On stage, you need to feel your partner well, so the actors learn to tune in to each other. We can use their experience. Three creative exercises for couples who want to improve contact with their own body and with a partner are offered by an acting teacher.
1. Mirror
Stand facing each other. Lower your arms freely along the body and without looking up look each other directly in the eyes. Then have one of you begin to move – for example, raise your hand. Take your time, do the exercise very slowly, meditatively, so that the other can catch and reproduce it, as if becoming a reflection of the partner.
To begin with, you can agree on who will be the “character” and who will be the “reflection”. But the most interesting effect is obtained when you do it without prior agreement. It is advisable to do this exercise for more than 10 minutes, with calm music.
Result: you will learn to closely monitor your partner and sometimes even anticipate his movements, feel a strong connection between you.
2. Point
You stand in front of your partner, approach and touch him with one part of the body, such as elbows or shoulders. Then you start moving together, always leaving one point of contact. Imagine that there is a ping-pong ball between you, you cannot drop it, rolling between the bodies.
The points of contact can change – one, moving, already holds the ball with his knee, and the second with his chest, then the ball rises from one to the chest, and the second holds it with his forehead. It is advisable to do this exercise slowly, on a soft surface, keeping an eye on the safety of yourself and your partner.
Result: you will feel better about your partner’s body.
3. Clay
One of the partners represents himself as clay, and the second as a sculptor. Clay sits on his knees and closes his eyes. The sculptor begins to sculpt his partner into a sculpture, as if he were using the most expensive material in the world, slowly and carefully.
It is important in this exercise to pay attention to the smallest details – starting from the fingers, ending with the position of the head and body. The task of “clay” is to completely relax and trust the partner.
For the first time, the Sculptor can think in advance what he will sculpt, and next time try to do it impromptu, without guessing the result in advance. After the partners switch places and the “clay” becomes the Sculptor.
Result: you will learn to trust your partner more, and you will also be able to switch places and get out of the usual roles in relationships – the one who is more used to dominating in a couple will be able to feel like a follower, and vice versa.
About expert
Samik Kakiashvili – Actor, acting teacher