Totems
Totems is an exercise in which players select a personal physical gesture, sound, or stance that represents their energy or character for the session. The totem serves as a grounding tool that performers can return to for focus and confidence. The exercise connects physical expression to emotional state and builds self-awareness.
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Related Exercises
Bong Bong Bong
Bong Bong Bong is a rhythm and focus exercise in which players pass energy around a circle using the words "Bong," with specific gestures indicating direction changes or skips. The exercise demands sustained concentration and punishes hesitation or incorrect gestures. It is commonly used as a warm-up to sharpen group focus before 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.
Strike a Pose
Strike a Pose is a physical exercise in which players assume strong, committed physical positions and use each pose as a starting point for character, scene, or interpretive discovery. The exercise demonstrates that physical choices precede and inform emotional and character choices, rather than following from them. Multiple documented variants use the same core mechanic of striking and holding a pose to develop ensemble responsiveness, scene inspiration, and interpretive skill.
Scorpion
Scorpion is a physical exercise in which players move around the space with a specific body part designated as the scorpion's stinger, which other players must avoid being touched by. The exercise builds spatial awareness, physical agility, and playful competitive energy within the group.
Talk to the Hand
Talk to the Hand is an exercise in which performers speak to or through a hand puppet or their own hand as a character, using the separation between player and puppet to lower inhibition and access bolder choices. The exercise is useful for helping performers who struggle with self-consciousness to take creative risks through the safety of a proxy.
Rituals
Rituals is a scene exercise in which performers explore the behavioral rhythms of repeated, patterned actions: the small ceremonies people perform when making coffee, setting a table, greeting a colleague, or preparing for sleep. By slowing down and physicalizing the precise sequence of a ritual, players develop attention to behavioral specificity and discover that the way a character moves through their routines reveals character, relationship, and emotional state as clearly as explicit dialogue.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Totems. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/totems
The Improv Archive. "Totems." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/totems.
The Improv Archive. "Totems." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/totems. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.