POWER AND GAMES
Convenor: Clifford Longino
Recorder: Robiin Rose
Other's Present: About 25 Giraffes
Clifford taught us two games, Controllers and Robots, and Wild Geese, which gave the participants a playful and experiential understanding of the different energies of power over and power with.
Controllers and Robots.
The group divides itself into groups of three and each group decides which on
who will be the controller. The other two are the robots. One person (not in
a group of three) is the Master Controller and at his or her command of GO,
all the robots begin moving forward. The controller can manipulate the robots'
direction of movement by touching them on the chest to make them move forward,
on the back to have them move backwards, and on the right shoulder to have them
move sidestepping to the right, and on the left shoulder to have them sidestep
to the left. It is the responsibility of each controller to keep his or her
robots safe and sound (from crashing into walls, falling into ponds, and so
on). Only when the Master Controller says stop, do all the robots stop. The
first set of robots take off on "Go" and after a few minutes of mayhem,
the Master Controller stops them and the group of three picks a new person to
be controller and they begin again. After a few minutes the robots stop and
the last person gets an opportunity to chase after and attempt to control his
or her robots. All then gather together and share what it was like to be a Controller
and what it was like to be a Robot. A diversity of strategies and experiences
were shared.
Wild Geese
The entire group forms itself into a large loosely formed triangle and each
person makes sure they have enough space to stand with their arms stretched
straight out to the side. One person at one point of the triangle begins as
the lead goose and moves in a way that the rest of the formation imitates. The
person has their back to the rest of the goose triangle as if leading them in
flight (we started with basic flapping). After a short period of time (about
10-15 seconds) the lead goose turns to face another corner of the triangle,
thus signaling that person to take over the lead. Everyone turns to the new
lead goose and imitates whatever movements they make. After several seconds,
that goose turns to the last corner and a new lead goose takes over. Then the
process is repeated, starting at the original point of the triangle, with a
new person/goose moving to replace the former lead and so on until everyone
in the formation has had a chance to lead the wild geese. All gather and share
their experiences and compare the difference between being a robot/controller
and a wild goose.