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Warm-Up: Theatre, Voice, Dance
Print Theatre Warm-up
A Theatre Warm-up
Stretch –
Your right arm up, up; your left arm up, up. Repeat.
Your right arm to the side; your left arm to the side.
Repeat
Roll –
Your head to the front, right, back, left. Repeat.
Your shoulders to the front, up, back, down. Repeat
Bend from your waist forward, to the right, back, left.
Repeat
Step forward with your right foot (leaving your left
foot in place). Stretch. Switch, step forward with your left foot (leaving
your right foot in place). Stretch
Shake out your hands, your head and
shoulders, your legs
and feet. Shake out your whole body.
Stand quietly with your arms at your
sides.
Breathe in to the count of 1,2,3,4
Breathe out to the count of 1,2,3,4
Repeat.
If the next step is to start your rehearsal, it is a
good idea to close your eyes and “see” who you are –
as the character. Where are you? What did you just do? What are you going
to do?
Now you should be ready to really concentrate on your
character and the rehearsal. It is also important to warm-up for a performance.
Vocal Warm-up
It is very important to have a relaxed voice if
you want to be heard. It is also important to have your tongue and lips
ready to clearly say all the consonants like “b, d, k and t.”
- Start with relaxation exercises like
the stretching and breathing warm-up at the beginning of this section
- Do some tongue and lip warm-ups to work on your diction,
saying words very clearly.
- Try some tongue twisters. This also helps with your
diction.
- Try some choral reading to work on vocal
variety, being louder and softer, using a higher or lower voice,
changing rate of talking from slow to fast. This makes your talking
and reading more interesting.
Print Vocal Warm-up
Vocal Warm-up
1. Tongue and lip warm-ups
Say very fast
ta, ta, ta, ta
da, da, da, da
bah, bah, bah, bah
ma, ma, ma, ma,
2. Tongue twisters
Have your teacher or another student read the line first, then as a class repeat
it. Be very certain you are really moving your tongue and your lips! You
will be practicing good diction.
- Babbling Baby Bobby
- Ki-ki, the cuckoo, cuts capers
- Don didn’t do the difficult dangerous deeds
- Few folks find the fine flavor
- Jim, Jill, Jane and Johnny jammed jollily
- Little Lillian lets lazy lizards lie along the lily
pads
- Nine nice nieces never noticed nine nice nieces noticing
nine nice nieces
- Popular people, people popular places
- Suzy Sampson is surrounded by her sousaphone
- Sheila shall surely show her shining seashore shells
- Little Teddy Tucker toots his tooter toute suite
- Thick thistles throbbed in Thelma Thimble’s
thumb
3. Choral Reading
This is a choir that will speak a poem rather than sing it. This
is a good way to practice good diction and vocal
variety. Have your teacher, or one of your classmates, read a
line and then repeat it after her. Have your voices make your audience
see what the poet is writing about.
Print Choral Reading
Choral Reading
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below!
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you meet:
Dancing,
Flirting,
Skimming along.
Beautiful snow! It can do nothing wrong.
From “The Beautiful Snow” by John Whittaker Watson
This is one verse from a poem. It is a good way to
start. There will be many poems in the books in your classroom
that you will also find fun to read as a chorus.
Remember to do the warm-ups before each rehearsal and
each performance! You and your audience will find your perform better.
Dance Warm-ups from Kathy
Lane
1. WARM-UP (10 minutes)
- Form a circle. Each person is a leader for one movement
and is responsible for moving/warming up one part of the body (e.g.
circle head, shrug shoulders, rotate ankles, shake leg). Everyone follows
the leader. Music can be used as background or this can be done in silence.
- Wiggle and Shake -- Begin balancing on bottoms
with legs and arms in the air. Each section is performed for 8 counts.
- wiggle and shake
- slap and tap
- body parts circle (e.g. head, shoulder, wrist)
- stand up and run in place (change size-use big
steps, use small steps)
- freeze in a shape, change levels, change size of
shape
- melt
2. WARM-UP (10 minutes)
Walka Walka -- begin sitting with legs stretched forward,
with the back erect and the hands touching the floor on either side of
the pelvis.
- "Walk" the hands forward, right-left-right-left,
towards the feet (the torso will come forward, closer to the legs) while
saying. "Walka, walka, walka, walka" in a normal voice. The
hands stop at the knees.
- "Run" the fingers forward while saying,
"Deedle-de-deedle-de-deedled-de-de" in a high-pitched voice.
This pulls the torso even further forward. The hands finish at the ankles.
- Lower the elbows as close to the floor as possible
while saying, "elbows." "El" is said in a low voice
and "bows" is even lower. The torso is close to the legs.
- Stay in this position and gently pulse (do not bounce!)
while saying, "Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch:" or "Ouch,
ouch, ouch, ouch!" Add facial expression.
- In one count, pull back to balance on the bottom with
arms and legs in the air and say, with great relief, "Well?"
- Shake everything and say, "Hellooooooooo!"
in as wobbly a voice as possible.
- Stop and drop back to the original position and say
"Mom!"
3. WARM-UP (10 minutes)
- The Sun -- Begin standing in parallel position
with the arms down at the side. Each part takes 8 counts.
- Reach arms down, forward and up, then reach up,
forward and down
- Take right leg behind to lunge and stretch
- Change legs so the left leg is behind to lunge
and stretch
- Bring legs together and hang over at the waist,
lower to floor
- Je Je Kule (a West African call and response
game.)
The leader calls out the phrase and does a movement to it. The rest
of the class repeats the phrase and movement.
- Je je kule (jay jay kool-ay)
- Je kovisa (jay ko-vee-sa)
- Kovisa lungea (ko-vee-sa-lun-ga)
- Bya tu lungea (by-a too lun-ga)
- Um a le a le (um a-lay a-le)
- Um a le a le (um a-lay a-le)
  
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