Original in Spanish: Hondom
An Impro warm-up to wake the group up: reflexes, attention and zero fear of getting it wrong.
The group stands in a circle. The goal is to pass a stimulus (an “energy”, a clap) around as fast as possible without jumping the gun.
- The basic pass, “Jia!”: you look at the person next to you (right or left), stretch your arms out with a clap in their direction and say “Jia!“. That person receives it and passes it on to the next one in the same direction, saying “Jia!“. The impulse travels round the circle.
- The change of direction, “Hondom!”: if the stimulus reaches you from one side and you don’t want it to keep going that way, you cross your arms over your chest, block it and shout “Hondom!“. The energy bounces and goes straight back the other way.
- The jump, “Salta jugador!”: when the “Jia” reaches you, you point straight ahead with your arms and skip your neighbour, sending it directly to the person after them.
- “Fiu!”: you send it to whoever you point at, wherever they are in the circle.
- “Mofongo!”: everyone shouts and swaps places in the circle.
It belongs to the Zip Zap Boing family: a travelling stimulus, simple rules and a lot of speed. And as always in impro, if someone gets it wrong, better to laugh and keep going.