Erica Marx

Danish Clapping

by for .  

high energy partner game

45

Goal

form bonds within the group
great first game for raising energy, meeting new people
make your own choices while staying connected

Instructions

Form pairs
Explain this is a game you play in sync with your partner while each person makes independent choices. 
On every other beat you will slap your own thighs
On the alternate beats you each have 1 of 3 choices (have the group practice)
  • both hands to right
  • both hands to the left
  • both hands up
IF you mirror each other, then you slap your own thighs (as you always do) and on the next upbeat you do a double high five. 
The goal is to go faster, together. 

If you mess up, high five each other and start again. 


Demo how it goes and then have people play in pairs. 

Suggested pace - 
Play for 1 min in a pair and then ring a bell and have people switch partners. 

The genius of this game is that it gets people looking in each other's eyes and smiling. The game itself is so engaging by its nature of collaboration/competition that people quickly have fun playing it. At one level you are competing against each other to 'win' and you're also working together to go faster and have a join winning experience. 

This game leads easily to another paired activity such as 1-2-3 Snap/Clap/Stomp.


Contact-free variations

1 - Jazz hands instead of high five (everything else the same)


2 - Clap clap and then both thumbs up, down, left, or right. When you match thumb direction, clap clap again and the point at each other and say "hey". then back to clap-clap-choice. Learned from Bobbi Black at AIN

Background

I learned this game from Matt Weinstein at an Applied Improv Network conference and it is a known game of unknown origin. Here is a video of it I found searching online - 

https://vimeo.com/27098943

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