The participants arrange themselves in a circle facing the center, close enough.
Without previous agreements one of the participants says the number “one”, sitting down on the ground.
Another will say the number “two” sitting down in turn, and so on until the whole circle is complete.
If two participants say the number at the same time, they all get up and start again from number one.
When the group has reached a condition of concentration and sufficient listening, they can move on to more complex phases of the same task:
– Instead of the number they say their name, or sentence from a known text is said, for example:
- L’amor che muove il sole e le altre stelle
- Ad sidera vultus
- Semper vigilans
- In all harmony
– You improvise a sentence that connects to the previous one, forming a story, developing a theme. The conductor can restart from the beginning, in the event that more than three seconds pass between one participant and the next.
– When the last participant has sat down, the series continues, but this time it’s about getting up instead of sitting down.
– Participants can start the exercise again starting from the numbers facing the center of the circle, but instead of sitting down they turn outwards.
When everyone is turned towards the outside, the series continues, but it will be a question of turning towards the center again.
At this point we can propose a further step that requires a greater collective listening.
For example, if the participants were 10, the task is to count up to 20, if they were 15 up to 30 and so on.
The group will have to count from 1 to the end of the sequence in no particular order.
Nobody knows who starts and who will be next.
Each participant will be able to say 2 numbers. If during the counting of numbers 2 or more participants say the same number, the exercise is started all over again, until the sequence is completed.
With this exercise you train and get a good level of listening and “common feeling” of the group.
