Zen rock garden
Drama Strategies: example Zen Rock Garden
Students stand around the perimeter of the space. They are going to use kinaesthetic response to trigger their moving and stopping in this exercise. This time they are not restricted by lanes. They can move in any direction and stop wherever they like.
Students should imagine that they are going to make a Japanese Zen Rock Garden. The type with small collections of rocks and large spaces in between the rock formations. Emphasise the fact that the spaces are just as important as the rocks. A space can tell you a lot, sometimes more, than the thing in the space.
When the music starts they can move whenever they feel a kinaesthetic response to something. They can move really fast, in slow motion, or at a normal pace. They have to make it really obvious what they are doing – so slow is extremely slow and fast is sprinting. That way normal looks normal! They can change direction mid step or move in circles. It is totally up to them and how they feel triggered to respond. When they stop they can either stand straight, with their arms by their sides, kneel with their knees beneath them or curl into a foetal position. They can connect with others, position them selves near them or form their own rock formation. The important thing is that they are moving and stopping because they are triggered to, not because they are communicating with another student. The Zen Rock Garden is dynamic and constantly shifting, or not shifting, depending on what the individuals in it are doing.
Keep this activity going until the students are fairly ‘zen’ themselves and are moving by response, not by decision.
Students stand around the perimeter of the space. They are going to use kinaesthetic response to trigger their moving and stopping in this exercise. This time they are not restricted by lanes. They can move in any direction and stop wherever they like.
Students should imagine that they are going to make a Japanese Zen Rock Garden. The type with small collections of rocks and large spaces in between the rock formations. Emphasise the fact that the spaces are just as important as the rocks. A space can tell you a lot, sometimes more, than the thing in the space.
When the music starts they can move whenever they feel a kinaesthetic response to something. They can move really fast, in slow motion, or at a normal pace. They have to make it really obvious what they are doing – so slow is extremely slow and fast is sprinting. That way normal looks normal! They can change direction mid step or move in circles. It is totally up to them and how they feel triggered to respond. When they stop they can either stand straight, with their arms by their sides, kneel with their knees beneath them or curl into a foetal position. They can connect with others, position them selves near them or form their own rock formation. The important thing is that they are moving and stopping because they are triggered to, not because they are communicating with another student. The Zen Rock Garden is dynamic and constantly shifting, or not shifting, depending on what the individuals in it are doing.
Keep this activity going until the students are fairly ‘zen’ themselves and are moving by response, not by decision.