Two people face each other. One leads, one follows, and the goal is for an observer to be unable to tell which is which. Mirrors trains the most basic Ensemble skill there is — complete attention to another performer — and it is pure Movement and Gesture practice: every movement must be slow, smooth, and readable, or your partner cannot stay with you.
How to run it
- Face a partner about a metre apart. Make soft eye contact and hold it.
- Decide who leads first. The leader begins to move — slowly, continuously, never stopping — and the follower matches in real time, like a reflection.
- Followers: watch your partner’s eyes and take in the whole body with peripheral vision. If you chase the hands, you will always be late.
- After two minutes, swap roles without breaking the movement.
- Finish with a round where nobody is declared leader — both partners lead and follow at once. When it works, neither of you can say who started what.
One variation
Group mirror: one leader faces the whole class, and everyone follows at once. Then hide the leader — the class stands in a loose clump, the leader somewhere inside it, and a volunteer who stepped outside comes back in and tries to spot who is driving the movement.
Slow is the skill
Beginners speed up to be interesting. Resist it. The game is not about inventing clever moves — it is about whether your partner can live inside your movement. If they fall behind, that is not their failure; it is your signal to slow down and simplify.
Curriculum connection
A3.2
use a variety of expressive voice and movement techniques to support the depiction of character (e.g., use volume, tone, accent, pace, gesture, and facial expression to reveal character and/or intention)
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