Prop metaphors

"Hanging around the hoop"

"That's a slam dunk"

"Sorry, but this isn't basketball, And I'm not your rebound."

"Nothing but net."

"Air ball."

"Where words fail, music speaks"

"It is little rift within the lute, that by and by will make the music mute, and ever widening slowly silence all."

"As sweet, and musical, as bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; and when Love speaks, the voice of gods make heaven drowsy with the harmony." 

"In a sadly pleasing strain, let the warbling lute complain."

Cornucopia symbolizes the womb.

The corn of plenty

The mother's bounty

Abundance of ideas

Cornucopia of choices

"Smile, you're on camera."

"The camera can be the most deadly weapon since the assassin's bullet."

"The camera adds ten pounds"

"Either the camera will dance or I will.

"The camera relieves us the of the burden of memory."

"A movie camera is like having someone you have a crush on watching you from afar you pretend it's not there."

"Emotional baggage."

"It's not so bad to live out of a suitcase. It's a really beautiful life."

"Suitcase of problems."

"Life is a journey."

"Keep calm and pack."

Umbrella symbolizes unity.

"Compromise makes a good umbrella but a poor roof."

"The mind is an umbrella, it works better when opened."

"As thin and neat as a furled umbrella."

"My dreams are a stupid refuge, like an umbrella against a thunderbolt."

"Ace in the hole."

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well."

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game."

"It's a house of cards."

"One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards."

"Red is the ultimate cure for sadness."

"Red telephone a.k.a the hotline"

"America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth."

"Communication is key."

"It has become appallingly obvious that technology had exceeded our humanity."

"Technological process has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards."

"The internet is a telephone system that's gotten uppity."

"Gossip is nature's telephone."

"Speak when you are angry, and you'll make the best speech you''ll ever regret."
"To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men."
"I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life."
"The little red book is the tool of the Cultural Revolution."
"In such ugly times, the only true beauty is protest."

Picture Metaphors

 "Chain me up but you will never get the answer you're looking for."
"Handcuffed for life."

Suitcase: "He carries a lot of baggage."
Camera: "Cameras allow you to discover new ways of seeing the world."
Books: "I'm an open book."
Books: "Don't judge a book by its cover."

 "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer"
"School is like a prison."
"Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues are written in water."
"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian."

Lions represent pride, loyalty, strength, indivuality, and bravery.

 "Communication is key."

"Money is power."
"If you make money your god, it will plague you like the devil."
"Friendship is like money, easier made than kept."
"Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink the thirstier we become."

"Wealth is a tool of freedom, but the pursuit of wealth is a road to slavery."

"Television is chewing gum for the eyes."

"Control freak."

Cows represent labor, goods, wealth, and life.

"Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out."
"Imagination is a beast that has to be put in a cage."
"You can cage the singer but not the song."
"The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He is in front of it."

"Lovable like a teddy bear."
"She squeezed her child like a little kid squeezes a teddy bear for comfort."
"Security Blanket."

Picture Metaphors

"What goes up must come down."

"Put down your ego and lift some weights"

" When life brings you down you get the fuck back up" 

"Life is exercise" 

"The harder it is the stronger you become"

"Wine is like sex, it starts from the lips"

"If alcohol kills millions of brain cells, how come" 

"Alcohol is not the answer it just makes you forget the question"

" A beer a day keeps the doctor away" 

" They say alcohol is your worst enemy, but in the bible it says to love all your enemies."

"Do not drop the soap"

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer" 

"He who opens a school door, closes a prison"

"Open a prison door, the real dragon will come out"

"When you stuff yourself to other peoples standards, it becomes a prison."

" Man cannot live a life without love, how flowers cannot live without sunshine"

" Your mind is a garden, you can grow flowers or weeds"

"Roses are red, Violets are blue."

"Flowers represent love, flowers represent death"

"When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited" 

 " Money is the root to all evil" 

"Money cannot buy happiness" 

"Money is power" 

"Money is God" 

" Money cannot buy love, but it can buy you a lot of stuff that you love" 

 "If you want to be a lion, you must train with the lions" 

"Lions must not concern themselves with the opinions of lambs"

"Your heart is loud as a lion's, rawr."

