Collaborating to Build Machines

The Machines activity is great for teaching collaboration and focus, not to mention patterns and repetition.  It also helps actors overcome the fear of looking or sounding silly in front of others.  First, actors experiment with repetitive sounds and movements on their own.  Then they join others to build a machine with connected moving parts and sounds.  The key is to focus on your own sound and movement while hearing and seeing other rhythms around you.  At first it looks like total madness, but you know you've got it when the group can speed up and slow down at the same pace.  Actors from first to eight grade are successful in this activity.  The hard part is getting them back to the classrooms quietly.