Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2020
As the school year winds down, we’ve got a few more activities to bring some joy and movement to your distance learning. Two by Three by Bradford allows students to practice focus, listening, and awareness starting with the simple act of counting to three.
This activity comes from theatre practitioner Augusto Boal, who invented and used theatre games as forms of activism in Brazil. In the introduction to these activities, in his book; Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Boal writes, “In the body’s battle with the world, the senses suffer. And we start to feel very little of what we touch, to listen to very little of what we hear and to see very little of what we look at” (49). He goes on to share how his theatre games are created to allow participants to use their bodies in ways unique to daily patterns to heighten their awareness of themselves and the world around them. As a theatre educator, I know that this seemingly simple activity can have the deep impact he wrote about – even if it appears that all students are doing is counting to three.
DOWNLOAD THIS ACTIVITY AS A PRINTABLE .PDF
Two by Three by Bradford was created by Augusto Boal. You can see a longer description of the activity in the link below from the Drama-Based Instruction website created by Drama for Schools at The University of Texas at Austin.
Two by Three by Bradford:https://dbp.theatredance.utexas.edu/content/two-three-bradford
These activities are curated by Sarah Coleman, Portland Ovations’ Director of Engagement l School Programs. Sarah is a theatre educator, an arts integration specialist, and a former classroom teacher who has taught students in grades K – college as well as led professional development workshops for teachers around the country for over 15 years.
