Energy
These games and exercises will get the enrgy up in a show or practice.
Beastie Boys
Description
- Two teams of 3-4 players will face off in a pseudo rap battle.
- Each team has a leader who sets up rhymes and supporters who try to complete the rhyme in time with a beat.
- Instruct the audience to make a buzzer sound if the team fails to complete the rhyme in a way that makes sense or is too off beat.
- To start each round, the host will get a one word suggestion.
- The two leaders will go back and fourth trying to set up their team to complete their rhyme with the suggested word.
- If the support players fail to complete the rhyme appropriately the leader is eliminated and rotates to the back to become a supporter and a new leader steps forward, which starts a new round.
- The team who won the previous round will go first in the next round.
- A team loses when all their members have been eliminated as the leader.
Example
- Suggestion: Day
- Team 1 Leader: Little kids at recess, they love to...
- Team 1 Support: PLAY!
- Team 2 Leader: I sure don't curse, those aren't words that I...
- Team 2 Support: SAY!
- Team 1 Leader: I don't know where I am, I don't know which...
- Team 1 Support: ... uhhh... Oh! WAY!(way too late off beat)
- Audience: *buzzer sound*
- Team 1 rotates and a new round beings.
Purpose
- This game is great for practicing rhyming, getting in a rhyming mindset, and setting up others to finish rhymes.
- It's a great warm-up or show opener.
Tips
- Really bring that energy and spirit of competion to this game. Feel free to dis the other team or act like their rhymes are whack.
- The host should ask the audience for one or two syllable words unless the performers are very skilled at rhyming.
- If it is helpful a leader can do an act out as part or their set up.
- The beat can be played by a percussion, a looping backing track, or by having the performers snap, clap, or pat. But a track or percussionist is preferred for a live performance.
Sources
See Also
Tags
Energy -
Exercise -
Listening -
Musical -
Party -
Performance -
Warm Up -
Beastie Rap
Description
- Improvisers circle up and snap, clap, or pat a beat.
- The game starts with a chant in rhythm: Dada da da dada da!
- Repeat the chant 2-4 times at the start of the game.
- The first improviser will rap a line ending with an easily rhymable word.
- Repeat the chant once after each line.
- Going around the circle, the next 3 improvisers will rap a line that ends by rhyming with the first improviser.
- Other members in the circle will listen closely and try to predict and say the rhyming word at the same time.
- After the initial line and the three rhyming lines, the chant is repeated 2-4 and the next person in the circle raps a new line with a new easily rhymable word and the pattern repeats.
Example
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Player 1: I just put on my brand new SHOES!
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Player 2: Sherlock holmes always looking for-
- Ensemble: CLUES!
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Player 3: Wanna be a member? Better pay your-
- Ensemble: DUES!
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Player 4: My main man Scott on the ones and-
- Ensemble: TWOS!
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Ensemble: Dada da da dada da!
- Then a new round starts with the next member in the circle.
Purpose
- This is a great group warm up and useful for practicing rhyming and bringing high energy.
Tips
- Really bring that Beastie Boys vibe and energy.
- As soon as you hear the rhyme word quickly think of as many rhyming words as you can to have ready to go.
See Also
Tags
Energy -
Exercise -
Listening -
Musical -
Party -
Warm Up -
Bunny Bunny
Description
- The group forms a circle and everyone begins patting their legs in rhythm and chanting "zoom-ba zoom-ba".
- One player will start by saying(in rhythm) "bunny bunny" while making two pairs of bunny ears with their hands and pointing them at themself.
- That same player with then repeat the above step but point the bunny ears and someone else in the circle.
- That person who was pointed to will repeat the above two steps pointing to a new person, and we pass it around the circle.
- While any player is doing the bunny ears part, the two players on either side of them should face towards them and wave their arms left and right chanting "ticky tocky ticky tocky"!
- This game can go as long as it needs to or until it feels like we've exhausted the fun or novelty of it.
- Optionally the group can slowly ramp up the speed and end it once it becomes to fast to continue.
Purpose
- Great warm up to just prepare to be silly.
- Helpful listening exercise.
- Good for building up energy.
Tags
Child Friendly -
Energy -
Listening -
Party -
Warm Up -
Half Life
Description
- The host sets up the game. Two improvisers will perform an entire story in just one minute. They can riff a little about how movies today are too long, people don't have long attention spans or whatever.
- The host then gets a suggestion. It could be an existing story or movie title, a made up title, a genre, or any basic suggestion.
- The two improviers then perform that scene, trying to create the entire story in one minute. The host will time them and call scene at one minute.
- Then the host will point out that it's still too long and set them up to do the same scene in half the time.
- This pattern continues doing the same scene in half the time going from 60 to 30 to 15 to 7 to 3 to 1 second(s).
- Each time the scene is replayed it's distilled and/or sped up further until the final one second scene.
Tips
- Try to move around the stage and use object work to help you remember the flow of what happens in the original scene.
- It probably won't be an extremely compelling narrative but try to have a beginning, middle, and end.
- Play up dramatic and film tropes.
Tags
Energy -
Listening -
Narrative -
Object Work -
Performance -
Scene Work -
Torture -