Warm-ups
Before doing sports, you warm up. Every child knows that. Since theatre is also a form of physical work, one should warm up a bit before starting the actual exercises. On the one hand you can prepare yourself physically and on the other hand you can gain distance to the things that have occupied you all day long. There are many ways to shake everything off, clear your head and prepare your body: Catch playing, ball games, singing, stretching exercises, moving to music. Below are a few concrete examples of how to start an exercise session.
Categories
Experience
Energy
Alien, Tiger, Cow
Synonym Rock paper scissors Description A simple warm-up game to intuitively harmonize the group with one another and to learn about t...
Ball Metamorphosis
The players are standing in a circle. An imaginary ball is thrown by the moderator. Each time a player receives the ball and throws it to...
Balloons
Which group has the most breath? Find out which group has the strongest lungs by trying to keep your balloon in the air longer than the o...
Bippity Bippity Bop
Synonyms Elephant Introduction Everyone into a circle with one person in the center. This warm-up breaks the ice, gets people listenin...
Blind Stalker
Synonyms Screamers, haunted house, vampyre game Introduction This warm-up builds trust amongst workshop participants and helps break t...
Blinking place change
One (A) is in the middle of a large circle formed by all other players. Now the players are looking for eye contact with each other in a ...
Block of ice
This is a warm-up practice for the beginning of a rehearsal. The players stand quite stiff and immobile like in a block of ice frozen. H...
Bunny Bunny
A rhythmical warm-up game in a circle, the more you take part, the more fun. The lower limit is five players. The players are in a circl...
Call and Reply
Call and Reply All players form a circle. Then they all make a change of pace together with clapping, which sets the basic beat and is ma...
Category Die
This is useful as a warm-up and it is also useful in performance even. The exercise forces you to be spontaneous and it also helps you ...
Category Snap
Video example Improv Warm-Ups: Category Snap
Circle Up
During this warm-up exercise, the arms are stretched diagonally upwards and the legs, which are stretched out a little bit off the ground...
Clap Focus
Synonyms Snap Focus Introduction This warm up is to get people listening, responding fast and reacting without thinking. Everyone gets...
Cross Circle
Synonyms Name Game, Shriner’s Warm-up Introduction This warm up will help us all get moving, listening and learn a few names. Let’s fo...
Digits
Synonyms Shared counting, countdown, synergy Introduction This exercise is designed to get us all in synch. Get into a tight circle. ...
Duck, duck, goose
Duck, duck, goose or duck, duck, gray duck is a traditional children's game often first learned in pre-school or kindergarten then later ...
Emotional Fruit Salad
Video example Improv Warm-Ups : Improv Warm-Ups: Emotional Fruit Salad
Endless snake
The more players, the better: The first player offers his right or left hand. A player comes along and takes this hand and offers his or ...
Falling
Synonyms Group gravity, trust game Introduction This is a trust game that requires careful listening skills and quick reactions. It is...
Flock Dance
Introduction This is a physical warm-up and ice breaker. One person in front, with two people behind her and three behind them, forming ...
Forming Molecules
Everybody runs around the room until the game leader shouts a number. Instantly, everybody forms groups with the same number of players a...
Four Corners
Here is another good ice-breaker for the start of the school year or as a funny way to better introduce people with each other. Four Corn...
Free Association
Introduction This warm-up will help us get into the moment for improvisation, and help us feel easier about being silly. Description T...
Genetically modified mouse
The players stand together with the game leader in a circle. This places an invisible mouse on the ground, which now runs under the feet ...
Group formation
The game master determines the criteria according to which the people in the room should form groups. It says for example: Everyone wil...
Group Stop
This is listening warm-up. Everyone start milling about the room. Everyone quietly mills about the room. One person will elect to freeze...
Hand snake
With this fast warm-up game, the task is to allow the flat palms of up to three players to touch each other at the same time. At the begi...
Hey and Ho
You take any two objects. First of all, an object is passed on from A to the right partner B in the circle. Following dialogue: A:"That'...
Hide body
Description An excellent exercise to get to know and learn to trust and touch each other. 5 volunteers, 4 of whom must hide the fifth p...
House - residents - flood
This warm-up game is only suitable for a slightly larger group: 13 persons and more. It is also called: House creature flood. Groups of ...
I am a tree
A very popular exercise, suitable for beginners of improvisation The players stand on the stage/around the room. Player A goes to the mi...
increase
The players are in a circle. One of them makes a discreet gesture or movement to his neighbor, if necessary. accompanied by a word or sou...
Jumpers
Everyone into a circle for a silly warm-up to get the blood flowing. Players randomly and unexpectedly jump up in to the air. At some ti...
King of Siam
At The King of Siam one sits or stands in a circle. One player is the King, the others are numbered, the last one is wothout a number, he...
Knights, Horses and Cavaliers
The participants move around the playing field and wait for the words "knights", "horses" or "cavaliers" to be called. If one of the wo...
Machine
The name of a "crazy" machine, a machine that does not exist, is requested. In quick succession, the players construct the machine by ea...
Molecules
Everybody runs around the room until the game leader shouts a number. Instantly, everybody forms groups with the same number of players...
Names - Go and clap
Another warm-up and name game. The players form a circle and reach out one hand to the center of the circle. One player Z stands in the ...
Nightingale
An exercise to warm up, sing in and keep rhythm. Players are divided into two equal groups. Both groups sing the same song as a choir, on...
Peculiar neighbor
The players stand in a circle. In turn, each one respectively turns to his neighbor and says anything unusual/absurd /incredible that wil...
Quick Death
A (slightly macabre) exercise for in between times to drive away the tiredness of the players by speed: The players are in a circle. One...
Rebrand things
The players walk around the room and name the things in the room. They should touch the corresponding objects. For example, "wall." "Corn...
rhythm exercises
The rhythm exercises include exercises and warm-up games, which contain a rhythmic element. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves In this conc...
Seven Things
Seven Things is a warm up in which players ask each other to name seven things that fall into a made up category. Anybody may start by ca...
Simulclap
Introduction Get into a circle for listening and focus warm-up. Description One player starts off by clapping their hands (a singular ...
Sword of samurai
Slow motion exercise for 2 or more players. The arms of each player are swords with poisonous points. If a player is hit elsewhere than ...
syllables
Great game to get to know each other and remember the names of the participants. The participants form a circle. The first person says h...
Ten Fingers
It's a nice icebreaker game. The participants form a circle and hold all ten fingers high in the air. Now the participants ask questions,...
The monster
Player A stands in the middle of a big circle which all the other players form. A is the monster. He moves with forwards outstretched arm...
Triangle
Each player initially takes two other players as reference persons without revealing his selection. It is now the task of all players to ...
Truth and lie
A game (also a name game) to get to know each other. All players line up in a circle. Then everyone tells their names and two things. One...
Walking with speed levels
Players are distributed in the room. The task is to walk every which way through the room at increasing speeds. The leader announces "Ste...
What Are You Doing!
Players This exercise is played with two players. Rules Player 1 begins miming some action. Player 2 shouts, "What are you doing?" ...
What is a what?
A warm-up game in which rhyme is played quickly. All players line up in a circle and slowly flip a rhythm with their fingers. Player A ...
Yes, let's
A great warmup for group collaboration and to practice saying yes especially for improv beginners. Everybody walks around the room. One ...
Zip Zap Zoop
This warm-up gets our brains acting without thinking. Everyone into a circle. This is another motion around the circle warm-up. In this ...
ZoomSchwatzMakeafakeliano
A warmup and concentration exercise for at least 3 players. The group forms a circle. There are three impulses: - Zoom: A "Zoom" can be ...