Ideas for a Drama warm up?

Question

I know that a few people have asked this before, but I wanted to see whether I could gather anymore ideas.

I am in Year 10 at school and I need to think of a fun, original warm-up for the start of our lesson. It needs to be maybe about 10 minutes long? Any suggestions or ideas will help even if they might just trigger an idea. Thanks =]] xx

Answer 1

Energy Ball is one of my favorites. Gather everyone in a circle and start passing an "energy ball" around from person to person- toss it, bounce it, roll it, whatever. It can change size and shape and texture, and when it moves from person to person "it" makes a sound (the person passing it makes some sort of sound effect for it). And it can go on for as long as you want it to.

A living machine is also a lot of fun (it's also a little hard to explain without demonstrating, so please bare with me). One person starts with a repetative movement and (sometimes) sound- it could be as simple as picking up one foot and putting it down. They just keep doing that over and over. A second person comes in and adds their own movement- maybe raising and lowering their arms. And then a third person does the same- walking around the first two, maybe. Just keep adding people and movements until everyone's involved. The point is that every new person to become a part of the "machine" has to work with the rest of the parts. It ends up a sort of living Rube Goldberg-type machine. It doesn't do anything, and it's insanely complicated, but it's fun. (This one also works better with a bigger group. I've never done it with less than 8, and I've been in groups as big as about 30 for this one).

I've done both of these with a lot of the casts I've worked with and we've always had fun with them. Had one cast in which the two guys kept turning the energy ball into a sticky glob and throwing it in each other's faces.

Answer 2

well, I don't believe in warm ups, I believe the actors should arrive ready to work, however jazzercise or aeobics should clear the mind and relax the body. I think Tai Chi would be novel.