Purpose
Builds expressive and receptive non-verbal range — the whole channel CI communicates through. Partners hold a "conversation" in gesture, movement, and sound alone, practicing both speaking and listening without words.
Setup
Pairs facing, some space to move. No touch required.
Play
- "Have a conversation — but with no words. Use gesture, movement, facial expression, and non-language sound (hums, sighs, tones)."
- "Take turns like real dialogue: one 'speaks' a phrase of movement/sound, the other receives it and 'replies.' Listen before you answer."
- "Let it have moods — playful, curious, an argument, a reconciliation. Let it be a real exchange, not two monologues."
- Then: "Let the turns blur — respond while they're still speaking, overlap, find a flow."
Cues
"Receive before you reply." · "Let it have feeling." · "Listen with your whole body."
Variations
- Easier: seated, gesture and face only.
- Deeper: whole-body, traveling, building to near-contact — the doorstep of a CI duet.
Debrief
"Were you more comfortable expressing or receiving? What got communicated that words couldn't?"
Watch For
Keep sound non-linguistic (no mouthed words) so the non-verbal channel does the work. Watch for two people 'performing' past each other instead of listening.
Pairs With
The Mirror Hand (#4), Listening Hands (#7), and every duet — this is the CI conversation, minus the weight.