Synonyms
Hands. The Wave.
Introduction
Everyone into a circle. Hold your hands up and have your palms face to the sides
Description
Instead of holding hands, like in the warm up Hands, the players put their palms up over their heads and push on their neighbour’s hand instead of squeezing.
One player in the circle will start by gently pushing the hand of the player on her right. That player will push the hand of the player on her right. So if someone pushes your left hand you push your right hand. This will create a wave of pushes that hurtle around the circle (clockwise). This is the simplest form of Hands Up. It kind of looks like a mini-wave.
If a player has their right hand gently pushed they will gently push their left hand. This will create a wave of pushes to hurtle in the opposite direction of the paragraph above (counter clockwise). So we can have a wave of gentle pushes moving to the right or the left.
The leader can keep adding gentle pushes into the circle. There could be a wave heading to the right, with another waver following behind. There could be a wave going to the right and left at the same time. Usually the circle will keep adding waves until chaos reigns.
This is an ice breaker warm up that focuses on listening with out words and concentration. Since it usually ends in a chaotic pushing of sweaty palms Hands also reminds players that failure is okay, and group failure is even more okay.
None.
Variations
- Gate Controlled – the player cannot gently push until the gentle push on them has ended. This changes the rate of the push wave moving around the circle.
- Hands – Players hold each others hands and squeeze instead.
Credits
Picked this up from Improv Encyclopedia