Acting Class Warm Up Exercise- The Wave

The Wave is an acting class warm up developed by Michael Cimino and Paul Shapiro at Seattle Academy of Arts and Science, Seattle, WA We have done this daily for years and is a great transition activity into acting class.

[@paprikaspices6337]

"Bob, are you doing that ritual again with your friends?"
"it's called aCTING EXERCISES DAD-"

[@lalalocaaa]

one of the greatest comments I've ever seen

[@mistermoon4508]

They call me bobby b*tch.

[@Shizzmonger]

This is like what it might looks like if you walked in on some strange cult doing a demonic ritual

[@michaelcimino3423]

I haven't looked at this video in a while and now I see it has been watched a lot. I made up this warmup and still do it with my classes on a daily basis. It's a good one to do when you don't have a lot of time during the day. When you only teach 45 minute classes it is hard to spend 20 of it on the warmup. This little thing may look "cultish" but it is only ritualistic to the point of allowing the actors to agree to play. The sounds and movements warm up the body and voice. The action verbs in the middle allow each class participant a moment to practice action. The final opposites give the group a way to express qualities together. It is quite effective. When you are doing a play, you can use the focal adjectives and images from the text. I've been running this every day for over ten years. You should give it a try.

[@jhowardburg2008]

I understand completely. Voice, body, and mind at the same time. I think the original and first variation would be the most beneficial for my (really inexperienced) middle schoolers.

[@katebessey5030]

Love this exercise! Thank you for sharing. I'm a drama teacher, originally from WA state myself, but now working in South America. Quick question: do you give the whole group the same action verbs and they all take a turn with that verb? Or do you assign each student a different verb at the start or just switch the verb every 3-4 students? Just curious how you handle that part. I hope this finds you well.

[@michaelcimino3423]

Kate Bessey! I’m so glad you enjoy it. I usually call out one students name and give them an action verb. The students all do the same verb. They know to pass it around to the left. Sometimes for variety they will do what we call a “slingshot” WAVE and use the first verb as a starter but react more to what happened in the last student’s moment rather than trying to reboot the verb anew. It then feels more like a long improv. Both are fun and profitable. Not many drama warmups engage the pursuance of action.
The part that we’ve added over the years, that doesn’t appear in this video is at the end. After the two “opposite” waves. There was never a satisfying ending. For a while I was convinced that I needed to teach a stronger connection to the actors “safe space” so that they would feel they had somewhere strong to return to if they chose to play in more dangerous parts of their psyche(s). So, I had them create a vision of their safe space in one class. Like a guided meditation. After the two opposite waves I have them stop and close their eyes. They take a breath or two and each participant, reboots a vision of their safe space- quietly. Then someone starts clapping, they all clap together and put their hands in the center and do an all for one, sports-like cheer saying, “Surfs up!” It may seem a little goofy, but it does end the set quite nicely.
The reiteration of the safe space is very useful when talking an actor back to equilibrium if they have gone to far into character and/or emotion. A great way to verbalize how to put away a play once the action or performance is complete.
Hope this helps. Always willing to chat about acting! Cheers.

[@naomikenyon02]

The girls that were pretending to cry were actually REALLY good!!!

[@wizzymel]

I love this exercice. Especially for a morning class when participants are not totally awake, this really warms up everything from the voice, body, listening to the group, and emotion study. I really don't get why some comments say it's weird, this is very well thought for actors and non actors!

[@michaelcimino3423]

Thank you. It does. I have added some final steps since this video if you ever are interested to try it out.

[@noromanx4]

The cold part gave me actual goosebumps

[@soaceba]

Don't do drugs harder than you

[@drpokibear3901]

Lol

[@helenajones2955]

Very well played out!

[@lillyshield6187]

Well this is awkward

[@iLuvLiltjay]

Everyone in the comments are saying this is awkward blah blah blah 😑
If you want to be an actor you’ve got to nail the part you play your gonna look ridiculous if you start feeling embarrassed to do these things

[@helenajones2955]

Only thing i can't understand why you would have to make screaming noises if you were hot, ide understand sighing and panting etc.

[@michaelcimino3423]

I think the actors took "hot" to the extreme. We didn't decide on the qualitiy of hot. To some of them it could be burning hot and to others just warm. In the best world, the group would magically agree on the quality and do it together. The actors in this video did the warmup for two hours. They were pretty over the top by the time we got to opposites.

[@deepEdits4810]

Any tamil mumbers 🔥👍👍👍👍

[@tessamcqueen850]

What dorks!

[@rahnnstaap]

wth how

[@mistermoon4508]

Because this video made her soul react negatively. She imagined herself practicing theatre like in this video and felt retarted.
She's being blinded by a veil of low self-esteem nurtured by ignorance.

[@zweisteinify]

Sembra una setta

[@puurrrr]

*Was this shot in a psychiatry?* 😂

[@aylinronasi6888]

Nic