Middle School Miming: Interacting With a Door

By this point, students will have learned about and practiced miming preparatory skills (including stillness, focus, and visualization), portraying items of different weights, and interacting with a wall. All these exercises will help students to work up to this miming sequence of interacting with a door, which is more complicated than students will likely anticipate. We’ve broken down the sequence into three main steps, so students can practice and build their miming skills. Remember: the goal of miming is to “make the unreal, real.” By moving slowly and deliberately and using their visualization skills, students can achieve this goal. Let’s jump right in.

Step 1: Students will first plan out and then practice reaching towards the invisible “door” and grasping the doorknob. Have students stand in neutral positions — feet flat on the floor, hands by their sides, shoulders and arms relaxed. With their right hand, students will reach across their body on a diagonal line in front of the left side of their body, extending their arm at around waist height. Look at the air where you imagine the doorknob would be, and see in your mind’s eye a spherical (round) doorknob. Reach forward and grasp the spherical doorknob on the invisible door in front of you. Remember that you have to give the doorknob “shape” by splaying your fingers wide, reaching forward, then placing your fingers around the shape of the doorknob without “crushing” it. Hold your fingers out so they are curved around the invisible doorknob. Hold this position for a couple of beats. Then, release the doorknob and replace your hand by your side. Practice this motion three to five times, and then repeat on the other side, with the left hand reaching in front of the right side of the body.

Step 2: Next, students will practice opening the door. Again, starting from neutral, have students go through the process of reaching for the doorknob with the right hand and grasping it. Then, students will slowly “turn” the knob in the direction of their choice, and then slowly PUSH the door away from them, keeping their arm steady and level while they are moving it. This is because the doorknob needs to stay level; it can’t shift up and down the door. Once the height of the doorknob is established, it has to stay at that height throughout the sequence.

Be aware that the door would have hinges on the right side (opposite side to the doorknob, near the student’s right elbow), so their hand would move away from themselves on a slight curve towards the right, following the direction of the door. Hold the “door” open for a few beats, then slowly “close” it again. Practice this motion three to five times, then repeat on the other side. Students would grasp the doorknob with their left hand, push open the door away from their bodies and towards the left, and then close it again.

Step 3: Third, students will practice opening the door, walking through it, and closing the door behind them. Starting from neutral and with the right hand, students will reach for the doorknob, grasp it, turn the knob, and push the door open, keeping all movements slow and precise. Once students have “opened” the door, they will slowly walk through the door, turning slightly clockwise towards their right hand. They will switch hands and grasp the invisible doorknob on the “other side” of the door with their left hand. They will release the doorknob with their right hand, then slowly push and close the door away from themselves. Remember to keep the doorknob height consistent, and make sure the door is closing in the correct direction. Once the “door” has been closed, students will release the doorknob and let their hand and arm rest next to their side. Stay on that side and repeat the sequence, remembering that they are now on the other side of the invisible door and they’ll need to repeat the motions with the left hand and on the opposite side. Repeat this full process three to five times.

Extension: There are many different kinds of doorknobs/door handles, so students have some options to explore once they are comfortable miming a spherical doorknob. For example, have students try this sequence again with a thin vertical door handle (completely mounted to the door) or a horizontal door handle (one that you can jiggle the handle up and down on). As well, students can explore pulling the door towards them. They’ll just need to remember to step out of the way of the invisible door coming towards them.

At the end of class, have students fill out an exit slip (found in the giveaway below).