Held-Back Movement, Then Walking

A quiet exercise for body awareness. First, everyone walks through the room. Then the players pair up with someone roughly their own height.

In each pair, one player stands behind the other and holds them firmly by the hips with both hands, so that the pelvis is locked in place. The player who is being held now moves everything above the pelvis along every axis available to them (left, right, forward, back, up, down, turning; also exploring every movement axis of the head and arms... how far can I go in each direction? Can I look at my partner?). After about 2 minutes, the other lets go and the players who were just held walk freely through the room again. Has their posture, their gait, their body feeling changed compared to before?

Then the players return to their partner. This time they are held at the waist and may only move below it; the upper body stays rigid, the head faces forward, and the arms hang down without moving. What range of movement is available to the legs here? After 2 minutes they are released and walk through the room; again they pay attention to any changes.

Finally, the players are held at the head. The other player places their hands on the sides of the partner's head from behind and locks the head in this position. Now the partner may move everything below the head, in every rotational and directional axis and combination. After 2 minutes, release again and observe how the gait has changed.

Afterwards (or in between) the partners switch, so that everyone gets to enjoy this exercise.