"Stay hungry"

"Be a lion not a sheep" 

 " Do things Today Not Tomorrow"

" She's Bomb"

"We are sitting on pensions of timebombs"

"Countries with atom bombs are not independent" 

"A heart break isnt as loud as a bomb exploding, its louder"

 " Then pen is mightier than the sword"

" Logic is like a sword, those who appeal to it shale be perished by it"

" Be as sharp as a knife" 

"Sword is justice"

"Sword is injustice"

"Live by the gun and die by the gun"

"Guns dont kill people, people kill people using guns"

" Smile for the camera, and wait the flash"

" Guns just do what it is told" 

"Guns show no mercy"

"Smaller clothing smaller suitcase"

"I will gladly live out of a suitcase" 

"Keep calm and pack your suitcase"

" I go to seek great purpose"

"Have a suitcase by heart and be ready to travel"

Exercise for Rebel Artists: Pg 69-83

Creative Indian wrestling 

History and objective

• inspired by traditional form of wrestling practiced 
• extract the testosterone and competitiveness 
• physical performance experience 

Instruction

• Face partner and spread your feet 3 feet wide
• outside edge of the right foot of your partner 
• shake hands

Part 1 Basic Indian wrestling: 10 mins

• pull, push, shift's one weight without losing balance
• left side as well

Part 2 Stylized Indian wrestling

• Work together to reach the limit of your balance 
• help regain balance 
• shared point of contact is left and right hands 

Part 3 Creative Indian wrestling 

• Creative freedom in your movement 
• Jam duet 
• Hand, back, hips, shoulders, legs 

Aikido/Chess games

History/Objective 

• developed in Dartmouth college \
• conceptual game uses concepts of Aikido and strategy of chess 
• perform intelligence with body 

Instructions

• 2 mins 
• simple questions 
• physical dialog 

Variations 

• chairs 
• props 
• instructions 

Conceptual poetic exercises 

• pedagogical practice 
• breathing 
• create energy

Poetic introductions 

Objective: challenges to introduce themselves poetic  

Instructions 

• Gather in a circle 
• Tell us Name and Creactive fashion

Poetic Exquisite Corpse 

History and objective- 

• Someone starts drawing and passes it around.

Instructions-

• Poetic DJ 
• Start by open minded rhetorical statement
• mapping session someones act
• dynamic rhythm to the poetic exercise. 

Today's questions

Dark or gazing exercises.  

Exercise for Rebel Artists 84-98

The spectrum is a non-confrontational platform to air extremely sensitive issues that may otherwise be avoided. Some examples are political issues, identity, sexuality, and spirituality are constantly shifting and so are our community alliances. It is important to explain to the participants that the exercise is, first and foremost, about “the subjectivity and fluidity of notions of identity and community.” They must understand that the exercise is about self-identification and self-perception and not about imposed identity.

The Zapatista-inspired town meeting

Inspired by some of the Zapatista assemblies, we have found this discussion format to be very useful to creatively address the aesthetic, political, and social questions and/ or tensions that arise during the workshop process. Certain tensions are inherent to the human condition: some people have large personalities and more strident voices.

Discussing the implications of video and photographic documentation

We normally introduce this discussion on day four, at the beginning of the second session; the discussion should focus on the importance of and risks accompanying photographic and video documentation. An inquisitive question would be: What are we going to do with this documentation – merely revise it as a visual diary.

“Pulling performances out of a hat”

This is a good exercise when participants are getting physically tired and the instructor begins to sense that it is time to let the bodies of participants take a break. 

When everyone has completed their scripts, participants sit in a circle and place their written instructions in a hat. One at a time, each participant chooses a piece of paper out of the hat and reads it to him/ herself.

