of the other pairs;

• the participant pulling must always look in the direction they are moving and make sure the path is clear;

• each participant holds both of the other person’s wrists, without twisting them;

• if the grip begins to loosen, they stop and re-establish it before continuing;

• never pull with a sudden movement.

BACK-TO-BACK PUSH

I have each pair sit back to back along a line that bisects the length of the space.

On my cue of “GO,” both participants push backward, trying to move their partner to the far end of the space on their own side.

This stage also has several rules:

• the buttocks must remain in contact with the floor at all times;

• the participants’ backs must remain firmly against each other, and they must push only backward;

• participants must not lean forward and then throw themselves backward. They begin with their backs already in contact, avoiding the risk of their heads colliding;

• participants must not interlock their arms;

• most of the work is done by the legs. The arms may help by pushing against the floor, without grabbing or striking the other participant;

• if contact between the backs is lost, stop and return to the starting position.

The purpose of these exercises is not to determine who is stronger. Each participant must learn to control their own strength, recognize the other person’s resistance, and remain responsible for their safety.

This is how a physical game becomes an exercise in relationships and group building.