What Are You Doing?

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Practice quick recovery and verbal-physical dissociation without self-correcting or hesitating.

Use it when: Use as an active warm-up before collaborative sessions, brainstorming, or presentation rehearsals to loosen rigid thinking and build playful focus.

Skip it when: Skip when participants have acute mobility limitations that make active pantomime uncomfortable, or when the group needs quiet, reflective analysis rather than high-energy movement.

Group arrangement: Single line or circle of 4 to 12; split larger groups (13 to 24) into two parallel circles

Timing: UWT plan allocating 10 minutes based on source indication of a short warm-up

Materials and tools

• No physical materials required

Before participants arrive

1. Clear a central floor area so people can stand in a loose line or circle with room to move safely.

Say this to open

We are going to play a classic improvisation warm-up called What Are You Doing. One person steps into the space and starts miming a clear action, like brushing their teeth. The next person approaches and asks, 'What are you doing?' The person miming must immediately name an entirely different action, like 'I am tying my shoes.' As soon as you name that new action, step aside. The person who asked immediately begins miming that new action, and the next player steps up to ask them the question. The challenge is to say anything except what you are actually doing, without pausing to find a clever answer.

How to run it

1. Set up and demonstrate 2 minutes

   Gather participants in a circle or line. Run one brief demonstration with a volunteer so everyone sees the sequence: Person A mimes an action, Person B asks 'What are you doing?', Person A states a completely different action, Person A steps back, and Person B begins miming that stated action.

2. Run the first rotation 4 minutes

   Start the sequence around the group. If the group exceeds 12 people, divide them into two parallel circles. Encourage participants to speak and move without delay. If a player pauses or accidentally names their actual action, they name a fresh action right away and keep the momentum moving.

3. Run the fast round 3 minutes

   Signal a second pass with higher tempo. Challenge players to respond within one second of being asked the question, accepting the first mundane or silly action that comes to mind.

4. Brief group debrief 1 minutes

   Gather the whole room and take 2 or 3 quick observations using the debrief questions.

Debrief questions

• Where did your mind try to freeze or overthink before answering?
• What helped you keep going when an unexpected action was handed to you?
• How does moving before thinking apply to our upcoming work today?

Finished output: Completion condition: every participant has had at least one turn miming an action and answering the question.

Remote

Run in gallery view with an explicit speaking order posted in chat. Player 1 mimes an action on camera. Player 2 calls out, 'Player 1, what are you doing?' Player 1 unmutes, names a totally different action, and mutes. Player 2 starts miming that new action on camera. Player 3 then asks Player 2, continuing down the roster.

Hybrid

Keep one shared turn roster mixing in-person and remote participants. Position a room camera and monitor so remote participants see the room floor and in-person participants see remote video. In-person participants speak into a central microphone when asking or answering.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may perform all gestures seated or using small hand or facial gestures instead of whole-body movement.
• Anyone may pass their turn by naming the next person and saying 'Take it away,' or choose to act as the timekeeper or prompt caller without miming.

If the session gets stuck

Players freeze because they are trying to think of a funny or clever answer.

Remind the group that everyday, boring actions like 'folding laundry' or 'reading a book' are ideal. Speed and momentum matter more than comedy.

A player accidentally names the action they are currently miming.

Have the group give a quick cheer or snap, let the player blurt out any other action immediately, and proceed without penalty.

Terms used here

• Dissociation game: An improvisation exercise designed to decouple physical movement from speech, training rapid focus and spontaneous reaction.