Theater of the Oppressed: Opposites

Activity

Warm up activities

Theater of the Oppressed: Opposites

Tina Pippin

Warming up before class or after a break in a longer class. Encouraging use of the body, refreshes students’ bodies and minds.

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

Focus and concentration.

USEFUL FOR

Warming up before class or after a break in a longer class. Encouraging use of the body, refreshes students’ bodies and minds.

PREPARATION

None.

INSTRUCTIONS

Start with encouraging students to mirror the teacher’s movements, introducing a “duo” of movements at a time (e.g. clap and stomp). At first, students mirror the teacher.
After they get used to mirroring, tell them to do the opposite. When the teacher says clap, they stomp. When the teacher says stomp, they clap.
Repeat 1&2 for different movement “duos”, including one popular one which is sway or wiggle and stop.
Do this for 3 or 4 rounds, combining all the movement duos you’ve accumulated.

DURATION

Can take 5-10 minutes.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

You can make this a regular thing you do each class, and encourage students to come up with their on “duos”.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

N/A

USEFUL RESOURCES

For opportunities to attend workshops on these activities, see Theresa Ronquillo’s Embody Change: https://www.embody-change.com/

Watch Video

ABOUT

Educator prep: None
Student prep: None
No tech needed
Duration: 5-30 mins

This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building.

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