WEEK 3 Say It Like You Mean It

Everybody say FACIAL EXPRESSION! 

We have muscles in our face that we must exercise. 
ALL THESE ELEMENTS...

• facial expressions 
• gestures 
• voice 
• speech (i.e. tone, rate, volume)
• body 
• words 

...must WORK TOGETHER when we give a speech. 

In the exercises practiced in the pictures above we worked on messages sent by our face WITHOUT the use of words. How can we communicate how we feel just by the look on our face? This can also inform Interpersonal Communication practice. We can tune in to the needs of our loved ones by picking up the subtle cues sent by their facial expressions. Emotions such as anger, loneliness, embarrassment, joy, surprise, or curiosity... 

So that's me! I'm giving everyone a BIRTHDAY PRESENT! The recipient has to show the audience how they feel about the gift. Then they must use the gift while the rest of us guess what it might be. The latter step helps students practice GESTURE; to use the body in a meaningful way, with intent, to demonstrate an action. Making pictures, images with our bodies; using our bodies to send a message. Gesture work is important because intent must replace the subconscious distracted body movement many of us succumb to---when standing in front of people or talking in general many shuffle their feet, play with their hair. We might pick at our clothes, stuff our hands in our pockets, pick our nails, look around aimlessly! It's natural and normal to do distracted type movements-- that's why it's important to PRACTICE gesture work to return our intent/focus on how we place our bodies within a speech. 

Let me see your best demonstration of--->
"I love going fishing!"
"I'm frustrated by this hula hoop!"
"I'm nervous about this puppy!"
"This robot present is scary!"

Inviting the audience to GUESS/read the emotion and the gift also incites active participation from the viewer. In this way, WE are ALL involved in the practice. 









We practice EYE CONTACT with a series of mirroring exercises. In this way, we relieve any apprehension or uncomfortably that comes with looking each other in the eye while we talk and listen--it's uncomfortable because we rarely do it--and we practice what it feels like to be dependent on a partner. The speaker and listener have a symbiotic relationship.  I ask, "What did you prefer? To be the leader or the follower? Did you like coming up with the movements or did you like following your partner?"  Here, being a follower does not have a negative connotation. It's important for us to be able to switch roles when necessary. Sometimes we'll have to lead and sometimes we will have to follow---to give someone else the opportunity to lead/be creative/take the stage. SHARE!



Here we have our speaker offering an ACTION story. While standing in NEUTRAL POSITION a speaker recounts an action store dramatized by a troupe---  

• Stand feet shoulder width apart, toes pointed, hands casually remain at your sides. (Resist the urge for stray hands...)

An improvised mic boom operator happened during this speech!



So they wanted to work "collaboratively" to present this speech. A human pyramid sprouted. I'm no one to stand in the way of acrobatic public address. 



Believe in your selfie!



Here we are doing "magic box". Our usual closing. Everyone "puts in" their favorite part of our time together. Inviting students to recount our workshop helps remind them and retain what they learned and practiced. It's also heartwarming. 



So, we wrote a story. Thinking creatively is a challenge. Impromptu speaking is intrinsically linked to creative thinking. With CONTINUOUS STORY we practice-- 

• creative thinking 
• brainstorming
• public speaking
• impromptu speaking and
• listening

We make-up a story by taking turns adding on several sentences to our developing story. The sentences have to be within reason and continue the plot of the story until we reach an organic end.  

Here's our story which we will perform next week. Note: I did not edit any of it. 

I'll just leave this right here...

"A Prince & a Princess by PS 11"

Once there was a castle with a princess that lived with a mother and father...
The only thing that she really wanted was a prince...
She got a rope. She opened up a window and threw the rope out. She tied it to an anvil and climbed down...
She found a prince behind the castle ringing the doorbell...
Together they both went up the castles stairs to the tippy top after the princess opened the door...
They talk with each other. They talk about each other's parents. They talk about how they want to get married...
The prince asks the princess' parents permission to get married to her...
The king and queen say they, "We have to think about it!"
There are wizards and witches out there in the world. They are worried about their daughter being captured...
They finally came up with a very important decision...
The decision is instead of just having one prince ask to marry their precious daughter--10 princes should should compete for their daughter's hand...
They will not fight with each other. Their challenge is who will make the princess happiest...
Right before the tournament a witch comes to kidnap the princess and put her in a dungeon...
The prince she first met at the castle will be cheating because he is working with the witch...
Back at the dungeon the witch is making a potion to kill the princess...
The witch wants the princess to be with the bad prince so they don't live happily ever after...
The witch accidentally put the wrong ingredient in the potion. The bad prince drank it...
The prince turned into a good heart...
It was too late. The witch still had the princess captured so she can take over the kingdom...
Since the princess' mother, the queen, is actually a good witch she had a string that would track everywhere the princess would go...
So when the string reached the witch the witch had a wand and when she accidentally hit the string with the wand the wand bounced and opened the dungeon door...
The princess snuck out of the dungeon and escaped to the castle with her mother by following the string...
She went back to live in the castle with her parents and the parents said, "If you live in the castle you will live safe. You have to stay here to be safe in the building we built. You can be a secret of ours..."
At night when all the servants are not at work and when everyone is asleep-she runs out and the prince takes her to a different place where he says she will be safe but she says, no...
"I don't want to be trapped on any land no matter how big because I want to be a real person, not just to stand in one place..."
She travels to any place at any time and if she has children she will take them with her wherever she goes...
"I'm going to live alone and I lived happily every after..."

THE END.