Friendly Hands
Friendly Hands is a trust and connection exercise in which players reach out to shake hands or make physical contact with as many people as possible in a short time. The exercise breaks the physical barrier between participants and establishes a baseline of comfortable touch. It warms up the group's willingness to engage physically.
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Related Exercises
Open Your Hand
Open Your Hand is a trust and release exercise in which players practice letting go of tension by literally and metaphorically opening their hands. The physical act of unclenching serves as a gateway to relaxing the body and mind before performance. The exercise is often used to address the impulse to control scenes rather than allow them to unfold.
Greetings
Greetings is a warm-up exercise in which players walk through the space greeting each other in various styles, emotions, or character types. The facilitator calls out different modes of greeting (formally, shyly, aggressively, lovingly, as royalty, as old friends) and the group adjusts their interactions accordingly. The exercise loosens social inhibitions, generates quick character choices, and establishes a playful, physically engaged atmosphere at the start of a session. Greetings gets every participant moving, making eye contact, and interacting within the first minutes of a workshop.
Touch and Go
Touch and Go is an exercise in which performers must physically touch an object or part of the environment before speaking, grounding every line of dialogue in a specific physical action. The constraint connects speech to physicality and teaches players to inhabit their environment rather than standing and talking.
Everybody Touch Someone Who...
Everybody Touch Someone Who... is a physical warm-up exercise in which a caller names a characteristic or experience and all participants who match it must immediately move to touch at least one other person who also matches. The resulting movement creates visible social maps of the group -- who shares which experiences -- while generating physical energy and a sense of collective discovery through quick, full-body engagement.
Fingertips
Fingertips is a trust and sensitivity exercise in which two performers connect through their fingertips and move together through the space. The minimal point of contact demands heightened physical listening and mutual care. Each partner must simultaneously lead and follow, responding to subtle shifts in pressure and direction without verbal communication. The exercise builds the kind of delicate partner awareness that transfers directly to subtle, responsive scene work.
Touch to Talk
Touch to Talk is a scene exercise in which performers may only speak while physically touching another player or an object in the environment. The constraint forces players to make physical contact meaningful and teaches the connection between physical engagement and verbal expression.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from Friendly Hands.
112 Acting Games (Levy)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Friendly Hands. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/friendly-hands
The Improv Archive. "Friendly Hands." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/friendly-hands.
The Improv Archive. "Friendly Hands." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/friendly-hands. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.