Quick Description
Players explore emotions through physicality, shifting between levels of intensity on a scale from 1 to 10. A fun, active way to get out of your head and into your body!
How to Play Emotional Physicality
How to Play:
- Setup: Make sure everyone in the room has enough space to move freely without bumping into each other.
- Call a Number: The facilitator calls out a number between 1 and 10. This number represents the intensity of both emotion and physicality that players should adopt. For example, at “1,” the emotion and movement are subtle, while at “10,” they are exaggerated and intense.
- Emotion and Physicality: Players choose an emotion (e.g., joy, sadness, anger) and express it physically at the level called out. If “5” is called, the player adopts a moderate level of emotion and physical movement to match. At “10,” they go all out, with grand gestures and expressions.
- Shifting Levels: For the next 5 to 6 minutes, the facilitator continuously calls out numbers from 1 to 10. Players move up and down the scale, adjusting their emotional and physical intensity as the numbers change.
Debrief: After the exercise, discuss how it felt to let the body lead and the mind follow. You’ll likely notice that the body instinctively knows how to express the emotion, while the mind often overthinks it.
On Stage Version
- Player-Driven: In a performance setting, have 2 to 3 players come on stage. One player begins by adopting an emotion and physicality at a level of their choice (or as called out by the audience).Group
- Matching: The other players match the first player’s emotional and physical intensity. They can speak, or remain silent—whatever feels right in the moment.
- Audience Participation: Alternatively, the audience can call out numbers to change the emotional and physical intensity throughout the scene. The players will adjust accordingly.
Notes
It may be useful to brainstorm as a group different emotions just to remind everyone of how many emotions there are.
This game is fantastic for loosening up performers who tend to overthink. It emphasizes physical expression over intellectual processing, allowing the body to lead and encouraging spontaneity. As a warm-up, it energizes the group and gets everyone out of their heads. In a performance setting, it adds dynamic movement and emotion to a scene, engaging both players and the audience.
Variations
Themed Emotions: Limit the emotional range to a specific theme (e.g., “love and hate” or “joy and sorrow”) to challenge players to explore deeper nuances.
No Words: Try playing the game without any verbal communication, focusing solely on physicality and emotional expression.
Mirroring: Have players work in pairs, where one player calls out the numbers, and the other mirrors their emotional and physical levels.
Reversed Intensity: Flip the relationship between emotion and physicality. When a low number like “1” is called, players express the emotion subtlety but the physicality is big. When a high number like “10” is called, the emotion is intense but the physicality is contained, creating a powerful sense of potential energy. This reversal can add unexpected tension, humor, or depth to the exercise.
Origin
I learned from Jeremy Strozer. He is an improviser working at Wild Atlantic Theater Company in County Claire Ireland. He and I met through the Applied Improvisation Network. And thanks to Kurt Bodden for suggesting the Reversed Intensity variation.
Video of the activity
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