Session 3 – Dealing with body shaming

OBJECTIVE OF THE SESSION

The objective of this session is to help caretakers communicate with young people who feel ashamed to identify their emotion, manage it and turn it into a positive emotion. The instructor tells the caretakers that s/he is going to provide them with improvisation skills in order to help patients with shame issues.

By the end of the session each member will be able to:

– use improvisation techniques as anti-bullying art processes

– create a safe climate for leading any subtypes of victims and aggressors in the group to express thoughts and feelings, via theatre/drama techniques

– embody and express images of bullying and antibullying scenes and stories, through physical theatre, as a starting point to deepen in the scenario.

CASE SCENARIO

Chester, a tall, skinny teenager who excels in math and science classes, feels embarrassed when he has to change into gym clothes in the boy’s locker room at school because he lacks muscularity and size. Other, more athletic, and well-built teens notice Chester’s shyness and decide to exploit it. Using their phones, they covertly take pictures of Chester without his shirt on and in his boxer shorts. These pictures are then circulated among the rest of the student body via WhatsApp. Soon enough, boys and girls are pointing, snickering, and laughing at Chester as he walks down the school hallways. He overhears comments such as “There goes Bird-Chested Chester”, “Big Wus,” and “Pansy.” These words hurt him deeply, and the perception that his classmates have of him begins to affect his math and science grades.

TRAINING SESSION DEALING WITH EXILED AUTISTIC STUDENTS

The trainer welcomes the participants and informs them of the case scenario (see above) either through power point presentation or via narration. After having informed the participants of the case scenario the trainer presents the goals of the session by pinpointing the type of aggression, the emotions and the coping strategies:

• Aggression Type: Example of relational aggression – resulting in bullying.
• Emotions: shame.
• Coping: Stressors related to mental illness/victimization.
• Coping: Functional coping strategies.
• Questions and answers:

1^st Question

At what point in the scenario do you find that the protagonist was a victim of violence? To what kind of violence does the scenario refer to? 

1^st Answer

When his friends decide to exploit his lacks muscularity and size and take secretly pictures of Chester without his shirt on and in his boxer shorts and circulate among the rest of the students via WhatsApp.

It refers to cyberbullying and body shaming.

2^nd Question

Do you think that the thoughts, the actions, the feelings and the attitudes adopted by the protagonist of the scenario helped him/her to cope with this situation? Are there any alternative ideas?

2^nd Answer

No. If Chester still feels embarrassed then he will feel alienated over time and this will disrupt his academic achievement in school. Chester’s friends need special attention in this case.

3^rd Question

What other interventions and actions could further help the protagonist to deal with this incident and with any potential similar incidents in the future?

3^rd Answer

• Alternative interventions (ex.: elimination diets) serious talks with bullies and victims
• serious talks with the parents of bullies and victims
• role playing of non-aggressive behavior with bullies
• role playing of assertive behavior with victims

And also:

– What are the main problematics exposed in the case scenario?

– How are the issues presented in the above case scenario related to specific emotions?

– Which are those emotions?

Then there is a discussion and the participants express their ideas. By the end of this part the participants should have determined that the case scenario deals with relational aggression resulting in bullying and victimization and that the emotion this session will focus on is shame.

PREPARATION

This session is carried out between the trainer (improvisation professional) and the caretakers. They should all wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

• Duration: 90 minutes.
• Number of participants: 6-20.
• Place: A room where there is space to move.
• Digital Material: Movie link Short Movie about Bullying:

PROCEDURE

Introduction

• Duration: 10 minutes.
• Description: Introducing the case scenario, the questions and the emotion.

Introduction Exercises – Improvisational training

Warm up: If the trainers want to include relaxation exercises (i.e. stretching, body warm up, imagination relaxation etc.) they can take 5 minutes before each session to do them. It is important to note that participants with mobility problems can execute all the exercises sitting on a chair and using the parts of their body which are mobile and/or their imagination.

Note: All exercises which include physical contact and/or movement can be substituted by a) the trainer performing the exercises and explaining, b) the trainer performing the exercises and the group instructing her/him and c) the group can be sitting in their chairs and they can narrate, imagine and/or share their physicality or mobility.

1. Exercise 1: Short Movie Screening & Group Response

• Purpose: Cultivate empathy for others, making caring common, empathy improvement
• Duration: 10 minutes.
• Digital Material: Movie link Corto Animado Bullying:

The trainer is free to use any alternative video that contains characters (i.e. people who act and react) dealing with emotional, verbal and/or physical violence.

• Description: This part of the session will start with the screening of the 5-minute video about bullying. After the screening of the short film, the trainer asks the participants to respond to the movie by freely expressing their thoughts and ideas. S/he makes new questions which push towards different points of view and statements.

2.  Exercise 2: Tableaux Vivants

• Purpose: Physical representation of the theme, to inquire emotions and bodily responses.
• Duration: 8 minutes.
• Description: After the screening, the trainer will ask the participants to shape two tableaux vivants, in small groups: the first tableau represents a moment of bullying, derived from the movie’s scenario and the second tableau represents a moment of antibullying based on the movie’s finale. The small groups develop their theme and then they present it to the whole team. The trainer intervenes at the end of each single presentation and asks for each small group to give voice to their tableaux (individually or in groups, according to the groups dynamics).

