Choreography Exercise

The players line up in the space / on the stage in a diamond-shaped formation (all facing the audience). Depending on the number of players, e.g.:

         *
      *     *   (for 4 players)
         *

         *
      *  *  *   (for 5 players)
         *

         *
       *   *
     *       *  (for 8 players)
       *   *
         *

Now the players make any movements, but synchronously. This works according to the "flock of birds principle": whoever is "out in front" leads - that is, the player who, in the current viewing direction, has no other player in front of them. All the other players copy the movements of the current leader. By changing the viewing direction the leading role is handed over. This change should be as smooth and unnoticeable as possible for the audience. The performance ends when, for the audience, "it looks like an ending" (with applause).

Tip: don't make movements that are too fast, instead make them expressive.

Variants:
- Add sounds (the leader provides sounds/noises/words/etc.)
- Play music during the exercise (it inspires fitting movements)
- With large groups: either form groups of four and let them perform one after another while the rest plays audience. Or start with a single big overall formation with all players and gradually halve the formation(s) during the exercise, so that separate smaller sub-formations arise (this way also those who were previously in the inside of the formation get their turn).

Sense of the exercise: leading and following, paying attention to each other (group), learning the basic principle for improvised choreography

Side observation: in this exercise it is interesting that women and men, when leading, often unintentionally fall into "gender-typical" movements - even when they otherwise don't identify at all with such role clichés.