HAITI: Games and exercises

So what kind of stuff have we been up to?  With the adults and also with the children, we have been playing creative games to promote self-expression, confidence, cooperation and respect (for self and others!).   We play a lot as a big group together in a circle -- passing a clap around with eye contact; or an energetic movement; pronouncing our name loud and proud with an individual gesture which everyone repeats; focusing together to suddenly jump all at the same time (without a countdown or signal); passing an emotion around the circle -- anger, joy, excitement, sadness (this was a very powerful exercise with this group!); creating a rhythm orchestra -- someone starts a rhythmic sound with the voice or clapping or stomping or such, and each one joins in with a complementary sound until everyone is making a rhythmic groove together.  Since the Haitians, as we have discovered, love to sing and dance, this was an easy feat and so joyous and energetic!

We work on miming an action and exaggerating it, playing it bigger and bigger.  First in a circle, passing an imaginary ball around the circle and then transforming it into any mimed object or action -- a bird, a cane for an old man, fishing pole, etc.  We then have them act out actions such as cutting wood, climbing a tree, doing the laundry, catching a chicken.  And how can you make the action and situation interesting, what might happen as an obstacle or conflict, how many different ways can you act out trying to catch a chicken?

One day in the adult workshop we ask the participants to think of issues that might be of concern to the children and to act them out.  They divide into groups and choose the following scenarios:  a child being beaten by a parent and other adults intervening; a child well-raised and well-educated, whois a kind and respectful son, a keen student in school and who greets his elders in the street (culturally important in Haiti) ; washing your hands before eating; and, one group acts out the earthquake with a person embodying the earthquake by jumping into the scene stomping and hopping around and the others falling down. 

We also play with funny character walks, individually and together in duos and trios, and then do a clown entrance together presenting yourself to the audience.  They have a lot of fun with this and it is interesting to see everyone's individual tendencies and the cultural influences.  For example, many seem to incorporate Haitian dance moves into their walk and a lot of them do limping walks.  This is interesting. Enough of them choose this that it becomes a bit of a phenomenon -- funny walks equals making fun of the disabled....?!  And it is true, that this is often the case in many cultures, the funny character is based on an outcast, emphasizing the abnormal and unusual -- such as the hobo character in the US, or how traditionally in Bali the comedic mask characters are based on deformedindividuals in the community.

Last but not least we also teach juggling and acrobatics!