BODY SCULPTURE
Friends of the Groom Theater
Resource Center
BODY SCULPTURE
A Group Building Exercise for Pairs
Exploring Biblical Themes in Frozen Poses
In this interactive exercise, partners take turns playing “sculptor” and “clay” as they create statues representing Biblical themes and verses.
Designed for youth, adults, and intergenerational groups, the drama-based activity can serve as a warmup, mixer, or group building activity.
Watch Body Sculpture in Action:
Instructions:
Participants form a circle and count off by 1’s and 2’s. The 1’s take a step in toward the center of the circle and then turn to face outward—choosing a 2 to be their partner.
2’s become the “sculptors,” and 1’s become the “lumps of clay.”
Give the group a title for a sculpture you want them to create—preferably a single word or phrase related to a Biblical theme or concept. E.G. “lost,” or “hope”
Each “sculptor” molds their “clay” into a statue that represents the title. They do this by silently moving the body parts of their partner into position and demonstrating the facial expressions they want them to copy.
When those representing clay are in a final position, they should freeze in that pose like a statue, with their eyes focused on a single point.
When all the statues are finished, the sculptors walk around the outside of the circle to inspect each other’s work.
After this initial round, partners should switch places—with sculptors becoming clay and vice versa. Repeat the steps above with a new title.
The process of discussing the verses and staging them is just as important as the finished product.
The technique can even help groups and churches reconnect with their underlying goals by giving all the teams the same task: create a statue that expresses the group’s mission statement.
MORE DRAMA BASED GROUP ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
BIBLICAL SLIDE SHOW - An activity for groups to present Bible stories in a series of frozen poses or tableaux
GROUP SCULPTURE MASTERPIECE - A group-building exercise that can be used to explore Biblical themes using frozen poses
PSALMS IN MOTION - A group activity where participants improvise an interpretation of a psalm using expressive movement
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Activities and techniques in the Friends of the Groom Theater Company Resource Center are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
The Resource Center is designed to assist churches, organizations, and individuals
with creative worship and Christian Education.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.