Exercises for Rebel Artists: Pages 54-68

Ice Breakers

1. Trust Fall: "Begin by walking randomly across and around this space (with your eyes open this time), criss-crossing in between your colleagues while making eye contact. The aim is to repeatedly change direction and speed without colliding with each other. After a couple of minutes each person in the group begins to call out their own name clearly, slowly, one at a time and in no particular order. Immediately after shouting your name you should begin to fall to the ground stiff like a board, and those around you must respond instantly, and catch you before you hit the floor. Once your immediate colleagues have helped you “recover,” the next person will call out his/ her name and the exercise continues. The entire group is responsible for catching their colleagues before they hit the floor."
2. The Gaze: Every member in the group must pair up into twos. Once everyone is paired up the room should be quiet and each member will stair into the others' eyes. The goal is very simple: to be present and open , to express a basic existential message with your gaze that goes something like, "We happen to be here today, to coincide on this strange planet and it’s OK. We are here together sharing a moment in life and art. It’s a pleasure to be here with you."
3. Poetic Ethnography: "Begin by walking around the space and find a partner, as before, preferably someone with whom you are not too familiar, and who is “different” from you in obvious ways (race, gender, age, body type). Gravitate towards that person and intuitively discover if your desire to partner is reciprocated. If not, don’t take it personally and continue walking around until you find someone else. Partners should stand facing each other 2 to 3 feet apart. Decide with your partner your initial roles within the experiment. One of you will be the ethnographer and the other the specimen. Specimen and ethnographer are metaphors that describe your role in the exercise – the person in the role of ethnographer does not "perform" a scientist in the theatrical sense. Rather you are both your actual selves in this time and place, exploring each other as “human artifact”. This verbal negotiation should be kept as brief as possible. You will reverse roles on completion of the exercise. Once the roles have been established, certain basic guidelines should be articulated: ethnographers should try to be compassionate, sensitive, and truly open in their exploration of their specimen. In this process of negotiation of the borders of intimacy, it is important to be adventurous but always respectful. Ethnographers should not examine areas that may be considered taboo (i.e., breasts, genitals). If ethnographers examine areas that might still feel awkward or uncomfortable to the specimen (i.e., the feet, the inside of the mouth, the back of the ears, nostrils, knees, etc.), the specimen can simply give a hand signal for them to stop. The ethnographer will understand that the specimen is not consenting"
4. Human Puppets and Human Doppelgangers: "Try to partner with someone who is about your height. Begin with the exploration of your partner’s body as described in the poetic ethnography. At a certain point, after manipulating their body for a few minutes, return your partner (with his/ her eyes closed) to a standing neutral position. Now, stand behind him/ her and carefully press your torso and legs against the back and legs of your partner, your arms under his/ her arms so that the palms of your partner’s hands are resting on the tops of your hands. Slowly begin to transfer the energy and impulses of your movement to your partner’s body. In turn he/ she should collaborate by facilitating this transference of movement, becoming an active participant in the creation of an unusual choreography . Your movements initiate the movements of your partner. In a sense he/ she is dancing for you and responding to the movement phrases you are imprinting onto his/ her body. He/ she is your dancing doppelganger. The “human puppeteers” can eventually engage the entire body of their partner. You can move the torso, head, shoulders, and hips using your own hands to direct your partner. Make sure to engage their arms, legs, hips, and shoulders or for smaller movements the hands, fingers, or feet. Use your whole body to direct your partner. Occasionally you can check out other duets for inspiration. The “puppet” is an active participant and should never stop moving, continually reinterpreting and stylizing the movements and impulses given by their partner. Eventually, when you have imprinted at least four movement phrases onto your partner, we ask you to step away and move to the front of your human puppet and observe the movements you have created. Now you can think about how you might want to develop or change this movement."

Instructions found from:
Gómez Peña, Guillermo; Sifuentes, Roberto (2013-03-01). Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy (Kindle Locations 1090-1103). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition. 

Exercises for Rebel Artists: Pages 30-38

Pocha workshops discuss the politics of documentation and theses issues include how the documentation of others digitally will affect society.

Pocha workshops often extend into the social life of the group. It is important for participants to “connect” in a more informal way. Informal encounters with little pressure are encouraged in the workshop. In a situation with low societal pressure, people are more open to speaking passionately. It is during these reflective sessions that we can openly discuss the project’s aesthetic currency, cultural impact, and political pertinence.

Words to try to avoid when conducting a workshop Autobiographical Correct/ incorrect Chinga tu madre Derrida Developing or emerging artist Erection Healing/ cathartic/ therapeutic Horny Inner (anything) Inter-textuality Languaging Liminal.

This section, the very heart of the book, is divided into four parts:

1. Part 1 contains “hands-on” exercises (physical and/ or perceptual) to help you reconnect with your bodies, operate in “performance mode”, explore various strategies for collaboration, sharpen your performance senses, control and direct your gaze while in “performance mode”, and develop a collective performance vocabulary.

2. Part 2 includes conceptual and poetic exercises to help you hone your analytical and rhetorical skills, and map out new territories of inquiry in non-confrontational discussion that we have found useful in dealing with cultural divides and tensions that emerge out of racial, gender, social, or generational difference.

3. Part 3 includes “creative exercises” that help participants develop original performance material.

4. Part 4 describes the “infamous
Pocha Jam sessions” that will become the bulk of the creative sessions utilizes steps one through four.

5. Part 5 includes various methods for bringing the practice to the public in open performance salons and larger scale presentations.

The exercises follow a natural line of progression from one to the other. Some are repeated daily with variations; others occur only a few times during the entire workshop.
 Use visual images to describe an exercise; explore language within your teaching. Remember that teaching is also performing.