Exercises

Self-With-Others, based in principles of thinking, is highly adaptable as an approach to training.

Britton trains performers through the use of five core exercises, each of which is informed by the three pedagogies mentioned elsewhere on this site:

The Use of the Self

Model & Metaphor

Principles

The five exercises that Britton uses most regularly to teach SWO are:

• The Ball Game

• Pairs Dancing

• Walk/Run/Stop

• Scored and free improvisation

• The continual lift sequence

There are other exercise that are used less regularly – such as The Dance Class – and many exercises that are created spontaneously, used as long as they are useful, and then discarded. This is important because the efficacy of SWO is not to be found in the form of the exercises – in WHAT is taught – but in the principles and attitudes that inform the teaching of each exercise – HOW the performer encounters each task.

These principles are explored in more depth in ‘Encountering Ensemble’, ed. Britton, J, Bloomsbury, 2013. pp. 104 – 113

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