The Drama Games Workshop Participants
The reason why I made in my previous post an informative synopsis about what theatre games are, was because I wanted to establish a common ground for everyone. Since, all of us “speak the same language”, I would like to share with you with more details what are the key benefits of drama games through my own personal experience from the past four years that I have been participating in a Theatre Games Workshop.As it is already mentioned, theatre games have no restriction on age or profession and any of us can be involved with them! They are equally benefitial for children and adults, who actually have fewer and fewer alternatives for relaxation, recreation, creativity, self-expression and communication.
As I grow up, I still have the need to explore the world around me, to discover and understand all the different aspects of myself; to challenge and test my limits as well as to define who I am, what my place within the social environment is and what kind of relationships should I build with others. Through individual and group drama games, I realize that as time passes, I further cultivate my own talents and skills while also give space to self-expression, group synergy, and imagination. My group participation in the Theatre Games Workshop, therefore, allows me to develop self-awareness and be conscious of my own rational state of mind regarding my inner ideas, thoughts, beliefs, feelings, actions, and interactions with other people.
Every Monday of the past four years, through warm-up games, trust & synergy games, music & movement games, verbal & non-verbal games, imaginary games, pantomime, role-playing, and improvisation, I have the chance to delve deeper within myself, activate and strengthen my imagination and self-expression, awaken and intrigue my senses as well as set my spontaneous behavior free like I did as a child.
Through the team spirit and interaction that take place during the Drama Games Workshop, I can also experience another benefit, as important as self-awareness. I can get in touch with other group participants’ diversity, recognize and accept their feelings, understand their different behaviors towards a stimulus, and actually establish effective interpersonal communication with them. So, after each Theatre Games Workshop comes to an end, I can continue with my daily routine, respecting other people’s beliefs, thoughts, ideas and feelings and I can settle conscious and stable interpersonal relationships. In short, drama games enable me to activate and enhance my emotional intelligence.
To me, the two most important benefits that a group member can acquire from a Theatre Games Workshop are SELF-AWARENESS and INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION! What’s your own opinion?
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Vaso, all these sound excellent. I would really like to participate in a Drama Games Workshop but I am a liitle afraid of expressing and exposing myself to other people, especially if I don’t know them!!!
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Vaso, all these sound excellent. I would really like to participate in a Drama Games Workshop but I am really afraid of expressing and exposing myself to others, especially if I am not familiar with them!!!
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Hey, Paraskevi! Thank you for posting! Drama games are indeed excellent and I’m happy you recognize that! As far as concerning your fears of expressing and exposing yourself to others, I would like to remind you that in any case, in your normal life, you already do that!
Playing through theatre, you can learn “reading”, deconstructing your inside and outside world. Through understanding of your inner feelings, thoughts, and senses, you actually learn to communicate with other people; you actually learn to cultivate and build stronger interpersonal relationships. It is really important, as both senders and receivers, to be fully aware of what are our interpesonal verbal and nonverbal messages. Playing through theatre, hence, you start learning to send CLEAR, COMPREHENSIBLE, and INTELLIGIBLE signals and the receiver can fully conceive and understand them. Through the experimental method of drama games inside the workshop, you start cultivating your two basic communicative means; the verbal and the non-verbal language.
Thus, when a Drama Games Workshop reaches to its end and you continue your normal everyday life, you have less fears, qualms, scruples, inhibitions and self-restrains and the primary concern and fear of expressing and exposing yourself to other people and actually communicating, has been annihilated! You mainly learn to listen to yourself and become both sender and receiver of your own self! By listening to ourselves, we can actually spread and communicate that to the others! Socrates, the great philosopher, once said that “sometimes is good to listen to Socrates…”
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Reading this post, an inspiration came to me as to how Emotional Intelligence (EQ) can be cultivated through the drama games and to which degree. Also, how would an individual with low EQ be able to organize their feelings through the drama games? Would that be possible in the first place? This could be a very nice idea for a future post, Vaso! What do you think Tsevoula (Paraskevi) and the others?
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That’s a very interesting thought Leonida. As you know, emotional intelligence is not a determining factor of a person’s life because it’s not only a product of biology but also a product of experience. Researchers have claimed that interpersonal communicational skills and self-awareness are two very important characteristics of a person with a high EQ. Drama Games could help people with low EQ discover new ways of expressing themselves, through workshops, games and activities, thus improving both their communication with others as well as discovering more about themselves. What’s your own opinion?
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