3. Exercise 3: Applied Theatre/Drama Techniques

• Purpose: Bullying prevention, cultivating inner peace and unity.
• Duration: 20 minutes.
• Description: The trainer re-presents one scene from the movie during which the victim experiences bullying in the classroom by other classmates (min. 1:49- 2:40). The trainer asks the team to reflect on this scene and make statements, in the style of newspaper headlines («headlines»). Then s/he takes the role of the victim and the participants take the role of “reporters”: characters are interviewed by reporters. Another member of the team (either pupil or trainer) takes the role of the student who bullies and the participants as reporters question her/his motives, values, beliefs or extract more information about the situation. Then the trainer asks reporters to give advice to the victim, by pushing conflicting advice. The trainer in role expresses her/his own inner thoughts (as victim). Then s/he motivates each member of the group to publicly express the inner thoughts of the victim after the above mentioned scene (collective role).

4. Exercise 4: Mirror

• Purpose: Communication, participating in couples, observation, coordination, precision, imagination.
• Duration: 5 minutes.
• Description: The participants are divided into couples, one of them is the mirror and the other is the human being who is looking her/himself at the mirror. The participant who is the human being executes various movements and the mirror has to imitate them. The trainer should inform the participants that the human being has to start slowly, always keep in mind her/his partner’s physical limitations and potentials, always be in a frontal position so that her/his partner can see him/her at all times, take care of her/his partner by guiding him/her through difficulties and so on. The couples should interchange.

5. Exercise 5: Body shaping

• Purpose: Getting to know each other, communication, engaging, participating in couples and/or groups, observation, precision, imagination, empathy, creativity.
• Duration: 8 minutes.
• Description: After the couples have interchanged and have executed the Mirror exercise for an adequate amount of time, the trainer asks the person who was the mirror to sit still. Then s/he asks the person who was the human being to start shaping the other’s body by moving her/his arms, legs, head, hip, torso. The participant who becomes the body-shaper should be very careful with the way that s/he touches the other participant, the limitation and potentials of her/his body and so on. S/he should always support her/his partner so that s/he does not fall of balance, her/his body is in a comfortable/feasible position, s/he does not feel uncomfortable and vulnerable, however, the body-shaper should try to acquaint her/his partner with possibilities and/or potentials that the person who is being shaped was not aware. The trainer should always remind the participants of those guidelines. After an adequate amount of time the body-shaper should become the person who is being shaped and continue the exercise.
• Variation: Alternatively and/or consequently, this exercise could be carried out in a circle with one person being shaped by more than one participants and so on.

REFLECTION-RESPONDING TO THE WHOLE SESSION

The exercises of this part can alternate positions if the trainer wants to end the session with exercise 6.

6. Exercise 6: TheMachine

• Purpose: Group movement and enforcement, communication, precision, imagination, empathy, creativity, fun, letting go.
• Duration: 10 minutes.
• Description: The participants start walking around the space. They have to try to cover the entire space and keep in mind that they have to move towards where there is an opening. After having walked for about 30 seconds and without stopping to walk, the trainer asks the participants to start moving their entire body in order to warm up. Then s/he asks them to go back to walking normally and to make with their mouth or their body a specific, repetitive sound, taking into account their fellow participants, namely trying to create different types of sound, establishing a form of communication and so on. When the sound has been established then the trainer asks the participants to add a specific, repetitive movement to their sound, taking into account their fellow participants, namely trying to create different types of movement, establishing a form of communication and so on. The participants should not stop moving or stop and look at each other. They should be able to communicate while moving. When the trainer feels that this part of the exercise has been fulfilled, s/he asks the participants to form a circle. The participants sit down in the circle, then the trainer tells them that they are going to make a machine. (The first time the participants execute the exercise the type of the machine does not have to be prefixed. It depends on the trainer and the formation of the group whether they will ever predetermine the function of the machine or whether they will leave the imagination of each participant to imagine her/his machine, while being part of the group.) Then the trainer tells the participants that whoever wants to start will go in the centre of the circle and start making a specific, repetitive sound supported by a specific, repetitive movement. When the first participant goes up, and after allowing a few seconds for his movement and sound to be established, another participant goes in the circle and links her/his movement and sound to the participant who is already executing her/his movement and sound. When sufficient participants have contributed to the machine the trainer asks them to speed up their movement, faster and faster until the machine breaks down.

The participants sit down in the circle. Then another machine is constructed so that all the participants carry out the exercise. The second machine is also dissolved.

Once more, the participants sit down in the circle. The trainer asks them to construct one more machine. This time, when it is completed, the trainer pulls out one of the participants resulting, again, to the malfunction of the machine and its break down.

• Variations: There are many variations that can be applied. For instance, a part can be moved by the trainer to another position and the group can realise the differences that such a repositioning entails, or a physical material, namely a ball or a piece of paper, can be used as the product that the machine creates, and the appreciation of repositioning of any component/participant can be grasped palpably.

7. Exercise 7: Playing with the unity/piece building scene

• Purpose: Empathy, applying metaphor in the real world, the power of a “hug”.
• Duration: 10 minutes.
• Description: The trainer re-presents the final scene of the short movie (min. 3:25-3:56) where the bullies change their stance towards the victim and they invite him to play with them. Then s/he asks the whole team to express their feelings and response on this scene with, a) oral speak, and b) tableaux vivants/freeze frame in small groups. At the end participants are asked to express how they feel, in relation to the whole group, after all the above session.

CONCLUSION

• Duration: 10 minutes.
• Description: At the end of the session the trainer will ask questions that stimulate reflection, namely “How do you think the above session links to the emotion we are dealing with?”, “What did you find helpful?” and so on. Then s/he will invite participants to pinpoint what stroke their attention, what they gained and want they want to keep as a reference point from all the above procedure as well as to ask any questions related to the above exercises.