5)+Provocations+2+(Power+Games)

Vulnerability has a connection to risk. Collaboration has a connection to relationships.

According to //Keith Johnstone,// in his classes and in his books, //Impro Improvisation and the Theatre,// and //Impro for Storytellers,// we communicate using nuanced physical and verbal actions. The relationships of how these actions interact between people can be described as transactions of status, or, Status transactions. The use of the word “status” is not to be understood merely as a way of describing the external cultural norms of status such as employment and riches, but more so as the physicality and strength-of-self of the individual and their interplay with their environment. Thus one can be higher status than a duck while being lower status than a bull. Status relates to the confidence and sense of control the individual holds over their surroundings. It is through observing the interaction of human status that we see how power works and how vulnerability is inherent within the relationship of the individual to other people, to structures, systems and organizations. We are trained within our culture to ignore the obvious features of this subtle interaction, though we go to plays and the cinema to have these emotions and human responses to stimuli played out before us.

Theatre has always being a collaborative arena wherein that which can not be measured is portrayed, as such, much of what is taught in the realm of drama class proceeds and may be more relevant to practical application within a collaborative process than much of the information that is newly entering under the archway of academia and organizational protocols. As Theatre is generally created through collaborative processes, and as Improvisation in the style of Johnstone is always a collaborative creation, these simple games may enhance our understanding of how willing and able we are to truly enter into collaborative or mentorship roles. Though these experiments are lively and fun, they are nonetheless potential conduits of personal change. Their value is in the experience of doing, not in the saying. An example of how related they are to much of the writing on Collaboration and Mentorship, resides in the similarity of protocols that state skills such as “active listening” should be part of the collaborator's toolkit. Yet, there is a danger of these lists/rules becoming pedantic, limiting human interaction to the scope of checklists, teaching us to exclude our authentic responses. Communication must go beyond the rote asking of questions as each experience is subjective to a range of variables, i.e. personality and individual objectives.

The following is a list of things to do to be an active listener. "To Practice Active Listening • Use questions or statements that are not answered by a “yes” or “no” response.  • Use words like “what,” “how,” “when” and, “Tell me about….”  • Listen without interrupting the speaker.  • Work hard at concentrating on what is being said.  • Avoid being distracted from words by mannerisms, clothing or voice quality.  • Avoid letting expectations interfere with hearing what is being said.  • Pay attention to nonverbal cues and body language.  • Listen for feelings, attitudes, perceptions and values, as well as facts.  • Be attentive to inarticulate, repetitious or slow speakers.  • Restate the other person’s statements so they know they are heard.  • Ask the other person to repeat or clarify if needed for understanding.  • Wait for the other person to finish before framing a response." taken from, **//The Wisdom of Age: A Handbook for Staff//**

Though this list gives specific instructions to becoming an active listener it is a rote list the use of which may even prove detrimental to individual mentees whom have heard these statements before and believe them to be yet another prescription for help within an institutional environment. How do these statements make you feel when someone says them to you? One may wonder if In time and do all statements become clinical and numbing? Certainly this is not what is hoped for from active listening. The real question is how do we actively listen while being authentic? In an Improvisation class Johnstone defined “listening” so that his actors might better portray this activity to the audience. “Listening means to be changed by what you hear. You must show a reaction to what you’ve heard.” Thinking upon this idea that we must **be changed by the information we hear,** let us begin an exercise.

EXERCISE 1: The Tuesday Game is a simply game that was invented to practice accepting dull offers and making them exciting. Though it is often thought to be a game of over acting, or playing broad emotions, it is also a listening game wherein you are demanded **to be changed by what you hear.** Here are the rules: EXAMPLE Boredly, "It's Tuesday." Aghast, "Tuesday!" Tuesday! Tuesday! Oh my god, my wife goes grocery shopping today! Deliriously happy "Grocery Shopping. MMMMmmm. Grocery Shooopppppinnnnggggg! The smell of bread, the ice cream freezer. 51 flavours. Ooooohhh Marvelous. Suspiciously "51 Flavours?" Fifty one? You've counted them? You've been hanging out at Super Store again! Frightened "You've found me out. I used to just watch the lobsters but I couldn't help it. She made me." Hurt "She? She? She made you?..... Etc.
 * The Tuesday Game.**
 * **One improvisor starts by saying to the other the dullest statement that they can come up with. - Originally this was, "It's Tuesday."**
 * **The other improvisor reacts to this dullness with some strong emotion. They repeat the dull phrase while attaching an emotion to it, until they can make sense of it. They then make a simple offer back.**
 * **The first improvisor now responds to that offer with some other strong emotion. The roles repeat until a point where it just makes sense to stop.**

It is fun to get others help you play this game, however, you could also try it without letting the other person(s) know what you are doing. When changing your reactions to what is said, try and be aware of how this affects the conversation or relationship between yourself and the speaker. Try to play this without getting caught doing it. Alter the intensity of your emotions so that they show as largely as possible without disturbing the speaker. Ask yourself these questions: Do you get more information from the other person when you are changed by what they say? Does the speaker respond with more emotional content or expression than if you are not showing yourself being actively changed by what you hear?

Observe people you think are good listeners, do they resist (showing themselves as) being changed by information, or are they open to revealing their emotional changes?

EXERCISE 2: This is a difficult exercise for many people. As you attempt it be aware of how this physical exercise makes you feel. Notice how others react to the changes in your physicality. Play with going from one extreme to the other and see how subtle you can make the transition between the Low Status and High Status. Try both extremes being very happy and very sad, very pleased and very angry while playing with your status. Let the feelings you get from taking these different physical poses enter into your being. Note how the emotions affect or do not alter your status.
 * Status Transactions.**

Low Status Wipe dry your upper gums and lip and curl your lip so it sticks up showing your upper front teeth. Sit on the edge of a chair, put your knees together, your heels wide apart and your toes pointed in, toes almost touching one another. Hunch your shoulders forward, bend your back down. Keep your elbows in close to your body, put your hands on your lap and twitter your fingers. Take little breaths and put a little "er" sound before you speak. Don't speak loudly. Try desperately to make eye contact with someone, but, if you do see their eyes look at you, then look away, then quickly back and away. Make your movements jerky. Touch your face a lot.
 * low status indicators: head lowered, throat protected, rapid irregular breathing, darting eye movement, taking up as little space as possible, touching of the face, etc.**

High Status, Stand or sit and take space, leave your arms out as you speak or walk or eat. Take more space, breath languidly. If you wish, look people directly in the eyes and hold their gaze. When you want to look away, look away, but do not look back. Do not move your arms quickly, let them flow with movement. Talk to others knowing you are being heard. Do not raise your voice. If you touch others hold that touch. If you speak put a long 'aahhhhh' sound in front of your sentences.
 * high status indicators: stillness and/or smooth movements, head up, neck open, calm breathing, smooth eye motions, taking up all the space, arm posed to flow outward from body.**

As status is relative you really need a partner to practice see-sawing your status, however you can play various status to a space. How do you change your status when in your grandparents home, a church, jail, court, or the bathroom? As a note, the transition of status is fascinating to most people. For myself, the scene in the movie //Nosferatu// where Klaus Kinski transforms from the weak (vulnerable) old count who is much lower status than the hero, into the powerful "Nosferatu" is memorizing. Equally absorbing and extreme status transitions occur in the movie "Transformers." The title saying it all.

In real life situations try and lower your status to just below the person you are interacting with, then try and be just above the status of the same person. How does this affect the communication?

Video tape is better than a mirror when attempting this exercise alone. You may extend these exercises by trying to define which actor is playing higher status in scenes from movies or tv. As you gain understanding of status as being an interaction like a seesaw, with one up and one down, contemplate how your peers alter their status to communicate. Ask if the point of a comment from someone is an attempt to raise (or lower) their status within the collaborative group, or, if is it to actually address the issues at hand? Can a mentee be higher status than a mentor? If status transactions are ongoing, how does it affect relationships? Can you play with your status? Does the relationship of the group to the status of the environment affect the collaborative process? Does playing with your status make you vulnerable?